Cisco Systems is working to innovate its video conferencing platform, Webex, to make virtual participation in a personal meeting a more productive experience, CEO Chuck Robbins told CNBC on Wednesday.
Webex and competing offerings from Zoom and Microsoft saw an increase in user growth during the coronavirus pandemic, as companies were forced to pivot to remote work and business trips were abruptly reduced.
In an interview with “Squawk on the Street,” Robbins said he intends a hybrid model in the future – with a return to the office with more flexibility in remote work than before the pandemic.
“In the world to come, we will have people sitting in conference rooms and we will have people at home,” Robbins said in response to a question from David Faber of CNBC about how video conferencing will be different in five years.
“You know what it’s like, historically, to be a remote participant in a meeting. It was awful, so we’re working hard on technology that offers the same experience to both of us, which is the first thing,” Robbins continued.
Over time, he said he expects further progress with Webex, which Cisco acquired in 2007.
“I think you’ll see real 3D experiences. You’ll be practically in the room and there’s a lot of work our teams are doing right now to build this next-generation technology,” Robbins said. “I think you’ll experience that in a few years.”
Webex had an average of 600 million users during the second fiscal quarter, Robbins said Tuesday during a conference call to discuss the company’s earnings report. This is an increase from the 324 million users Webex saw in March as the US Covid pandemic began to accelerate, according to Reuters.
At the same time, Cisco is among the companies that could benefit from a more widespread return to the office, as network switches and wi-fi access points are used by businesses. Robbins said during the analyst’s call that some Cisco employees expressed a desire to return to the office or at least work remotely under their own conditions.
Robbins said Cisco’s goal for Webex is to balance gaming conditions during meetings, when people have more flexibility in their location. “I think it will become less and less important if you are in the room and if you are at home,” he said. “We want to make you a productive member of the meeting, no matter where you are.”
Shares of Cisco in San Jose, California, one of 30 shares in the Dow Jones industrial average, fell more than 4% on Wednesday as investors digested the continuing challenges of the company’s infrastructure platform business, its main product segment. .
– CNBC’s Jordan Novet contributed to the report.