Webex With Microsoft Teams

30-04-2021

Webex With Microsoft Teams

Using Microsoft Teams Room for Webex Meetings

8/31/2020

In the July update for Microsoft Teams Room version 4.5.35.0, a new feature known as Direct Guest Join was released that allows MTR devices to join Cisco Webex meetings directly without any gateway or cloud interop service. This feature expands the capabilities of Teams Room Devices and allows interoperability with Cisco Webex meetings with one-click join functionality. In this blog post we explore the required steps to enable Direct Guest Join on MTR and the overall meeting experience and current limitations. In the future, we can expect MTR to support additional meeting ecosystems in the same way as well. Direct Guest Join leverages WebRTC technologies to allow MTR to join meetings hosted in CIsco Webex and other future meeting platforms.

In order to enable the Direct Guest Join feature on MTR we need to make sure the MTR us running the latest version which at the time of this writing is actually 4.5.37.0. As mentioned in a previous article, there are several ways to update the version and the easiest is via the Microsoft Store. Simply login as administrator on the MTR system and launch the Microsoft Store app and check for updates. Any newer version of the Teams app, a.k.a. 'Skype Room System' will be displayed allowing you to start an update after which you should reboot the system. The picture below shows the recently updated apps which includes the 4.5.37 version of the Teams Room app:

Once the system is rebooted and logged in as the regular room account, we can go to the settings page and navigate to the About section to verify the MTR version as shown below:

Next we navigate to the 'Meetings' section and under the 'Third party meetings' section, we note that Cisco Webex is available for us to switch on as shown below:

As a side discussion, there's also a page called 'Coordinated meetings' which allows the MTR system to work well with other room devices such as the Microsoft Surface Hub 2, so that when users start a meeting on the MTR, it will also give the opportunity to add a nearby Surface Hub2 device for collaboration. We can turn this feature on and select whether this device's microphone, camera and whiteboarding are turned off or on during the coordinated join as shown in the diagram below:

Before we can get the MTR system to recognize and display Webex meeting invitations that are sent to it, we have to configure the Exchange tenant as mentioned in the Microsoft documentation. This is simply an Exchange online powershell cmdlet:
Set-CalendarProcessing -Identity polymtr01 -ProcessExternalMeetingMessages $true
Which will enable the MTR's Exchange mailbox account to process external meeting messages and display a Join button on the home screen as shown below:

Now we're ready to the Webex meeting from the MTR. Simply hit the 'Join' button and the MTR will connect to Cisco Webex to join the meeting. The MTR controller will show that the system is in the Webex Meeting along with the meeting subject. Meeting controls such as volume control, mute/unmuate, camera on/off and Leave are all available. However, its notable that content sharing from MTR is not available at this time. Other than that, the audio quality and video resolution seen on both the MTR and the Webex client are great:

We can also initiate content sharing from the Webex client in which case the content will be displayed in the main area and videos of participants will be moved to to the right and resized to be smaller as shown below:

Finally, an interesting capability that can be used during the meeting is to turn on the button on the botton left of the MTR controller labled as 'Show meeting on this device'. This will mirror the MTR's main display onto the MTR's touch controller as shown below:

One example of using this feature is that it allows the content to be displayed closer to for participants that may be further away from the main display. in conclusion, Microsoft keeps adding new capabilities to the MTR system and we have now the ability to join Cisco Webex meetings directly from the MTR without any interop service. One may expect that there will be other meeting platforms that will be added in the future as well. Until then, enjoy the MTR and rest easy in the fact the MTR is a safe investment that will serve your meeting rooms well into the foreseeable future.

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5 Ways to Connect Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex in 2021

Channel-based messaging between Webex and Microsoft Teams. The same external federation technology can be applied when you’re using Webex spaces to collaborate on projects and in teams. Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex interoperability is the optimum solution for company acquisitions and mergers where one company’s resources are on Microsoft Teams, and the other one uses Cisco Webex.

For many reasons and in many businesses, we regularly see organizations with instances of both Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex.

This post addresses how businesses got to this situation and highlights the best ways to connect the two platforms together.

Why Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex?

Common reasons for instances of both Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex include:

Legacy or current Cisco hardware like telepresence, VoIP handsets, and Cisco Spark boards
Microsoft 365 packages offering free Skype for Business and Microsoft Teams licenses
Mergers and acquisitions where one company uses Cisco Webex and the other uses Microsoft Teams
A new CIO or IT Manager started and implemented their preferred solution
You interact with guests from other organizations that use different messaging platforms

Can Microsoft Teams replace Webex?

Microsoft Teams has tons of great features, like grid videos and custom backgrounds. You can integrate your conversations with Microsoft 365 and access direct routing.

But Microsoft Teams isn’t the right solution for everyone.

If you try to shift everyone to Microsoft Teams, you risk isolating some of your team members who use Webex.

People who don’t want to stop using their preferred app won’t switch easily. This puts your team at risk of shadow IT and other security issues.

It’s always better to give your team the freedom to use the tools they prefer.

If you do need to connect the two together, the next section outline five ways to connect the two platforms together.

1- Webex call features in Microsoft Teams

If all you want to do is connect your Microsoft Teams account holders with Cisco Webex calling features, here’s how:

In April 2020, Cisco announced a new Call Appfor Microsoft Teams. The app launches calls through Webex technology, even when you click the call button in Microsoft Teams.

To access this functionality, follow these steps:

Verify users have accounts activated in the Webex Control Hub
Ensure users are registered to the Cisco Webex Calling or Unified Communications Manager
Make sure users have the Webex app
Ensure you have Administratorprivileges for Microsoft Teams
Update phone numbers for users in the Azure Active Directory

With us so far? Great.

Head over to the Microsoft Teams Admin Center and click Teams Apps followed by Apple macbook pc. Manage apps. You can search for the Webex Call function and toggle the app status to allowed.

Remember to update your permission policies to allow third-party apps too.

In the Teams apps menu, click on Setup policies and add the Cisco Webex Call app to your Microsoft setup. Users will now be able to click Webex Call at the bottom of a window when chatting in Microsoft Teams.

Or employees can click on the Webex Call function on the left-hand menu bar and just tap in the number of the person they want to call through Webex.

Pros:

Simple way to connect Webex calling functionality with Microsoft Teams
Embedded buttons in Teams make the function easy to use

Cons:

Only works to connect two VoIP calling strategies. You can’t connect your chat messages or file sharing this way.
Calling opens a new window, which means there are more tabs for users to keep track of.
Only works to add Webex Calling to Microsoft Teams. You can’t add Microsoft calling to Webex instead.

2 – Cisco Webex and Microsoft 365 integration

Cisco recently announced integration between its Webex app and the Microsoft 365 suite.

How do I integrate Webex with Office 365?

Users can access files like apps like SharePoint and OneDrive from within the Webex app.

If your end goal is to use the Microsoft 365 suite within the Webex app, this integration will work just fine.

How do I integrate a Webex team with Outlook?

Go to your Cisco Webex admin Settings.

Click on Outlook then Outlook settings. You’ll have the option to Connect to Outlook. Choose Yes and hit the Save button.

Having more than one app integrated with Outlook sometimes causes problems with Webex. Before you integrate Webex and Outlook, you’ll have to unregister other tools. This includes removing Skype for Business connections.

Once your Outlook integration is ready, you can see the status of Webex contacts in Outlook.

Pros:

a. Users no longer have to leave their Webex app if they use Microsoft 365 for productivity tools like Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Word.

b. You can benefit from Microsoft Teams governance and data privacy from Microsoft 365 whilst never leaving your Webex app.

c. Share content created in Microsoft apps in Cisco Webex spaces.

Using Webex With Microsoft Teams

Cons:

a. This integration is available for multiple Microsoft apps, but not Microsoft Teams.

b. If you’re a Webex for Web user, you can only view these types of files, but not make any changes to them.

The Cisco Webex and Microsoft 365 integration is great for users that are happy to live in Webex – but it doesn’t take into account users that prefer Microsoft Teams for collaboration.

3 – Bot integration for Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex

If This Then That (IFTTT) helps apps and devices work together.

There are examples of IFTTT working in homes and businesses alike.

When rules are set for one app or device to do something based on the behavior of another app of device, these are called recipes.

From common scenarios like turning up the heating in your home when the temperature drops below a certain threshold to syncing your Instagram and Dropbox account, recipes come in all shapes and sizes.

When setting recipes for both Microsoft and Cisco, this typically includes what happens on Microsoft Teams when a message is posted in Webex.

For this scenario, a Webex users sends a message and the bot in Microsoft Teams gets a notification.

Pros:

a. Bot integrations come with many pre-built recipes to choose from across a range of apps and devices.

b. Familiar look and feel to consumer IFTTT apps.

c. Options to add your own customized recipes.

Cons:

a. Administration time can be lengthy as scenarios have to be set up one-by-one.

b. When new users are added, administrators must build new recipes.

c. Functionality across platforms is limited.

d. Cross platform experience is not seamless. Notifications are received in a bot rather than native to a chat, space or direct message etc.

4 – Host Webex meetings in Microsoft Teams

For users that prefer Microsoft Teams for messaging and collaboration, but must use Cisco Webex for meetings, there is the Cisco Webex Meeting app.

This is perfect for running Cisco Webex meetings direct from Microsoft Teams.

The meeting app is also available for Slack, Workplace from Facebook, and Google Calendar.

Pros:

a. Schedule and join Cisco Webex meetings without leaving Microsoft Teams.

b. Microsoft Teams users just need to add the Webex Meetings app to their Microsoft Teams app.

c. Simple administration in the Cisco Webex Control Hub.

Cons:

a. The Cisco Webex Meetings app for Microsoft Teams doesn’t support accounts on webex.meetings.com, on meetingsln.webex.com, or on Cisco Webex Meetings Server sites.

b. Limited to Cisco Webex Meeting functionality.

c. Messages, chats, files etc cannot be exchanged via the Webex Meeting app for Microsoft Teams. A meeting must be launched to communicate across platform.

d. Jonathan Dame wrote on SearchUnifedCommunications that customers of both Cisco and Microsoft using the integration have labelled it clumsy, forcing them to consider back to working in silos.

5 – External federation for connecting with guests on different platforms

Do you communicate with people outside your organization?

Do they use apps other than Microsoft Teams?

If the answer is yes to both of these questions, according to research, Cisco Webex is one of the most favored.

When this is the case, it becomes extremely unproductive moving out of Teams, into your external contact’s choice of app, and starting the conversation again.

Or even worse, end up resorting to email like it’s the 90s. (Okay, email has a purpose but you get the point).

That’s why Mio has created universal channels for Microsoft Teams with Webex…

You can stay in Teams and send messages to your contractors, suppliers, or clients who use Webex.

They stay in their platform too and Mio translates the messages across platform.

Webex Teams Or Microsoft Teams

And it’s not just messages that are supported! GIFs, emojis, channels, DMs, and message edits/deletes are all supported.

If this sounds like something you need, install Mio into either Microsoft Teams or Webex.

Webex Microsoft Teams Zoom

You choose which platform you use and your external contacts choose theirs.

If you’d like to learn more about enabling cross-platform messaging, you can watch our on-demand webinar with Mio CEO, Tom Hadfield, here.

Webex Teams Microsoft Edge

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