Anecdotally, I have head complaints over the years about the aggressive outbound sales calls and somewhat challenging problems with customer service at WebEx so I think the company has an uphill battle when it comes to the notion of community-building. (BTW, I've covered web conferencing since 1996). Still, the podcasts are interesting to listen to in order to gain some better understanding and context now that Cisco has completed the acquisition. I think the real opportunity for Cisco here is not so much the idea of community around the traditional WebEx conference business but about its emerging WebEx Connect platform. Cisco now has some interesting assets at its disposal: the WebEx Media Tone Network, its multiple data centers, a leadership position in the web conferencing market, and the opportunity to build out a broad portfolio of real-time collaboration services and "Web 2.0" / "Enterprise 2.0" applications could very well place Cisco in an interesting market position.
Although not too much has been revealed in terms of any roadmap of how Cisco technology could be delivered in a SaaS manner or how a partner ecosystem will evolve, there are some possible scenarios.
What if Cisco were to persuade Zoho, Zimbra, Wetpaint and some other companies to host their solutions within a WebEx Connect platform? Could there could be a “Cisco Apps” or “Cisco Live” counter to Google and Microsoft (perhaps renamed as "Cisco Connect") that leverages Cisco strengths in unified communications and its interest in social networking? Add to that possible scenario any business arrangement with Apple and the conversation broadens even more to include convergence of digital life and digital work.
In any case, the podcasts are below (just follow the links). Included also are some other viewpoints on WebEx's community-building effort:
When Google bought YouTube recently for $1.65 billion, the world of business sat up to take serious notice of social networks. Today, many companies are looking into how they can tap into -- or develop -- communities as a way to make better decisions and increase profits. Jon Spector, a former Wharton vice dean and now CEO of the Conference Board, spoke with participants at the Community 2.0 conference in Las Vegas earlier this year to explore how companies are trying to harness communities to reshape their businesses. In this podcast, Spector speaks with Diane Davidson, director of customer marketing at WebEx.
WebEx's Diane Davidson: 'We Defined a Community Ecosystem' - Knowledge@Wharton
Director of Customer Marketing, Diane Davidson, reviews the opportunities that big companies like WebEx face when trying to engage with the community. Diane also highlights benefits and challenges WebEx experienced as a result of launching customer communities.
C20 Podcast: Diane Davidson, WebEx
Other points of view:
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