Webex Innovation Keeps Governments Running Effectively and Securely, From Anywhere
The Webex for Government series highlights new Cisco Solutions that elevate resiliency and security for critical legislative and judicial operations and enable remote work for government
Reimagining How Collaboration Improves Government Services Today and into the Future
I live in the United States, so the 2020 US election is top of mind for me. Wherever you are in the world, how governments have carried on through the pandemic have made headlines. Government is part of our daily lives, but often we don’t consider how technology is essential to the process of governing and the delivery of services we receive each day.
When the pandemic hit, some facets of government were caught unprepared for remote work — serving citizens has traditionally required in-person interactions. Webex was already the leader in secure government collaboration, in use with 8 out of 10 of the largest US state governments. Over the last several months adoption within government has continued to climb, surpassing peak COVID usage.
Now we want to help governments move beyond business continuity and reimagine how they can serve citizens in new and better ways using Webex. Today we are announcing innovative solutions for legislatures and courts around the world, as well as for US Federal agencies.
Each of these solutions reflect our commitment to provide seamless collaboration, create experiences for hybrid workplaces, and continue our leadership in security. Our open platform makes the applications for legislatures and courts possible – they have been built by 3rd party developers using the Webex SDK. We’re excited to promote the innovation of these partners as they help our customers shape the future of work.
Introducing Webex Legislate, Purpose-Built for the Unique Needs of Legislatures
Legislatures have procedures steeped in both law and tradition, with security requirements at the core. Moving to virtual hearings and debates during the COVID crisis required changing the rules, and sometimes laws. Convening safely and securely with Webex provided governing continuity to legislative and parliamentary bodies around the globe. In the doing, many legislators also saw value in being closer to the citizens they represent and reducing costly travel.
To make remote collaboration even more effective for members, we worked with our partner, Davra, to create Webex Legislate. Webex Legislate provides an immersive window into the chamber or parliament floor. Our aim was a 10X better experience than being there, and to offer a solution for hybrid proceedings where remote members are equal participants to those on the floor.
To make sure members can fully and easily participate, Webex Legislate delivers:
- Highly visible, contextual participant controls, such as crystal-clear mute, raise-hand and voting buttons
- An information board and agenda so participants can follow the process
- Secure, clear voting, with vote details, timer, in-vote tallies by party, votes by name, and anonymous voting when needed. Voting captures the experience of a physical vote board online.
- Sidebar video discussion rooms, for parties, members and staff to confer in complete privacy
- Live interpretation and closed captioning to make sure everyone is included and understands what is being said
Extensive moderator and digital clerk controls keep the procedure orderly while enabling members to be heard:
- Detailed mute management
- Chronological hand raise notification, with customizable requests
- Highly visible timer, with color alerts as time elapses
- Multiple customizable profiles to give each participant limited actions or full capabilities, from full voting members to staff to press and observers
- The ability to customize terminology, colors and logos
Security is at the foundation:
- Video lobby enables a live attendant to verify participants visually, verbally and through data
- End to end security, privacy, and data protection enabled from the Webex platform
- Chain of custody recording of procedures for the official record
Webex Legislate enables seamless collaboration so legislators never miss a vote and can take decisive action from anywhere. Using their existing Webex Meetings solution, the Webex Legislate app will be available on the Cisco Global Price List in November. See more on this immersive experience for governing:
Keeping Justice Running Efficiently to Better Meet the Needs of Citizens
Virtual Courtrooms
Keeping the wheels of justice turning during a time of social distancing, as well as driving greater efficiency beyond, can accelerate court activities, improve service, and reduce costs for judges and all court participants. Cisco has been delivering Connected Justice, a system of services and hardware for courtrooms for over a decade.
Today we are introducing the Connects solution from partner Cloverhound to make the virtual check-in and docket process seamless and secure. Using their existing Webex Meetings solution, courts can make it easy for individuals to join hearings remotely, such as claimants, attorneys and witnesses. Participants enter the hearing number and check in virtually, and then are placed in a waiting room. Evidence can be uploaded, and attorneys and their clients can have private chats.
This innovative court solution will be available on the Cisco Global Price List in November in the US and Canada.
Community Monitoring and Corrections
Cisco partner TRACKTech uses the Webex platform to enable community monitoring services as part of their whole-person rehabilitative support and compliance monitoring toolset.
The toolset delivers contactless rehabilitative support, resulting in officers meeting up to three times as many clients a day and empowering remote check-ins, dynamic geofencing, and behavioral health resources.
Supervision officers perform virtual home visits with their program members, which increases the number of cases they can manage. This reduces the costs and need for additional headcount for organizations such as Federal Agencies, States, Districts and even commercial companies in the criminal justice industry. The solution also helps individuals re-entering their community to keep in touch with key resources to find employment and housing. With the efficiency and security of the Cisco Webex platform, all participants are ensured a reliable connection to their support network, with the highest level of data protection and privacy.
TRACKTech’s offer is available on the Cisco Global Price List now and available everywhere in English.
US Federal Employees Collaborate with FedRAMP Call, Meet and Message
Cisco Webex messaging solution has joined our existing portfolio of FedRAMP-authorized calling and meetings. This means U.S. Public Sector organizations that require FedRAMP solutions can now have persistent messaging, and will soon be able to experience calling, meeting and messaging together in a single unified app. In addition, IT teams will have single pane of glass management across the portfolio to simplify administration and security controls for all collaboration services.
In this environment where many teams are working remotely, having a single cloud app for all of their collaboration will provide flexibility and robust security for employees to work from anywhere. Learn more about Webex for Government Receives FedRAMP Authorization
Webex is the Future of Work for Government, and Other Sectors
The Webex platform is open and flexible and includes the built-in security you have come to expect and trust from Cisco. Partners like Davra, Cloverhound and TRACKTech have built tailored solutions using the Webex Software Development Kit (SDK) and APIs to meet the specific needs of government customers, accelerating their cloud adoption.
We’ll continue to innovate and enable flexible collaboration tools to help organizations find exciting new hybrid workstyles. In addition to government, recent introductions include Education, and Telehealth.
Webex Expanded Features and Capabilities to Enable Organizations of all Types to be Productive Anywhere
Innovation on the underlying platform continues to expand capabilities for seamless and smart hybrid work experiences on a monthly basis. Find out about new features in our monthly Webex update blog.
Our goal for every organization is seamless collaboration and a 10X better-than-being-there experience. From our robust platform and core capabilities to highly customized-purpose-built tools, we have collaboration to keep your organization accelerating into the future.
We’d love to hear what you think. Ask a Question, Comment Below, and Stay Connected with Collaboration on social!
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What’s new in Webex: November 2020
A Better Rehabilitation and Supervision Experience, Powered by Webex and TRACKTech
Reimagining Government Resiliency
Link to all Javed’s monthly update blogs
Government/Connected Justice Resources
Cisco Connected Justice [Website]
New Cisco Solutions Elevate Resiliency and Security for Critical Legislative and Judicial Operations [Press Release]
Future of Government: Hybrid Workspace for Legislature [Live Class]
Additional Resources
Join us at FOW webinar for Government
View Webex App Hub for developers
Elkart County Case Study
Connected Justice Case Studies
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