-- This post is co-authored by Chris Traganos, VP Product of M.io & Frank Geck, Business Development Manager of Cisco --
Sounds simple right? In the last few years collaboration, specifically messaging and video solutions have proliferated across both consumer and enterprise customers. They are becoming easier to deploy and often out of the control of IT and InfoSec departments.
Some teams are sending WhatsApp messages with critical business information and others are using Cisco Webex Teams or even Slack. We often run into sales situations where a Fortune 500 customer is interested in a corporate rollout of Cisco Webex Teams but during the sales process the customer discovers several groups using Slack, and they aren't interested in switching.
That's where M.io comes in.
M.io is a Silicon Valley startup that just moved to my home city of Austin, Texas (the Live Music Capital of the World) and they understand collaboration platforms and the collaboration API's better than just about anyone. And they've created an amazing product that federates between these platforms that is seamless to users.
Does your product marketing team want to use Cisco Webex Boards so they can digitally whiteboard from remote locations and then communicate that information to the Engineering team where everyone's not on Webex Teams but some are on Slack? No problem.
Webex Teams & Slack Interoperability from Message.io on Vimeo.
Solving this problem is harder than one might think at first. Sure, just do some API mapping and create bridge functions between the two. Not so simple. M.io has had to consider the security and scale that comes along with the Cisco Webex Teams platform.
We're thrilled about this solution for many reasons. First, we've been spending a ton of time focusing on our core products and love the fact that a third-party development partner has solved this extremely hard problem with us. Second, it's really a sign that our Webex for Developers program is going in the right direction. This interoperability is hard so our open API's have been able to help deliver on a complex problem like this.
And, for the market, this is a sign of where we are going as a company. We recognize that companies are going to have mixed environments and we're working to support seamless experiences - not just with our own products - but across an enterprise's complex mix of technology platforms.
M.io is making it easy for us to all talk to one another. Imagine all the good things that are going to come from that. We care about bringing interoperability to you!
Next Steps -- For more information reach out to M.io directly online or follow up with Frank Geck on Webex Teams using fgeck@cisco.com.
