Cisco Systems Inc. kicked off its Cisco Live event in Barcelona today by rolling out two new tools to its Webex portfolio of communications and collaboration products, plus machine learning upgrades for the existing Webex Meetings service.

The company announced the updates alongside a new release of its AppDynamics application management platform. The software, which Cisco obtained through the $3.7 billion acquisition of AppDynamics Inc. in 2017, now provides cost and workload optimization features.

The first new Webex solution the company unveiled this morning is also based on software from an acquisition. Webex Experience Management is an analytics solution that gives companies insight into why users turn to their contact centers for assistance. It enables business analysts to identify ways of improving the customer experience, while providing contact center representatives with useful information like a user’s recent purchases and support tickets. 

Webex Experience Management is a repackaged version of CloudCherry, a software-as-a-service product Cisco gained through its purchase of Customer Analytics Technologies Inc. in August. The firm received funding from Cisco’s venture capital arm prior to the deal.

Webex Experience Management is joined by a new hardware product Cisco will ship under the brand Webex Room USB. It’s an entry-level, remote-controlled videoconferencing device with an onboard camera that workers can connect to their laptops via a USB cable to host virtual meetings.

Cisco has also updated its Webex Meetings cloud-based videoconferencing service by rolling out a new version of Webex Assistant, the built-in voice assistant. Users can now instruct the artificial intelligence to transcribe a call, highlight key remarks and write down action items that require follow-ups. Cisco has brought over these features from Voicea, another startup it acquired last year to augment its communications portfolio.

“Voicea users have reported saving more than six hours per week per user with more actionable and efficient meetings – and we believe Webex users will experience similar results,” Sri Srinivasan, the head of Cisco’s team collaboration group, said in a statement.

Communications is big business for Cisco. The company’s lineup of contact center solutions, which includes the CloudCherry-based Webex Experience Management tool, is alone used by three million customer service agents across 30,000 companies. Cisco claims that its collaboration portfolio as a whole has 300 million users worldwide. 

Photo of Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins: Cisco