Managed communications startup LeapXpert Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. today unveiled an integration that allows Webex users to message clients on WhatsApp without leaving the collaboration app.
The integration targets customer conversations that compliance teams can’t see. Most messaging in Webex occurs between colleagues within the same company, and the chats these employees have with customers typically take place in consumer apps that are outside of the employer’s control. WhatsApp is the first such network that LeapXpert brings to the platform, with more to come.
Because the setup runs with the Webex credentials employees already have, no one needs a second login to text an external WhatsApp contact from a desktop or phone. Every message goes through data loss protection regardless of how it is delivered, so a customer’s response receives the same scrutiny as the agent’s original message. LeapXpert saves the entire conversation for archiving.
The two companies said the collaboration makes regulated consumer messaging accessible to tens of millions of business users, as Webex is used in approximately 300,000 organizations, including nearly every Fortune 500 company. Cisco has tightened controls within Webex itself and added artificial intelligence compliance management and governance capabilities as part of a product push in June.
Avi Pardo, co-founder and chief business officer of LeapXpert, said customers chose messaging apps because they wanted to be there, and companies that can’t control those conversations “incur a risk they can’t see.” He described the partnership as the company’s way of closing that gap for Webex customers.
LeapXpert has already done this. Slack and Microsoft Teams already work the same way for its customers, as does LeapXpert’s own chat app. Relationship managers can also use Maxen, which the company launched in 2024, to draw generative AI insights from their customer conversations.
The Webex deal comes just over three months after the New York startup raised $180 million in a growth round led by Riverwood Capital, with participation from existing investor Portage Ventures. This money was initially earmarked for the expansion of financial services and the state. Lloyds Bank plc and SoftBank Group Corp. are among the hundreds of companies on LeapXpert’s customer list.
The integration is available now in the Webex App Hub and requires a Webex license and a Leap Work account from LeapXpert. The startup is demonstrating it this week at Cisco’s WebexOne conference, which opened today in Austin, Texas and runs through Thursday.
Photo: Webex
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