Cisco’s Espen Løberg on Fixing Hybrid Work with Connected Intelligence

Espen Løberg, Vice President and General Manager for Collaboration Devices at Cisco, measures technology by a simple standard: how well it works when people actually use it. In preparation for his keynote speech at InfoComm 2026 on June 18, Løberg shared his perspective on hybrid work, AI-enabled collaboration, and the growing importance of connected workplace systems with our staff.

In his keynote, Løberg will discuss Cisco’s concept of Connected Intelligence and how organizations are working to connect better collaboration tools, AV systems, networks, and AI. He will also explore the role of AV-over-IP infrastructure, AI-enabled collaboration, and partnerships with Microsoft, Zoom, and NVIDIA.

As hybrid work becomes the norm, Løberg said that many organizations are still catching up to how people use collaboration technology.

“If anything, return-to-office has exposed how much work is still left to do,” he told us. “People came back, but with different work patterns, and they found rooms that looked great but didn't perform the same way they did with the apps they'd become used to. Devices weren't optimized for hybrid meetings. Networks weren't ready for AI workloads. The bar has moved, and the people in those rooms know it better than anyone.”

A room can look ready on paper, but the real test comes in the first moments of a meeting. When it works, it fades into the background. When it doesn’t, even small issues become immediate distractions.

For Løberg, those moments shape how he thinks about workplace performance.

“Here’s what it [Connected Intelligence] looks like in practice,” he said. “A worker walks into a room. The system recognizes the meeting and enables people to start the call with the touch of a button. During the meeting, cameras and microphones work together to ensure the focus is on the right person — everyone in the room and joining remotely can see, be seen, hear, and be heard, all without touching a button. If something changes in the room, the system detects it and resolves it proactively. A facility manager sees space utilization across every floor from one dashboard. The IT team sees device and network health across every space in the building from one place.”

Løberg pointed to Cisco’s ecosystem approach across Microsoft, Zoom, and NVIDIA as part of making Connected Intelligence work.

“No single vendor controls every layer of a modern workplace,” he noted. “Our customers operate in mixed environments — Microsoft Teams in some meetings, Zoom or Google in others, Webex in the rest. Their security teams have requirements. Their procurement teams have existing contracts. A partnership strategy that doesn’t reflect that reality doesn’t serve them.”

Løberg explained that Cisco’s device and workspace management is designed to work across those environments, while AgenticOps integrations allow IT teams to surface insights without switching between tools.

Work with NVIDIA, he said, focuses on strengthening on-device intelligence rather than relying on generic processing power.

Even as Connected Intelligence shapes long-term thinking, Løberg provided steps organizations can take to improve collaboration without needing a full system overhaul. 

• Start with standards. “The organizations that scale well are the ones that stop reinventing the room every time they deploy. Define what a small room looks like. Define what a large room looks like. Then replicate it. That consistency pays dividends in deployment speed, IT manageability, and user experience.”

• Bring the right people into the conversation early. "IT, HR, and workplace resources teams each have a stake in how these environments perform. When they are aligned on requirements before deployment rather than after, the gaps close faster."

• Move to AVoIP with Power over Ethernet. "One cable for power, data, and control simplifies installation and eliminates the fragile patchwork of components that makes large deployments expensive to maintain."

• Focus on visibility and flexibility. "Devices should support multiple meeting platforms, and management platforms should deliver real, actionable data on how spaces are actually being used. Flexibility and visibility aren't nice-to-haves. They are what make the investment defensible over time."

Even as workplaces become more connected, organizations still struggle to turn data into usable insight.

“Every device in a modern workplace — phones, room systems, access points — is generating data about how spaces are actually being used," he stated. "Occupancy, air quality, call quality, network performance. Most of that data sits in silos and never informs a single decision. When you bring that data together in one place, you stop guessing about what your workforce needs and start knowing.”

He explained that the gap also shapes how organizations think about value.

As he put it, “Intelligent collaboration doesn't have to be expensive. It has to be right. The organizations I talk to aren't asking whether they can afford it — they're asking how to justify it internally. My answer is always the same: look at what you're already spending on systems that don't work together.”

Much of the cost of fragmentation, he noted, already exists in downtime, failed meetings, and IT overhead — it's just not always visible in one place.

As AV, IT, and AI systems converge, Løberg said that responsibility for the overall experience is becoming clearer.

“Historically, AV owned the room, IT owned the network, and facilities owned the space. The end-to-end experience a person has from booking a room to leaving it? That fell between all three.”

Some organizations are already responding by defining what he calls the “workplace experience” function — a way to bring that accountability into a single role.

Løberg pointed to several changes underway:

• Meeting automation: AI tools that handle notes, summaries, and action items so participants can focus on the discussion.

• Autonomous room management: Systems that adjust cameras, audio, and layouts based on what is happening in the room.

• Proactive IT operations: AI that identifies and resolves issues before meetings are affected, shifting IT from reactive support to proactive management.

At InfoComm 2026, Løberg said his keynote will focus on three main ideas:

• The gap between today’s workplace experience and what organizations are beginning to expect.

• A path to closing it through connected systems built on shared infrastructure.

• The agentic workplace isn't theoretical — it's happening now.

At the show, Cisco will demonstrate systems operating in real environments, including an Agentic Director, a Workspace Advisor agent, and AgenticOps tools for managing spaces and devices.

“I want people to come and see it working rather than take our word for it. The best way to make the future feel achievable is to show it in the room.”

Still, Løberg stressed the same essential point.

“Our industry has focused on traditional video conferencing features for a long time — faster processors, better cameras, higher resolution,” he says. “We’re focused on the broader workplace experience. Now, the question is whether the technology makes the workday feel better, whether it gives people back time, and whether it makes an IT or facility manager's job genuinely easier. That's the standard we hold ourselves to at Cisco.”

His closing thought was a simple statement.

“Honestly, the only question worth asking any vendor at InfoComm is: how do your products come together to make work better for the people doing it? If the answer isn’t clear, keep looking.”