Changes to the University’s WebEx service

Tuesday, May 14, 2024

The following two planned changes will impact University WebEx clients:

  • As of Monday, May 13, the University will no longer provision any new central WebEx Meeting Organizer or Webinar subscriptions.  
  • As of April 30, 2025, the University will no longer provide central support or funding for WebEx subscriptions.  

Members of Information Systems & Technology (IST) will contact clients who are active users of WebEx about options for transitioning to another conferencing tool.

Motivation for these changes 

Findings of the Web Conferencing Platform Review and Consolidation project found that throughout the pandemic, the immediate need for web conferencing platforms resulted in the rapid adoption of several different tools that enabled the University to continue, virtually, with classroom and administrative activities.  
 
survey issued in January 2022 to members of the campus community collected feedback on web conferencing needs and functionality requirements, with the goal of reducing the growing set of tools IST supports to a more sustainable offering.  
 
A review of WebEx usage indicates a sharp decline in use of the service from the height of the pandemic to less than 80 active accounts currently. A separate initiative will aim to remove dormant accounts in the coming months.  
 
Reducing the number of web conferencing platforms to a smaller, sustainable offering will provide a more consistent user experience for students, faculty, and staff across campus while allowing IST to develop an efficient and effective central support model. 
 
Questions about these changes may be submitted to Koorus Bookan at kbookan@uwaterloo.ca.