Cisco, LeapXpert Take On Shadow Communication With Webex-WhatsApp Tie-Up

The new partnership lets Webex users message customers and other external contacts on WhatsApp from within the collaboration platform, helping businesses rein in shadow communications while opening new services opportunities for partners, LeapXpert’s co-founder tells CRN.

Cisco and LeapXpert are teaming up to tackle the issue of shadow communication for businesses.

LeapXpert, a startup with a compliant business messaging platform that lets corporate employees securely communicate with clients on popular consumer messaging apps, is bringing its technology into the Webex platform, the company’s co-founder and Chief Business Officer Avi Pardo (pictured above) told CRN.

The collaboration, announced at the WebexOne 2026 event, aims to bridge the gap between Webex, an enterprise-grade collaboration platform, and the popular consumer communication tool WhatsApp. The tie-up will let users send and receive external messages securely and in a compliant, regulated environment and without leaving the Webex platform, Pardo said.

“There’s a bit of a disconnect between the [enterprise] collaboration environment, which works very well inside an organization, but there is no proper solution when it comes to interacting with the external party,” he said. “If you want to reach out to someone outside of your own organization, it’s basically a voice call … but the world has changed. We all like texting. We all like messaging, and there is a disconnect between what the customer needs and the way the client would like to interact with the organization.”

Shadow communication, or communication that happens outside of the bounds of enterprise security protocols and often on personal accounts, can be problematic for many businesses, Pardo said.

“This is where we fit in,” he said. “We are able to integrate our platform into the Cisco Webex environment, where our platform knows how to interact with [an] external messaging environment such as WhatsApp in a secure, governed, collaborative way … We become this kind of glue that enables these conversations to exist in a compliant, regulated, collaborative way.”

The partnership is expected to offer significant opportunities for Cisco channel partners, including upselling, data ownership, and AI capabilities, enhancing enterprise communication and compliance, Pardo said.

“It’s an amazing upsell opportunity for [partners’] existing installed base,” he said. “It [also] takes them into data ownership and governance and potentially compliance market in some cases. Now they are not just enabling conversations; they can start dealing with the data, which takes you to the next phase.”

World Wide Technology, one of Cisco’s top partners, is excited to bring secure external communications capabilities to its Webex customers, specifically those in highly regulated industries, such as finance, according to Joe Berger, vice president of digital experiences at St. Louis-based WWT.

“Our regulated customers have been stuck between what their clients want and what compliance allows. This closes that gap,” Berger said. “They get to communicate the way their customers prefer, and they get the security and controls to do it the right way.”

LeapXpert’s technology is now available via the Webex App Hub. Users can begin taking advantage of the integration by signing in with their existing Webex credentials on desktop or mobile. All messages are inspected by data loss prevention controls in both directions, while LeapXpert captures and archives the entire conversation for compliance and recordkeeping purposes, according to the New York City-based company.

Other messaging channels will be rolled out in the future, LeapXpert said.