We train our users to take advantage of the device controls in their Webex app on their laptop or mobile device and find many users don't even need the Touch10 anymore. Their laptop or phone becomes the "remote control" for the Room device. This isn't as fully functional as a Touch10 but very few of our users ever want to do anything other than mute/unmute or share content which are very easy to do in the app.
You can also train your users to use Webex Assistant instead of the Touch10 as well. There is tons of great info on how to do this available in the adoption toolkit or on help.webex.com for a more concise summary. Personally I'm not a huge fan of the Assistant for in meeting controls as I find it disruptive to the flow of a meeting for me to be saying commands that everyone can hear but I find it very helpful for pre-meeting camera checks, starting meetings, making calls or ending meetings.
You mention needing to run wires on the floor from the codec. You do not have to directly connect the Touch10 to the codec. You can pair them across the network which gives you a ton of flexibility. We regularly mount ours on the wall, in lecterns or even in other rooms for remote operators not just on the tabletops. Here is the link to directions on how to do this if you are not familiar. Don't forget you can even have more than 1 paired to a codec if you want to have 1 on a wall and 1 on a lectern. This could also mean if you really were adamant about not having one in the room for ascetic reasons you could pair it via network and leave it in a network closet or somewhere else if need be and instructing your users to rely on end user device controls or assistant.
If you do want to use a third party remote you certainly can and its supported but you will have to do some xAPI configuration work to get everything functioning. It's not as simple as pairing a Touch10. This link has detailed instructions on how to program a third party remote to do some functions with a codec. It also has a link in it that points to the high level explanation of how third party devices can be used to control codecs in general. There are also options out there think Crestron or AMX that you can build very complex control systems and have all sorts of form factors for the end user interface but I find they don't add as much value as they once did thanks to robust API in the codecs at this point.
