Zoom has announced new and upcoming features for the Workplace platform powered by both generative AI (GenAI) and agentic AI. The volume, breadth, and quality of features unveiled are impressive. Collectively, the changes further propel a dramatic transformation that has been taking place at Zoom over roughly the past year and a half. Despite the dramatic transformation Zoom has made in relatively short order, the company still faces a challenging environment, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
Gregg Willsky, Principal Analyst, Enterprise Technology & Services at GlobalData, comments: “After its video meetings capability became renowned virtually overnight in the dark, nascent days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Zoom ignited a steady evolution of its platform. With the October 2023 introduction of Zoom AI Companion, that evolution followed a sharp trajectory upward and morphed into a full-blown renaissance marked by the introduction of GenAI features. Zoom has now entered a new chapter with the announcement of agentic AI capabilities.”
Two noteworthy examples of agentic AI features are the Custom AI Companion add-on and Zoom Tasks with AI Companion. The Custom AI Companion add-on is intriguing because it enables organizations to tailor Zoom AI Companion to fit the specific needs of their business or industry. The greatest value of Zoom Tasks with AI Companion lies in its ability to make users more productive by automatically detecting tasks from meeting summaries, chats, and emails and completing them on their behalf.
Willsky continues: “In addition to team collaboration capabilities evident in the Custom AI Companion add-on and Zoom Tasks with AI Companion, Zoom displayed sharp dexterity and diversity with features that touch upon a range of additional areas including contact center, sales, and industry verticals.
“New features allow contact center supervisors to optimize staffing levels and permit agents to indicate preferred start times. Revenue Accelerator enhancements help sales reps identify and manage deals more efficiently. Frontline workers in industries such as retail and manufacturing, along with healthcare clinicians, have access to features that increase their efficiency by saving time.”
Zoom confronts entrenched, imposing players such as Microsoft, Cisco, and Google while also tangling with wholly capable rivals such as RingCentral and 8×8.
Willsky concludes: “Like Zoom, each is aggressively fortifying their platforms and spreading enhancements across collaboration, contact center, and other areas. What makes Zoom unique, however, is that it has managed to widely distance itself from its original, narrow identity – that of a video platform – and done so in only a handful of years. That bodes well for its future.”
