ZOOM
Word on the Sheets
How Zoomtopia may tread a path for the rest of the collaboration industry.
Scrolling through Instagram recently I happened upon a post that claimed that a town in Italy is willing to pay up to $26,000 for people to move there, in the hope it would breathe new life into the community. Naturally, I went on to cook a delicious pasta dish that night and booked my next trip to that wonderful land, but it also got me thinking about the selling process, particularly how we persuade people to ditch the familiar things they are used to in favour of something new. In the collaboration market, that familiar solution for many is of course Microsoft Teams. This year Microsoft Teams user numbers are reported to have hit 300 million, dwarfing the 200,000 business users that Zoom claims to hold, even if they are slightly different statistics. It is no surprise then that Zoom seems to be targeting 2024 as a year to win back some share of the collaborations and communications market, as it launches a word processing application, a vastly improved AI companion, along with improvements to its customer experience solution.
“Today’s workforce really expects simple tools that don’t require a ton of training, and they want to access the tools they need from one place,” said Chong. “That’s why Zoom is reimagining connection and collaboration, and bringing that employee and customer experience together in this all-in-one intelligent platform that people love to use. “Simply put, Zoom is one platform delivering limitless human connection, and we are super grounded, as part of our DNA, in doing what’s right for our customers. Through these ongoing conversations and customer feedback, we continue to channel our collective ingenuity, creativity and compassion to develop Zoom’s platform in ways that empower limitless connection.” Keeping up with the Competition While Zoom can provide businesses with the ability to connect and collaborate with colleagues, the missing piece of the puzzle is the productivity suite that Microsoft and Google can provide. As a result, Dave Michels, lead analyst at Talking Pointz, described Zoom Docs as a “profound” announcement, adding that Zoom needs a solution like this to move customers away from Microsoft or Google. “The biggest announcement at Zoomtopia was Zoom Docs, which I think is a very significant and profound announcement for a couple of reasons. “One is Zoom needs something like this if it wants to have accounts that don’t have Microsoft or Google, most accounts have one or the other and if they are in the account, then a company like Zoom has to not only sell them to use their meeting solution, but they also have to sell them on not using the meeting solution they already have access to.” Patrick Watson, Head of Research at Cavell Group, agreed that the presence of Microsoft and Google in the productivity space would have been a key motivator for the launch of Zoom Docs, but questioned how far Zoom are
Joseph Chong Head of Product Solutions and Industry Marketing
www.zoom.us
Catering to the Market These improvements are set to bring the solutions that Zoom believes the market is crying out for. During the pre-briefing for Zoomtopia, Joseph Chong, Head of Product, Solutions, and Industry Marketing at Zoom said that employee experience, seamless collaboration, and ease of use across applications are at the top of customer priorities.
prepared to go to emulate the respective suites of applications. “The announcement of
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