UC Advanced - issue #5

the Enterprise skews if you’ve got above 300 users. Microsoft will have done their internal calculations because what a lot of people forget, or what a lot of people neglect, is the back-end cost associated with AI in terms of computing resources. “For CoPilot to be auto summarising meetings, there is a not insignificant compute cost associated with that. Microsoft has realised the breadth of CoPilot’s capability because it goes right across the Microsoft stack. “The range of things that you and I can ask it to do is so huge that it’s difficult for them to predict exactly what the compute cost is going to be across all of those enterprises with copilot. Microsoft has made an internal calculation that is the most viable option for them in large enterprises and at that price point. “Zoom is probably able to predict better what the usage is going to be, and they’ve made a calculation that even though there’s a cost associated with this, they can effectively have the AI tech in those particular use cases as a sort of not a loss leader, but a value add for the solution. Whether in the long run, as they expanded their portfolio and the breadth of what you could be using that AI for expands, so do the potential associated compute costs.” A Blank Canvas While costs remain a question, Michel added that the Docs solution may be a nod to the future of collaborations, as businesses favour

canvas-style solutions, rather than specific applications for writing, presenting, and spreadsheet-ing. “The Office Productivity Suite paradigm, whether it be Microsoft Office or Google Workspace, has been going on for 30 years but it’s not the future. I think it has lived a very impressive life but the future appears to be more of what we call these Canvas products. “There’s several of them out there. Slack introduced [Canvas] and the one that’s kind of cut through the noise and getting traction is Notion, which is inherently a database, but it’s also a canvas and you can do all kinds of things with it. “With traditional productivity tools, there are barriers between different kinds of documents and content, but you put objects in a Notion document or a Notion workspace and everything is there. It’s fairly easy to customise, the ecosystem is growing with people making templates available, and it’s something that Silicon Valley can’t ignore anymore. “Zoom was figuring out they need some sort of Office Productivity Suite. They’re not going to build another set of word processors and spreadsheets. They’re starting with Zoom Docs and they’re going to create more like a canvas type of tool. “This next- generation

Patrick Watson Head of Research

cavellgroup.com

Revolutionising Customer Relationships Zoom also unveiled AI- powered customer experience solutions designed to help customer-facing teams support and engage clients more effectively. Innovations like AI Expert Assist and integrations with popular messaging apps like WhatsApp and Messenger aim to streamline workflows, improve customer service, and ultimately strengthen customer relationships.

tool works in combination

with the Zoom AI companion and together, the value proposition of Office Productivity is changing. I think that’s what is important about what Zoom is doing.”

ucadvanced.com

13

Powered by