Zoom Video Communications, Inc. has officially unveiled a slew of groundbreaking innovations designed to enhance human connection through powerful AI capabilities at the company’s annual Zoomtopia 2023. The event was a platform for Zoom to introduce their latest product, Zoom Docs, and a range of AI-driven tools aimed at streamlining communication and collaboration in today’s dynamic work environment.
“As work continues to evolve and present new challenges, one thing will remain the same: effective collaboration and communication tools are crucial for businesses to succeed. At Zoom, we’re grounded in doing what’s right and caring for our customers, and we understand that business leaders are faced with new obstacles every day — whether it’s navigating hybrid work, improving engagement and collaboration among customers and employees, deciding how to leverage generative AI to empower people, or reducing the complexity of their IT solutions. Our new innovations demonstrate Zoom’s commitment to evolving our platform in ways that empower limitless human connection and solve real business problems,” according to Eric S. Yuan, Founder and CEO of Zoom.
Zoom Docs
At the heart of Zoom’s groundbreaking announcements is Zoom Docs, a next-generation collaboration platform meticulously engineered with AI at its core. This flexible and modular workspace integrates seamlessly with Zoom and third-party apps, offering teams and individuals an efficient environment for project management, content creation, and organization.
Zoom Docs offers traditional document features as well as wikis and drag-and-drop content blocks for tables, charts, and images. Users can harness the power of AI to auto-populate documents with content from Zoom Meetings, generate content through Zoom AI Companion, perform quick content searches, and more. Zoom Docs is scheduled for a general release in 2024.
Zoom AI Companion
Zoom AI Companion, the company’s generative AI digital assistant, introduces new features like a Whiteboard capability and extends its services to new industry customers, including those in higher education and healthcare. Remarkably, this AI Companion is offered to eligible paid users at no extra cost. Zoom AI Companion assists in summarizing long chat threads, composing emails in Zoom Mail, and much more. It now also helps users generate ideas on a digital whiteboard and organizes them into categories for efficient team collaboration.
Enhancing Collaboration in the Modern Workspace
Zoom recognizes the importance of supporting the ever-evolving work landscape, whether it be hybrid, remote, or in-office. To facilitate better employee experiences, Zoom has introduced several platform innovations:
- Employee Engagement: Workvivo, an acquisition made earlier this year, is an employee engagement and communications solution. Users will soon access Workvivo directly within the Zoom desktop client, providing new ways to keep employees informed, engaged, and connected.
- Hybrid Work: Workspace Reservation will soon offer a Wayfinding feature, making it easier for users to find their reserved desk in an unfamiliar office location. Additionally, Zoom introduces “Huddles,” virtual coworking spaces, complete with presence indicators and location information for colleagues in physical and virtual spaces.
- Collaboration: Zoom has streamlined pre-meeting processes with Calendar, Mail, Team Chat, and Zoom Scheduler, allowing for single-use booking links, customized booking page logos, multiple account support, unique schedules of availability, delegate support, and Salesforce integration.
Strengthening Customer Relationships
Zoom’s AI-powered customer experience (CX) solutions provide a unified platform to support customer-facing teams no matter where they are located. These innovations cater to:
- Customer Support Agents and Supervisors: The AI Expert Assist feature streamlines contact center workflows by providing real-time outputs, contextual actions, and useful customer and knowledge base information. This functionality will be available soon.
- Event Managers: Zoom Events now offers generative AI assistance in event prep, event email invitations, lobby chats, and sessions, making event management more efficient.
An Open Ecosystem for Choice
Zoom prides itself on being an open platform, fostering an ecosystem of key integrations, apps, and partners. This approach allows customers the freedom to choose third-party solutions that seamlessly integrate with Zoom to achieve their business objectives.
Zoomtopia 2023 sets a new standard for AI-driven communication and collaboration tools. With Zoom Docs and AI Companion leading the way, Zoom continues to innovate and adapt to the changing needs of a dynamic workforce, providing a platform where human connection knows no bounds.