The CEO of Zoom, Eric Yuan, is taking the company in a new direction with the launch of smart Zoom Docs, an upgraded chatbot, and office booking tools. Yuan is urging businesses to be open-minded about using Zoom for more than just video meetings. After years of virtual meetings, he’s now traveling and meeting customers in person. Zoom’s stock soared during the pandemic, but has since leveled out. Now, Yuan is focused on making Zoom a comprehensive communication and collaboration platform. He starts his day by logging onto Zoom Chat, Zoom’s competitor to Slack and Microsoft Teams. He uses Zoom’s software for email and meeting preparation, and also utilizes their new collaboration tool, Zoom Docs, for creating summary documents and action plans. The goal is to provide a seamless experience within the Zoom client, eliminating the need to switch between different applications. Zoom Docs, set to launch in 2024, allows users to generate documents from within a video meeting or chat and populate them with content and action items using Zoom’s AI copilot, Zoom AI Companion. The documents can be tagged, assigned to coworkers, and linked to each other, creating a tree-like structure. Zoom’s generative whiteboard feature allows teams to visually organize and auto-populate projects from meetings. Additionally, Zoom is recognizing the growing preference for hybrid work and is offering office management tools to compete with software solutions like Envoy. Zoom Docs overlaps with other work software tools like Coda, Notion, G Suite, Microsoft 365, and project management platforms. Despite the competition, expanding their product offerings can enhance Zoom’s stickiness with existing customers. Yuan believes that giving customers flexibility and choice is crucial, which is why Zoom supports a federated approach that works with various third-party models interchangeably. Zoom differentiates itself by not charging extra for AI features, unlike competitors such as Microsoft and Salesforce. To win on quality, Zoom must avoid privacy issues like a recent AI privacy scare. Despite a less-than-stellar stock performance, Yuan remains motivated and compares Zoom’s journey to that of his favorite basketball team, the Golden State Warriors. He believes that this is a new season for Zoom and they are striving to make the platform even better.
