Zoom Announces Planned Innovations to Ignite the Next Era of Communications

Rhea-AI Summary

Zoom Video Communications hosted Zoomtopia 2021, showcasing innovations for hybrid work environments. Key announcements include the Zoom Video Engagement Center and Zoom Whiteboard, designed to enhance collaboration. Eric S. Yuan, CEO, highlighted a surge in new features over the last year, claiming that advancements in AI-driven services like live transcription will reshape communication. Zoom also announced plans for Zoom Events Conference, enabling customized virtual events. Additionally, a $2 million fund was established to support mental health initiatives.

Positive

• Launch of innovative products like Zoom Video Engagement Center and Zoom Whiteboard to enhance collaboration.
• Expansion of features including AI-driven live transcription and translation, improving accessibility.
• Introduction of Zoom Events Conference for sophisticated virtual event hosting.
• Commitment of $2 million to support mental health initiatives.

Negative

• None.

Zoomtopia 2021 Highlights Customers Using Zoom Innovations to Embrace Change, Enable Hybrid Workforces, and Grow Their Businesses

SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Zoom Video Communications, Inc. kicked off Zoomtopia 2021, unveiling plans for innovations across its platform designed for today’s dynamic working environments, and to ignite a new era of connection and collaboration. Zoom is transforming the trajectory of business and personal communications by advancing the way we connect, share ideas, and get more done together - regardless of location. Zoom is developing new products, features, and partnerships designed to empower and engage the modern workforce with connected workstreams.

“Innovation remains at the forefront of Zoom’s annual Zoomtopia conference,” said Daniel Newman, Principal Analyst at Futurum Research. “I am particularly impressed with how Zoom’s plans for new solutions, like Zoom Video Engagement Center and Zoom Whiteboard, could continue to broaden Zoom’s impact on different facets of our work and lives, while enabling customers to create and grow businesses entirely on its platform.”

“In the last decade, we have been honored to become the ‘go-to’ video communications platform, but there has never been a more dynamic period in the company’s history than these last 18 months,” said Eric S. Yuan, Founder and CEO at Zoom. “We have released hundreds of new features, enhancements, and capabilities this past year alone and we have exciting new features in our development pipeline. With the ability to visually brainstorm on a virtual whiteboard and collaborate with colleagues similar to an in-person experience, or the endless opportunities of live transcription and translation services powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) – previously considered ‘futuristic’ technologies are on the verge of becoming a reality and could reshape the way we work.”

Empowering and Engaging Communities
Zoom’s recent study on the role of video communications in daily life examined people’s preferences for how they envision using this technology in a future world. Globally, the majority of respondents agree that everything will have a virtual element – including celebrations and events.

• Zoom Events Conference is a new event type that Zoom plans to make available this fall on Zoom Events, which will allow hosts to organize multi-track and multi-day events in a sophisticated format, with rich functionality, including, event lobby, chat, networking, sponsors, surveys, recordings, analytics, and more. Zoom Events Conference will offer hosts and attendees a customizable experience with the ability to provide an engaging and connected virtual event experience.
  

Enabling the Modern Workforce
Zoom is working to arm customers with innovative technology solutions designed to create new opportunities for business growth. Future potential projects include:

• Zoom Video Engagement Center (VEC): Connect your experts with your customers on video to create engaging experiences where they can build rapport and trust, and share expertise in a structured and immersive virtual environment. With industry-specific solutions, Zoom VEC will offer the same cloud-first scalability and trusted video architecture customers have come to expect from Zoom.
• Zoom Whiteboard: Today’s hybrid, remote and colocated workforce relies on collaboration tools to be efficient and productive, and the goal for Zoom Whiteboard is to set a new standard for working smarter, together. We envision that Zoom Whiteboard will act as a digital canvas, enabling seamless, real-time and asynchronous collaboration, with the ability to interact with the whiteboard similar to an in-person experience, creating more visually engaging and efficient meeting experiences.
• Zoom & Oculus Team Up: Zoom will be teaming up with Horizon Workrooms to bring the physical and virtual world together using Zoom. The goal is to allow users to access their Zoom Whiteboard and Zoom Meetings within the virtual Workrooms environment when this ships next year. With this collaboration, we aim to let people immerse themselves into the Zoom Whiteboard no matter what device they join from, all while in a Zoom meeting.
• Live Translation and Transcription: Zoom meetings will become even more inclusive with the addition of real time, automated translation, as well as expansion of its existing live transcription, with support for multiple languages coming later next year. Zoom connects users across borders and continents, and these live transcription and translation features will create endless opportunities by bridging the communications gap across language barriers as well.
• Zoom Rooms Smart Gallery: Zoom is committed to enabling the modern workforce. To foster a more inclusive hybrid, remote and colocated work experience, we plan to expand use cases of Zoom Rooms Smart Gallery for meeting spaces of all sizes by creating individual video feeds of in-room participants, so they’re viewed clearly and equally by remote employees.
• Hot Desking: Zoom’s envisioned hot desking solution, available later this year, will allow employees to reserve desks and spaces in their offices using an interactive map and enable easy authentication to bring your personal Zoom experience to any Zoom Rooms or Zoom Phone appliance.
• Platform Security: Security and privacy are cornerstones of the Zoom platform. To empower customers to provision and manage their own encryption keys, Zoom is developing a Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) offering, with an initial beta planned for later this year. Additionally, Zoom plans to extend End-to-end encryption (E2EE) to Zoom Phone, potentially enabling users to upgrade to E2EE during one-on-one phone calls that occur via the Zoom client in the coming year.
  

Connecting Workstreams
Zoom is virtually replicating the various ways we interact in real life, and beyond. Zoom Meetings, Chat, Webinars and Phone all work together as one unified communications solution, with the ability to navigate between them.

• Zoom Apps are built to optimize meeting workflows. Later this year, we plan to make integration of Zoom Apps available throughout the platform, including Zoom Apps for Webinars, Zoom Apps for Mobile, and immersive apps, which will enable even more immersive and collaborative app experiences.
• Zoom Chat Huddle View will potentially provide a visual layout of channels to give teams a sense of connectedness while working virtually. Channel members will potentially be able to choose a unique virtual background of their choice, chat, easily see who is in the channel, and quickly identify if they are busy or available, bringing teams together in a whole new way.
• Zoom Phone Video Voicemails is planned to provide a more personable alternative to standard voicemails with the ability to leave video messages for colleagues, right into their voicemail inbox.
• Zoom Continuous Collaboration could make it easier to collaborate across tools with tighter integrations across the Zoom platform and third parties. With these planned enhancements, users would benefit from the ability to share files, recordings and chats from Zoom Meetings to Zoom Chat for easy reference and collaboration on documents and integration with file sharing solutions - all without having to leave the Zoom client.
• Zoom Widget is planned to provide a view at-a-glance schedule, that could enable users to see who is already in the meeting, and notify the host using Zoom Chat if they are running late. For people in back-to-back meetings, Zoom Widget will help them manage time, expectations, and keep their teammates in the know.
  

These planned innovations will help to create a more efficient, collaborative, and engaging user experience, while also simplifying processes by connecting and organizing workstreams.

Social Impact and Zoomtopia Awards

• Zoom Cares, Zoom’s social impact arm, announced $2 million of new funding to a collection of eight global nonprofits supporting mental health among native, LGBTQ, and young people of color who have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and systemic racism. Zoom organized a team of seven global experts as part of its participatory grantmaking process to collaboratively decide on the nonprofits and distribution of donations.
• Zoom is honoring select customers who made tremendous efforts to combat COVID-19 with the Zoom Delivering Hope Awards. By activating their networks, leveraging their resources, and sharing their expertise, these organizations had a massive impact on the global collective effort against the coronavirus.
• Every year at Zoomtopia, the company highlights the creative and unique ways its customers are using Zoom with the Zoomtopia Innovation Awards. The contest recognizes the Zoom customers that most embody innovation, inspiration, and creativity in using Zoom solutions.
  

Zoomtopia, powered by Zoom Events Conference, features over 75 educational sessions, over 100 thought-provoking speakers, business leaders and celebrity appearances, and opportunities to network, collaborate, and learn, visit Zoomtopia.com to register and attend. The statements contained here are for informational purposes only. Any services, products or functionality referenced that are not currently available are subject to change at Zoom’s sole discretion and may not be delivered as planned or at all. Customers who purchase from Zoom should make their purchase decisions based upon currently available pricing, features and functions.

About Zoom
Zoom is for you. We help you express ideas, connect to others, and build toward a future limited only by your imagination. Our frictionless communications platform is the only one that started with video as its foundation, and we have set the standard for innovation ever since. That is why we are an intuitive, scalable, and secure choice for individuals, small businesses, and large enterprises alike. Founded in 2011, Zoom is publicly traded (NASDAQ:ZM) and headquartered in San Jose, California. Visit zoom.com and follow @zoom.

Zoom Public Relations
Farshad Hashmatulla
Product PR Manager
press@zoom.us

 

FAQ

What were the key announcements from Zoomtopia 2021?

Zoom announced the launch of the Zoom Video Engagement Center, Zoom Whiteboard, and Zoom Events Conference, aimed at enhancing collaboration and event hosting.

How is Zoom improving collaboration in hybrid work environments?

Zoom is enhancing collaboration through new features like AI-driven live transcription and the Zoom Whiteboard, which allows for real-time brainstorming.

What is the Zoom Events Conference?

The Zoom Events Conference is a new offering that enables hosts to organize multi-track and multi-day events, providing a customizable and engaging virtual experience.

How much funding is Zoom providing for mental health initiatives?

Zoom announced a $2 million fund to support global nonprofits focusing on mental health for marginalized communities.

What is the significance of AI in Zoom's recent announcements?

AI is pivotal in Zoom's enhancements, particularly in live transcription and translation services, aimed at bridging communication gaps.