The “finish assembly” button could solely be the beginning for Zoom customers subsequent 12 months. At its annual Zoomtopia convention this week, Zoom showcased a number of vital updates and new merchandise that purpose to additional streamline hybrid work and collaboration. Headlining the bulletins was Zoom Docs, a fully-integrated AI-powered, multi-user cloud documentation resolution constructed immediately into the Zoom platform.

In a launch, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan emphasised Zoom’s continued promise to evolve its platform by highly effective AI capabilities. “Our new improvements reveal Zoom’s dedication to evolving our platform in ways in which empower limitless human connection and remedy actual enterprise issues,” stated Yuan.

Zoom Docs presents a brand new hub for teamwork

At its core, Zoom Docs offers doc creation, modifying, and collaboration options like different cloud doc options. Nonetheless, its tight integration throughout Zoom differentiates the product.

Paperwork, wikis, tables and different content material can all be created, edited and looked for inside Zoom Conferences, Workforce Chat or the Zoom internet and desktop apps, providing a direct competitor to up-and-comer Notion. 

Modular content material blocks let customers customise layouts to particular workflows by choices like drag-and-drop desk blocks, providing competitors to the likes of mission administration software program resembling Monday and even content material creation instruments resembling WordPress (which VentureBeat makes use of for this web site) and Mailchimp (used for our newsletters). 

Maybe most revolutionary is Zoom Docs’ use of AI. Zoom’s AI Companion can auto-populate docs with insights from conferences to expedite creation. It additionally generates summaries of long-form content material and helps customers shortly discover data throughout paperwork.

Constructing onto videoconferencing

Initially announced in September, Zoom’s AI Companion earned additional enhancements. The assistant debuted within the new Zoom Whiteboard, the place it could actually assist generate and arrange concepts visually.

AI Companion additionally expanded its attain, with Zoom launching assembly and chat summarization for greater training and healthcare prospects. It helps streamline duties like catching up late to conferences, summarizing lengthy threads and automating e mail responses.

Zoom additional introduced platform updates aiming to reinforce the evolving hybrid workforce expertise, together with Workvivo, a current acquisition, built-in immediately into Zoom’s common assembly consumer.

Zoom supplied new assembly scheduling and “Huddles” instruments, customizable scheduling hyperlinks, built-in location maps and coworking presence indicators. 

The trail forward

With breakthrough merchandise like Zoom Docs and expanded makes use of of AI Companion nonetheless in improvement phases, the corporate has a possibility to realize floor.

Nonetheless, Zoom will face fierce competitors standing in its path to success because it launches the doc software program in 2024, with Google Docs, Microsoft Phrase 365, and Notion all providing variations of shared doc creation, note-taking, and annotation/modifying options. 

Zoom additionally endured a self-inflicted wound earlier this 12 months when it attempted to change its Terms of Service to allow extra permissive makes use of of buyer information for AI analysis and product improvement, prompting a fierce backlash and in the end, a rollback of the very new phrases it tried to introduce.

As Yuan stated, “One factor will stay the identical: efficient collaboration and communication instruments are essential for companies to succeed.”