Starting Monday, Zoom users will be able to open a documents tool from within the video calling app and create shareable files based on their meetings, but they’ll be prompted to create and edit them using generative AI. Essentially a Zoom version of Docs, the new feature is the company’s latest effort to compete with Microsoft and Google to make the workplace more ubiquitous for enterprises.
In the document, Zoom AI Companiona generative tool built on the LLM model from OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and the company’s own model, was announced last fall. It can take meeting notes and organize them into templates, or create tables, checklists, and trackers to organize processes and tasks. The documents can then be integrated into Zoom meetings for sharing and editing.
“AI is going to be a really differentiating experience,” says Smita Hashim, Zoom’s chief product officer. “The goal is to enable AI to do the mundane, high-friction tasks that take up a lot of our time.”
Zoom Docs is the latest update to the company’s collaboration tools. The workplace that emerged in MarchThis is an attempt to attract customers in a competitive market, with Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 dominating the space and already adding their own AI capabilities to their tools and laptops.
Competing in this market is “extremely difficult,” but not impossible, said Will McKeon White, senior infrastructure and operations analyst at research firm Forrester. Google Docs has thrived in a world once dominated by Microsoft Word. Google Workspace is 3 billion usersmeanwhile Microsoft Teams It has over 320 million monthly active users.
Zoom is betting that price will matter in this case: its Workplace plans include its AI companion at no extra cost (Zoom Workplace cost For small and medium-sized businesses, it costs $14 to $19 per user per month. Microsoft 365 Copilot The add-on costs $30 per user per month. Gemini Google’s business plans cost between $20 and $30 per user per month, on top of the base price for the service.
Gemini also helps users brainstorm. Google DocsCreate images to summarize and refine the text; and First Officer You can work with Word, PowerPoint, and Excel to analyze information, rewrite information, and create presentations.
Convincing companies to move from one workplace technology provider to another is tough, and Zoom may be betting on the fact that many organizations already use Zoom in tandem with another provider and are ready to switch. Zoom has been looking for the next big thing that could replicate the rapid growth it saw during COVID-19 lockdowns, as people used Zoom to work and attend Zoom weddings. In early 2023, the company hit a tipping point: More clients were already willing to pay for Zoom, and fewer were using it for “fun” Zoom calls with family and friends.
company It will be dropped from the Nasdaq 100 Index at the end of 2023.Zoom has laid off about 15% of its workforce in early 2023, but it appears to have recognized the need to expand, integrating more calendar features and starting to add cartoon avatars. Zoom recently Contact Centeris a customer service channel for businesses, but it needs to do more to compete with bundled services from the likes of Google and Microsoft that also offer video calling.
