In a bid to compete with Microsoft Corp Teams, Zoom Video Communications Inc. is expanding its offerings by incorporating word processing and experimenting with innovative meeting features.
According to Bloomberg reports, Zoom plans to introduce collaborative document editing similar to Google Docs by 2024, as announced ahead of its annual conference.
Chief Product Officer Smita Hashim revealed that this tool would include information and AI-generated summaries from Zoom meetings, enhancing its capabilities.
Despite experiencing significant revenue growth, soaring to $4.1 billion from 2020 to 2022 due to its pandemic-driven popularity, Zoom has faced challenges as offices reopened and competition intensified.
Although, analysts predict modest sales growth of less than 2% in the coming quarters. To rekindle growth, Zoom is diversifying its suite of business tools beyond video meetings.
Backstory
Zoom already recorded early success with its office phone service, generating approximately $500 million annually, and its customer-service center offering, which serves over 500 clients.
While usage numbers for other tools like email and calendar introduced last year remain undisclosed, Zoom is actively exploring innovative features, as indicated by recent patent filings.
These innovations include adding interactive virtual objects to meetings for purposes such as product advertising or education and a feature that interprets participants’ nonverbal cues, suggesting when someone wishes to speak.
Despite its impressive videoconferencing app quality, Zoom holds only about 7% of the communication and collaboration software market, with Microsoft’s Teams dominating at 42%, according to IDC.
Zoom and its executives have expressed concerns to regulators in the US and European Union regarding Microsoft’s product preferential treatment through design and pricing bundling.
Zoom continues to innovate, introducing AI features like call summarization and message drafting in September, available at no extra cost in paid plans, signaling a commitment to providing these features free for users.