Zoom Announces Products to Reduce App-Switching Friction, Assist Users Via AI

Today at Enterprise Connect 2023, the collaborative platform company announced that its Zoom IQ "smart companion" will soon boast new capabilities, including: 

• Zoom IQ chat compose: Zoom Team Chat users will get suggestions about responses based on contexual context and conversational tone.  
• Zoom IQ email compose: This feature will be available initially in Zoom IQ for sales and offers users email draft suggestions based on data provided by the conversational context from prior Zoom Meetings, Zoom Phone calls, and email threads. 
• Zoom IQ meeting summary: This will allow people who skipped meetings to also skip listening to recordings of those meetings -- this feature will generate a meeting summary and next steps, then share the summary via Team Chat, Zoom Calendar, and email. 

In a release, the company emphasized its federated approach to AI, meaning its "smart" technologies are derived from a mix of proprietary AI models, selected customer companies' AI models, and "leading AI companies– such as OpenAI." 

"Zoom has long built AI solutions into our products to empower customers to be more productive," said Smita Hashim, chief product officer at Zoom. "We are excited to bring many more capabilities with new large language models." 

Additional Announcements Add to Employee Experience, Contact Center 

In addition to the announcement around AI-driven enhancements, Zoom also announced other product releases.  

Its Zoom Contact Center offering now has a workforce engagement management (WFM) solution in beta. 

Related: UJET Launches Native WFMWorkforce Management Solution 

Zoom also announced two new offerings that could impact the meeting experience. Its new Zoom Huddles -- formerly known as Zoom Spots -- is now available globally for customers to request early access. This feature allows ad-hoc video connections with colleagues. For meetings that have both remote and in-person participants, Zoom will soon be offering a beta of Intelligent Director. According to a company blog post, "Intelligent Director uses multiple cameras and the latest AI technology to determine the best angle of the individuals in the Zoom Room to display within your Zoom meeting." 

Finally, the Zoom Mail Client, which lets customers connect third-party email accounts like Microsoft 365 directly in Zoom, is now available for all Zoom users. The intention is to pull all workplace apps into a single pane, rather than having to hop between an email window and a Zoom window. To further ease the task-switching friction, Zoom's also offering a calendar sidebar panel view, so users can see what's coming up, who they'll be working with, and what related assets might be useful. 

Zoom will be delivering a keynote address at Enterprise Connect at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, March 29, 2023. 

Enterprise Connect 2023 will be held from March 27-30 at the Gaylord Palms in Orlando, FL. You can check out the attendance options here and dive into our line-up of sessions and keynotes here.