Zoom rolls out two product offerings geared at the hybrid workforce

3 years ago 386

Zoom Apps and Zoom Events aim to let users do more with video communications to enhance meetings.

Zoom has unveiled two new products, Zoom Apps and Zoom Events, designed to enhance collaboration, productivity and entertainment for the hybrid workforce.

Zoom Apps is designed to embed third-party apps within the Zoom Meetings and desktop client experience. Zoom Events is an all-in-one platform for creating interactive and immersive virtual events to engage audiences, the company said.

As the world embraces hybrid work, the new offerings aim to "enhance the ways in which we connect and collaborate with our colleagues, clients, friends, family members and others, improving productivity and collaboration while maintaining elements of fun and well-being," said Eric S. Yuan, founder and CEO of Zoom, in a statement.

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"Zoom Apps and Zoom Events are critical components in broadening Zoom's offering and reach," said Roopam Jain, vice president of information and communications technologies at research firm Frost & Sullivan. "These solutions empower users to accomplish more with video communications and are a testament to Zoom's focus of enabling customers to create and grow businesses entirely on its platform—whether through applications, integrations, events, or other services."

Bring your favorite apps to the Zoom platform

Zoom Apps expands the offerings of the Zoom App Marketplace, which already hosts over 1,500 third-party integrations. Zoom Apps is designed to let a user boost productivity and stay focused on workflows by incorporating their favorite apps into meetings.

There are over 50 Zoom Apps available now, ranging from enterprise to consumer use cases, including whiteboarding, project management, note-taking and video games, and Zoom said more are in development and will be available soon. Some of the Zoom Apps currently available include:

● Asana: Host purposeful meetings with the ability to create in-meeting action items and next steps beforehand so teams know what is required of them. The meeting leader can also create, edit and assign tasks, all without leaving their Zoom Meeting.

● Dot Collector: The Dot Collector app allows everyone in a meeting to share their perspective through real-time feedback and polling. Dots are systematically collected, shared and preserved enabling adjustments to be made in the moment and over time. The Dot Collector aims to foster more inclusive collaboration, transparency and meaningful relationships among colleagues while empowering individuals with insights that help them to unlock their full potential.

● Dropbox Spaces: The goal of the Dropbox Spaces app is to keep everyone on the same page before, during and after Zoom Meetings by collaborating in real time in a single, shared workspace.

● Heads Up!: Heads Up! is a game by Ellen DeGeneres. Zoom says Heads Up! is the perfect party game to play with your colleagues and friends and is a fun way to pass time with coworkers while waiting for meetings to start. The app is developed for Zoom by Ellen Digital and Playco.

● SurveyMonkey Enterprise by Momentive: Offering surveys and polls available directly within the Zoom meeting experience can help drive more engaging and inclusive meetings with real-time feedback. SurveyMonkey Enterprise is designed to capture optimal stakeholder insights from customers, employees and patients—any meeting attendees. The insights can be used to increase employee engagement, improve the customer or patient experience and make remote meetings more productive.

● Wellness That Works by WW: Wellness that Works by WW, a leader in weight loss and wellness, helps users move more, eat better and shift their mindset with push notifications to stand and stretch, along with a hydration tracker, mindset tools, and go-to recipes. Wellness that Works reinforces WW's credentials in behavior change science by helping users build and maintain healthy habits wherever they are, even in meetings.

Aimed at improving the hybrid and virtual event experiences

Zoom Events gives organizations the ability to create engaging hybrid and virtual experiences. Businesses of all sizes can use Zoom Events to manage and host back-to-back event sessions from sales summits, customer events, trade shows and internal events.

Some of the features within Zoom Events are event hubs, dedicated corporate virtual event spaces, customizable registration and networking through a chat-enabled virtual event lobby. Zoom Events also allows event-specific reporting around registration, attendance and ticket sales.

OnZoom, the consumer-focused Zoom Events offering, is designed to help brands and small businesses reach a consumer audience by creating, hosting and monetizing events including fitness and cooking classes and theatrical presentations.

OnZoom is in beta and will be used as a place where small businesses and entrepreneurs can host and publish events to Zoom's public event directory, the company said.