From "disappointing" revenue results to calls for industrial action over a pay dispute, here are extracts from popular news stories this week.
Zoom Execs Brand Q2 Revenue ‘Disappointing’
Zoom’s revenue results for Q2 of the fiscal year 2023 have been branded “disappointing” by the company’s CFO, Kelly Steckelberg.
The company’s senior team spoke on an earnings call where Zoom confirmed it had a total revenue of $1bn for Q2, up eight per cent year over year.
“In Q2, total revenue grew 8% year over year to $1.099 billion, approximately $16 million below the low end of our quarterly guidance,” she commented.
“A stronger U.S. dollar, which had an impact of approximately $8 million, weaker new Online sales, and to a lesser extent backend linearity in the quarter were the biggest factors contributing to the miss.
“We recognize that the revenue results are disappointing and below our expectations as we navigate the current environment.”
Despite the disappointing revenue made across Q2, Zoom had seen product growth throughout the period, with Zoom Phone being key to the company hitting several milestones.
New Tools to Integrate Teams Calling into Apps
Microsoft has made Azure Communication Services support for Teams generally available to users.
By making the feature available to Team users, it means that applications can be developed to connect people to the Teams platform.
The new capability makes it possible to develop specialised business apps, create new workflows for apps and bring Teams calling capabilities to devices that are not supported with the standard Teams client.
A Microsoft blog post states:
“As organizations look for new ways to connect staff, customers, and partners, we’re excited to share news about increased interoperability of Azure Communication Services with Microsoft Teams with the general availability of Azure Communication Services support for Teams users.
“This enables the development of applications that connect people to the Teams platform and the potential to realise even more from communication investments.”
App developers can build custom communications apps for Teams users on any endpoint, with opportunities to add and manage chats, channels, and Teams Meetings.
Developers can also add server and client-side calling bots and integrate information about people in the organisation.
BT Group Workers Set to Strike Over Pay Dispute
Over 40,000 members at the Communication Workers Union (CWU) have agreed to strike for two days on August 30 and 31.
- BT and SEACOM Partner on Comms Services in Africa
- BT Launches Teams Voice Offering for Channel Partners
- Google Cloud and BT Announce a Five-Year Partnership
The strike includes more than 30,000 Openreach engineers taking industrial action over a pay dispute.
It follows two months of discussions between the CWU and BT Group at the start of the year when no agreement on pay could be reached.
A BT Group spokesperson said: “We know that our colleagues are dealing with the impacts of high inflation and, although we’re disappointed, we respect their decision to strike.
"We have made the best pay award we could and we are in constant discussions with the CWU to find a way forward from here.
