Zoom is adding hosted and third-party email and calendar services directly into the Zoom app.
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Alongside the launch of email and calendar, Zoom is also releasing Zoom Spots, Zoom Virtual Agent, Zoom IQ Virtual Coach, Zoom for Creators, Zoom Kiosk, Zoom Contact Center integrations, Zoom Developer Platform updates, and enhancements for Zoom Team Chat and Zoom Phone.
The announcements were made on the first day of the company’s user conference, Zoomtopia, taking place on November 8-9 in San Jose, California.
Cari Dick, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Zoom Platform, introduced the new email and calendar services: “We are taking a big step forward to help users across the tools they need every day, directly in the Zoom App.
“A recent study in Harvard Business Review found that employees spend almost 4 hours a week reorienting themselves after toggling between appointments. This wasted time switching between apps really adds up.
“We are helping to eliminate this toggle tax by bringing critical productivity tools right into the Zoom App, front and centre, by giving users the ability to access their email and calendar, alongside team chat meetings, phone, and whiteboard. Zoom reduces wasted time and enables users to focus on their work.
“That is why we are excited to announce today the next step in our platform evolution: the private beta of new productivity tools, Zoom Mail and calendar with Zoom Mail and calendar clients.”
Zoom Email and Calendar
Users will no longer need to leave Zoom to access their email and calendar as popular email and calendar services will be integrated directly into the Zoom meeting application. They will be able to quickly access their communications and scheduling and get their work done more efficiently.
For small businesses that handle sensitive information, such as law firms, and do not have in-house IT services, Zoom is introducing hosted email and calendar services. This will connect directly to the Zoom app and provide enhanced privacy features.
The Zoom Mail service includes end-to-end encrypted email when messages are sent between active Zoom Mail service users. System admins with a Zoom One business account or higher can create Zoom-hosted email domains.
Zoom has not made this a Zoom-only offering, Microsoft 365 and Gmail users will be able to use the new email services.
Zoom’s calendar service is a Zoom-hosted calendar enabling teams to schedule meetings. Users will receive a full set of necessary features and functionality to schedule meetings, access recordings and share links.
Following a meeting, the Zoom calendar includes an appointment booking feature for invites to select from available times.
Both the mail and calendar clients will be free to use and starting this November, the mail tab and calendar app will appear in the client UI and the top navigation bar at no extra cost. Zoom-provided domain names are included at the Zoom Pro subscription level and above. Those with Zoom One business level or higher can opt for a custom domain.
Although Zoom Mail is still in early beta, Cari said they are working to ensure that it will integrate with all the other Zoom modalities. One of the first places they are looking to connect with mail is the chat channels. Weaving together the chat and mail modalities will add huge value to users, Cari believes, and similar “next-level” integrations could mount up to become more useful than the mail service itself.
Zoom Mail and calendar services will launch in private beta at Zoomtopia 2022.
Zoom Spots
Zoom Spots is a new way to bring informal connections with remote or hybrid employees into the Zoom app.
Spots allows workers to catch up in a more natural, ad hoc way, which meets the growing desire within hybrid and remote setups for greater connections and simplified communications.
Zoom Spots achieves this by creating a video-enabled virtual co-working space in the Zoom platform. This will provide an open, convenient space for colleagues to work alongside one another.
According to Cari, “Zoom Spots will help foster inclusive discussions, keep colleagues connected on projects, and bring the fluid organic interactions of in-person work to distributed hybrid teams throughout their day.”
Zoom Team Chat, Meetings, and Phone
Meetings Chat and Team Chat is coming together to enable conversations to continue before, during after meetings. Meetings conversations will appear in Team Chat under a group chat dedicated to each meeting that you have.
Meeting translations will be made available in the Team Chat next year. Likewise, scheduling chats for a later time will soon be added, along with an expanded app ecosystem across the Zoom platform. This will connect to the Team Chat and desktop experience, so users never have to leave the Zoom client.
Zoom Phone will also be integrated with Zoom Team Chat by utilising Power Pack functionality and adding a Team Chat channel for each queue so that queue members can easily talk to one another and get informed if somebody else takes a call for them. Support for phone and the PWA (progressive web application) client is also being added to make it accessible from a web browser.
Zoom Meetings are also getting an upgrade through the likes of Smart Recordings powered by Zoom IQ which divides long meetings into chapters, creates highlights, and a summary. Meeting templates are being added to customise meeting types more easily and automatically select the correct settings for meetings. Expanded animal, human, and meta avatars will be made available to further enhance customisation options for participants. Finally, video clips are being launched to allow users to create and send videos to teammates as a means of communicating on projects.
Zoom Spaces
New additions to Zoom Spaces include Workspace Reservation Smart Suggestions which help users decide where to sit and which days to come into the office by factoring in who they normally work with and their seating preferences.
Intelligent Director uses multiple cameras and AI to find the best speaker view, and it can adjust to the speaker’s movements.
Zoom’s Companion Whiteboard can pair with Zoom Rooms to provide whiteboard and annotation capabilities that can be incorporated into meetings.
Zoom Creators and Developers
It has now been made easier for developers to provision and manage apps with Zoom by implementing admin-authorised installed apps. Developers will also be able to monetise their applications in the Zoom App Marketplace.
Zoom for Creators is a new way for users to create engaging live and recorded contact that can be streamed directly from Zoom. The new app experience is now available for enhanced video production, streaming and recording capabilities.
Zoom Contact Centre
Zoom’s expanded partnership with ServiceNow has given rise to Zoom Contact Center for ServiceNow, ServiceNow Employee Center for Zoom, and Ticket Collaboration with Zoom Team Chat, adding powerful new contact centre functionalities.
Another big contact centre update is Zoom Virtual Agent. This combines Solvvy’s AI self-service and automation with Zoom’s dependability and potential to scale. It includes conversational AI and chatbots, natural language processing and machine learning to understand customers, personalisation options, intelligent routing, and all-year-round support.
Zoom Virtual Agent can integrate with Zendesk, ServiceNow, Shopify, and other CRO, eCommerce, and contact centre solutions. It will be available as an add-on to Zoom Contact Centre or a standalone offering in early 2023.
Zoom IQ Virtual Coach harnesses AI to simulate various selling situations, providing sellers with a practice environment to perfect their pitch, receive feedback, and get real-time tips during calls.
Zoom Kiosk is being integrated with Zoom Contact Center to allow users access to the contact centre resources they need via a touch-screen kiosk.
Eric S. Yuan, CEO at Zoom, said: “As global organizations are adapting to how, when, and where work happens, it’s crucial that human connection remains a top priority to drive business strategies forward.
“Zoom is purpose-built to make all kinds of connections possible, effective, and meaningful.
“Our team has built and launched more than 1,500 features and enhancements on the Zoom platform this year, advancing the way people connect with each other, their organization, and their customers—ultimately, opening the doors wide for creativity and collaboration.”
Other notable releases to have come from Zoomtopia so far include improvements to webinar updates, such as new resources for calls to action, speaker bios and document sharing, improved branding, and webinar breakout rooms.
