Zoom Workplace, the comprehensive AI-powered platform for collaboration and productivity, is now generally available worldwide. First announced at Enterprise Connect in 2024, it represents the next generation of the Zoom ecosystem.
The solution connects all of Zoom’s apps and tools for collaborative work, such as Zoom Meetings, Team Chat, phone, scheduling tools, Zoom whiteboard, and mail. It also builds on the previous Zoom experience with innovative new tools like Zoom’s AI Ask Companion and Zoom Docs.
More than just a rebranded version of the Zoom One experience, Zoom Workplace offers companies a groundbreaking new way to enable and empower workers at scale. Here’s everything you need to know about the new platform: pricing, features, and more.
What is Zoom Workplace? The Productivity Powerhouse
Zoom Workplace is the complete collaboration and productivity platform created by Zoom to streamline communications, optimize interactions, and increase employee engagement. It’s essentially an upgraded version of Zoom One with more features. It also includes Zoom AI Companion at no extra cost, differentiating Zoom from companies like Microsoft, which charge extra for Copilot tools.
Like the previous Zoom One solution, Zoom Workplace brings all of Zoom’s essential work tools together in a single platform, including:
- Zoom Meetings: Video and audio conferencing.
- Zoom Team Chat: Instant messaging, file sharing, and group chat.
- Zoom Phone: Zoom’s VoIP solutions.
- Mail and calendar: For project management and booking meetings.
- Scheduler: Zoom’s appointment scheduling tools.
- Zoom Whiteboard: Virtual whiteboards for creative work.
- Zoom Clips: Short video messages and screen recordings.
- Zoom Notes: Collaborative notes for teams.
- Surveys: Forms for instant feedback.
- Zoom Docs: Zoom’s AI-powered customizable workspaces.
- Zoom Rooms: Hybrid and in-person meeting management.
- Workplace reservation: Flexible workplace reservation tools.
- Digital signage: Interactive content for displays.
- Visitor Management: Secure access for guests.
- Workvivo: Employee engagement tools.
Plus, companies can access thousands of apps and integrations through the Zoom app marketplace for extra tools to help with productivity and creativity.
What’s New in Zoom?
As I mentioned above, Zoom Workplace isn’t just a “rebrand” of Zoom One. It’s a fully AI-powered workplace solution that promises new innovations to help businesses reimagine teamwork and improve productivity. Here are some of the key features unique to Zoom Workplace.
Limitless Customization Options
Zoom has always been a relatively flexible platform, offering employees an opportunity to connect to thousands of apps and leverage APIs and SDKs for customization. Zoom Workplace builds on this flexibility with an even more intuitive user experience.
For instance, team members can choose between four color themes within the app, to make the collaboration experience feel more unique to them. Hosts can add customized virtual backgrounds to meeting sessions, and there’s a brand-new customizable toolbar within the app.
This toolbar, intended for Zoom meetings, will allow users to pin their favorite features to the dashboard. Plus, it includes a “multi-share” feature, which allows multiple people to share whiteboards, notes, documents, and screens simultaneously. There’s even a new “document collaboration” feature that allows users to select documents, apply access permissions, and co-edit within meetings.
Intuitive Zoom Meetings Features
Alongside the new toolbar and multi-share feature, Zoom Meetings users will now have access to a new “Meetings tab.” Here, Zoom allows users to collaborate before, after, and during meetings, offering a centralized space for meeting agendas, recordings, shared documents, and calendars.
Zoom Meetings also now includes the “continuous meeting chat” feature, which allows users to continue chat conversations and enable asynchronous collaboration outside of conferencing events. Users can access these meeting chats from the Meeting card throughout a meeting.
During Zoom Meetings, there’s also the option to leverage the multi-speaker view feature, which automatically adapts the meeting layout to highlight active speakers. Thanks to the built-in AI capabilities, this feature now comes with intelligent portrait lighting to illuminate attendees' faces in poorly lit environments. I think this is ideal for hybrid workers.
Another significant update to Zoom Meetings is the introduction of “dynamic reactions.” While Zoom has previously offered access to reaction emojis, they’re now bigger and more enhanced to help users express themselves when their microphone is on mute. Plus, Zoom has also introduced a personalized audio isolation solution to boost meeting clarity and eliminate background noise.
Zoom Workplace Chat and Workspace Updates
In Zoom’s Team Chat environment, you can now access Team Chat tabs. These are excellent for organizing users with channel-related assets like whiteboards, resources, and links. The tabs act as “shared spaces” where everyone can share valuable assets and even enable workflow automation with a no-code engine provided by Zoom.
Notably, the AI companion in Zoom Chat has also been upgraded, with support for 38 languages, to help users quickly summarize messages and compose new content. Another upgraded feature worth exploring in Zoom Chat is the new enhancements to the left sidebar.
For instance, you can now use a filter to refine your view of chat activity, focusing on unread messages or mentions. There are also additional sorting options for folders to help you navigate and manage all of the content you share on Teams channels.
For hybrid organizations, the Workspaces tab is also a great improvement. Here, you’ll find all of Zoom’s tools for Workspace reservation, wayfinding, and visitor management (mentioned above). Zoom Rooms now also includes the option to enable smart name tasks, which help users identify colleagues and contacts during team meetings.
Moreover, Zoom Rooms works directly with Workvivo, allowing users to broadcast important updates and news to employees on certified devices.
The Ask AI Companion for Zoom Workplace
Probably the biggest difference between Zoom Workplace and Zoom One is the additional presence of Zoom’s free AI companion. First, users can now access AI companion on Zoom Phone, the tech giant’s VoIP system (similar to Microsoft Teams phone).
