Starting Monday, Zoom is rolling out a new feature that allows users to create and edit documents directly within the video calling app. This move is part of the company’s effort to become an all-in-one workplace solution for businesses, competing with Microsoft and Google. The new feature, dubbed Zoom Docs, utilizes the company’s AI Companion, a generative tool powered by large language models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and Zoom’s own models.
The AI Companion can take meeting transcripts and organize them into templates, create tables, checklists, and trackers, and even integrate with Zoom meetings for seamless sharing and editing. According to Smita Hashim, Zoom’s chief product officer, “AI is what makes the experience so differentiated. The goal is that the mundane, high-friction tasks, which take up so much of our time, can be done by AI.”
This update is the latest addition to Zoom’s collaborative tool, Workplace, which was launched in March. The company is hoping to attract customers in a crowded market dominated by Google Workspace and Microsoft Teams. However, analysts note that it’s not impossible to compete, citing Google Docs’ success in a world once dominated by Microsoft Word.
Zoom is betting that its pricing will be a major draw, with its Workplace plans including the AI Companion at no extra cost. The company’s pricing starts at $14 per user per month for smaller companies, significantly lower than Microsoft’s Copilot for 365 add-on, which costs $30 per user per month. Google’s Gemini for business also costs between $20 and $30 per user per month, in addition to base costs for the service.
While persuading businesses to switch from one workplace tech provider to another can be challenging, Zoom may be hoping to capitalize on the fact that many organizations already use Zoom alongside another provider. The company has been searching for its next big thing since its rapid growth during the Covid-19 lockdowns, and has recently seen growth in its Contact Center, a customer service channel for businesses. However, to compete with bundled services like Google and Microsoft, Zoom needs to continue expanding its offerings.
