Zoom’s CEO dubbed the channel as an “amazing resource” as it revamped its brand for the AI era.
The NASDAQ-listed outfit this week officially ejected ‘video’ from its name as it rebranded from ‘Zoom Video Communications’ to ‘Zoom Communications’.
On a Q3 earnings call, CEO Eric Yuan said the rebrand reflects Zoom’s “evolution into an AI-first work platform for human connection and our vision for long-term growth”.
Zoom’s success in adjacent technologies such as contact centre and its employee experience platform Workvivo have come with the help of the channel, Yuan said.
In a Q3 period that saw total revenues rise 4% to $1.18bn, Zoom leant on the channel to win its largest ever contact centre customer at over 20,000 seats, he revealed.
“Our top four contact centre deals in the quarter came from the channel, which speaks to our progress leveraging this amazing resource to extend our success across geographies and industries,” Yuan said (see transcript here).
Also on the earnings call, new CFO Michelle Chang said she was “very excited” about Zoom’s new direction.
“I came to Zoom, I think, in part, at the beginning because of the iconic brand and the established leadership in meetings,” she said.
“But as Eric and I began our conversations over the interview process, I got more and more excited about where I saw Zoom going to an AI-first platform company and could see a lot of the seeds, if you will, of growth being planted and starting to come to fruition.”
“Where does it go”?
Despite arguably helping to save humanity in 2020, today Zoom’s brand suffers from its association with lockdown-era video calls.
Reaction to Zoom’s attempts to leave this reputation behind were mixed, with its share price dropping slightly on the news (it’s down 85% from its October 2020 peak).
In a LinkedIn post, Alex Smith, VP Channel Research & Advisory at Futurum Group, said Zoom “needs to pivot from video as it is topping out in that market with overall revenue growth continuing to slow”.
“So where does it go? Established categories like CRM and ERP are likely out of reach. But there are adjacent ‘communication’ categories worth exploring such as project mgmt or process mgmt. Competing with Microsoft is no easy feat, but having a more rounded Communications Platform will help,” he wrote.
