Zoomtopia APAC 2022: comprehensive communications driving the future of work

Thank you for “exploring new dimensions” at Zoomtopia APAC 2022 - our annual flagship event where we shared our Zoom vision for the future of unified communications and the latest platform innovations powering hybrid work, collaboration, and customer experiences. 

This is the 3rd year that we are bringing Zoomtopia to the APAC region, and we are so honoured to have thousands of customers, partners, and communities joining in with us to celebrate our vision to help people stay connected and deliver happiness. 

During our APAC keynote, Ricky Kapur, Head of Asia Pacific at Zoom, addressed the key realities that organisations across the Asia Pacific region are facing. While each country faces unique challenges, business leaders are generally grappling with increasing pressures in competition and costs with the economic uncertainty ahead. However, there is a growing demand for a more productive and collaborative work environment from the workforce. Businesses are still struggling to achieve a unified platform for their employees and customers, even though the last few years have accelerated digital transformation. Why is this so? The truth is, there is a disparate collection of tools that work separately from each other, and new tools and technologies keep getting added to the stack. 

To be successful and thrive in this dynamic environment, Ricky emphasised that organisations need to deliver a flexible, intuitive, and unified communications experience that seamlessly integrates their workspace solutions in a secure and reliable manner. He also provided insights into the new innovations Zoom is developing to further empower that experience here in the region, including our collaboration with Switch (part of JustCo Group), the workspace on-demand marketplace, to equip physical work booths or co-working spaces with video-conferencing capabilities. That will take the work-from-anywhere model to the next level, where individuals can attend Zoom meetings at a location of their choice.

During our keynote, Ricky also had an opportunity to sit down for a discussion with some of our APAC customers to discover how they are using Zoom to empower hybrid experiences, including: 

• Infocomm Media Development Authority: Douglas Goh, Director SG Digital Office and Secretariat, Digital for Life Programme Office at IMDA, shared how the Singapore government is dedicated to developing a digitally inclusive society as part of the national movement. Zoom is one example of an organisation that is a partner of IMDA to enhance digital learning and build meaningful connections across various communities. 
• SEEK - As one of Australia’s largest online employment marketplace, SEEK was able to leverage Zoom to transition seamlessly into remote working for its APAC offices at the height of the pandemic. Tracy Evans, CIO at SEEK, touched on how the organisation continues its use of Zoom to offer its employees and customers a consistent experience regardless of how they choose to connect.  
• HSBC - Anurag Mathur, Head of Wealth and Personal Banking at HSBC, one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organisations, spoke about the company’s digital transformation journey - from virtual interactions between customers and relationship managers to integrated electronic signature capabilities. The bank continues to digitise its end-to-end customer journey through innovative use cases with Zoom. 

Security

As we continue to evolve our platform for the future hybrid world, security and privacy remain at the forefront of everything we do at Zoom. 

Today, we are reiterating our commitment and continuing momentum in the government sector and Australian market with the completion of the IRAP Security Assessment. Be sure to check out our blog for more information! 

Establishing trust in your brand

At Zoom, maintaining the trust of our customers is a top priority. In our session, “The Trust Imperative: How You Can Build (or Destroy) Trust in a Hybrid World,” Aparna Bawa, Chief Operating Officer & Interim Chief Legal Officer, joined Jinan Budge, VP Principal Analyst at Forrester for a discussion about the importance of trust in modern business and how it can affect organisations. 

Jinan and Aparna discussed how customers will evangelize the organisations they trust and continue to buy from them, and how gaps in that trust, such as a lack of transparency, can impact their bottom line. Jinan also revealed that companies that dive headfirst into building trust will build hard-to-break bonds with the customers and gain a competitive advantage in a digital world, saying, “In this [digital] environment, there is a very physical attribute that's missing. But regardless of that, I think you can still think of being transparent and being empathetic to the other person.”

Core to unified communications: cloud phone

With the rise of video communication and other forms of communication, many are wondering about the future of voice communication.

In our session, “Is Voice DEAD? The future of conversation is in the cloud,” Nathan Guy, Zoom Phone APJ Leader, led a discussion on voice and how it will serve a vital role in the future of communications. David Hassan, CTIO at Hudson, and Hugh Ujhazy, VP of Telecommunications and IOTIOY APEJ at IDC, joined Nathan to reveal their insights on how organisations should evaluate a phone solution, the importance of an integrated voice solution, and the future of voice communication in business. 

Sergio Aguilera, Head of Solution Engineering - APAC at Zoom, showed some of the latest product highlights Zoom has unveiled to create a robust communications platform for empowering more authentic connections and deeper collaboration:

Get email and calendar right in the Zoom app

When you bring your email and calendar into Zoom, you can move quickly and seamlessly from email to a video meeting, elevate a Team Chat message to a phone call, and collaborate on projects without ever leaving the Zoom app. We’ve also got native Zoom mail and calendar services on tap for you. Beta coming soon.

Meet virtually – without a meeting

You might think of Zoom Spots as a virtual coworking space, where remote teams can be together when they can’t physically be together. Coming in early 2023.

Stay connected and collaborative on chat 

Coming soon, keep your in-meeting chat conversations going with a group Team Chat dedicated to the meeting. Also coming next year:

• Enable greater inclusivity with Team Chat translations
• Team Chat message scheduling
• Expanded integration of Zoom Phone and Team Chat to enhance support processes

Want to see Zoomtopia APAC 2022 for yourself but didn’t get a chance to attend? You can watch all of the sessions on demand! Simply navigate to the Zoomtopia event page, register for the event, and watch recordings of the sessions at your leisure.