Tag: Zoom

Times Play makes US debut on Sling TV

MUMBAI: Lights, camera, action! Times Play has packed its bags and landed in America. The digital-first OTT platform from Times Network has made its international debut on Sling TV, giving the Indian diaspora in the US a fresh stage to enjoy short-form series, Hindi cinema favourites, documentaries and lifestyle shows tailored just for them.

Already a familiar name in India, Times Play is the newest addition to Times Network’s strong line-up on Sling, which already beams channels such as Times Now, ET Now and Zoom to American homes.

Thrilled about the launch, Times Network said the move is designed to deliver a curated and immersive entertainment experience that celebrates the cultural flavours loved by global audiences. From spicy food shows to star-studded Hindi cinema drama, Times Play promises a buffet of viewing options to suit every mood.

The partnership with Sling TV, known for its diverse international and multicultural programming, marks a milestone in Times Network’s mission to take its premium content global and keep diasporic audiences feeling right at home.

For the Indian community abroad, the message is clear, with Times Play now on Sling, there’s always something worth watching.

September 24, 2025
Times Network taps NKN Media to sell its stories in the Middle East

MUMBAI: Times Network, the broadcast arm of India’s Times Group, has appointed NKN Media FZC as its exclusive advertising sales partner for the Middle East. The deal gives NKN the reins to bring in ad revenue for the international feeds of Times Network, ET Now and Zoom, all of which already beam into regional homes via Etisalat, DU, Ooredoo and Starzplay.

For Times Network, the tie-up is more than just business, it’s a bridge. With millions of Indians living and working across the Gulf, the network sees fertile ground for both connection and commerce. By leaning on NKN Media’s local expertise and market know-how, Times hopes to create fresh avenues for advertisers eager to reach a diaspora that is both sizeable and influential.

The bouquet on offer is varied: Times Now, synonymous with sharp debates and global news; ET Now, trusted for market insight; and Zoom, Bollywood’s glossy home for film, music and celebrity sparkle. Together, they promise brands a stage where credibility meets entertainment.

“This partnership deepens our connection with one of the most dynamic Indian communities overseas,” Times Network said, adding that the collaboration offers advertisers “a robust platform to engage with a highly influential audience.”

NKN Media, ceo and md, Abdul Majid Khan was equally upbeat and said, “Partnering with Times Network, India’s leading media house, is a proud moment. With our global ad-sales experience, we’re confident of unlocking strong growth opportunities for both partners in the Middle East.”

In short, the network that prides itself on making headlines has just made one of its own, by giving its Middle East audience (and the brands chasing them) a reason to stay tuned.

September 15, 2025
Re’equil turns 7 with a virtual birthday bash, giveaways and good skin vibes

MUMBAI: Seven years, zero wrinkles! Skincare brand Re’equil proved that anniversaries can glow as much as their products, marking its seventh year with a virtual birthday party that blended fun, gratitude and community.

From 26 to 28 August, fans were treated to an anniversary sale with exclusive discounts. But the real showstopper came on 28 August, when more than 300 people logged into a live zoom celebration. Complete with a DJ set, bollywood-themed games, trivia and riddles, the bash felt less like a marketing event and more like a night in with friends.

Prizes added extra sparkle to the evening. Lucky winners took home Re’equil vouchers worth Rs 5,000, a Rs 30,000 travel voucher and an Apple ipad. The giveaways underscored the brand’s message: skincare is serious, but celebrations can be playful.

Re’equil began its journey with a simple promise of science-backed, dermatologically tested solutions for skin and hair. Seven years on, it has grown into a household name while staying true to its founding belief in real science, real people and real results.

September 4, 2025
Vani Rane transitions to JioStar as creative head of network branded content

MUMBAI: Vani Rane, has recently taken on the role of creative head for the expanded branded content vertical for the network at JioStar, following the merger of the two media powerhouses – Disney Star TV India and Viacom18 Media under the Reliance Industries umbrella. With over 18 years of experience in content development and production, Vani is eager to leverage this new opportunity to push creative boundaries and deliver innovative content.

Expressing her excitement about the transition, Vani stated, “My playground just got a whole lot bigger and better!”

She is enthusiastic about leading a talented team, emphasizing that their collaboration will enable them to create compelling stories and branded content. The merger has opened up expansive possibilities for content creation, positioning the team to explore exciting new directions in both television and OTT platforms.

Prior to her move to JioStar, Vani served as the creative Head at Viacom18, where she honed her skills in both fiction and non-fiction content development. Her impressive portfolio includes successful projects like Swipe Ride with Shruti Haasan and various brand partnerships across different media formats. Vani’s tenure at prominent companies such as Zee Entertainment, Zoom, Maxus ESP and Culture Machine further cements her reputation as a leader in branded content.

With her new role, Vani aims to elevate JioStar’s content strategy, focusing on creative solutions and partnerships that resonate with audiences.

January 16, 2025
Zoom TV to telecast India Padel Open finals on 24 Nov from 3 pm

MUMBAI: Padel lovers are in for a treat come 24 November. The finals of the FIP Promotion India Padel Open are to be held at the Padel courts of Bennett University in Greater Noida from 3 PM onwards. The tournament is India’s first-ever international Padel event sanctioned by the International Padel Federation (FIP) and is organised by Padel League Pvt Ltd (a subsidiary of PTL Sports Group) with support from The Times Group and featured various international athletes representing countries such as Spain, Japan, Netherlands, France, Italy, and Iran, alongside top Indian talent.

The finals will be telecast Live on Zoom TV and live-streamed on FIP’s YouTube Channel.

The women’s final of the four day tournament features Ainize Santamaria Landa and Aitana Solan Domenech (Spain) against Kotomi Ozawa (Japan) and Elisabeth Nogueras Lorenz (Spain), promising a clash of skill and strategy. In the men’s final, Pol Alsina and Edu Altimires Ros (Spain) face the French powerhouse duo Arthur Hugounenq and Thomas Seux in what is set to be an electrifying encounter.

The semifinals on day 3 of the open saw some intense play in the women’s category with Spain’s Ainize S. Landa and Aitana Domenech cruising past the Indo-Irani duo of Tulsi Mehta and Banafsheh Shahpar in straight sets of 6-0, 6-0, while the second semi finals in the women’s category saw Japan’s Kotomi Ozawa and Spanish Elisabeth Nogueras Lorenz edge past Sharmada Balu and Prerana Prathap by 6-1, 6-2.

In the men’s semifinals, the Spanish duo of Pol Alsina and Edu Altimires Ros overcame the Swedish duo of Arya Roghani and Hami Golestan by 6-4, 6-1. While, Arthur Hugounenq and Thomas Seux from France made their way to the finals with a comfortable 6-0, 6-2 win over the Indian pair of Chaitanya Shah and Vikram Shah.

November 23, 2024
“Our mission is to build one platform delivering limitless human connection”: Zoom’s Debjani Gupta

Mumbai: Virtual events have taken the world by storm, offering a dynamic and sustainable alternative to traditional in-person gatherings. In a world where connectivity knows no bounds, Zoom is leading the way with Zoom Events, a platform designed to elevate your virtual and hybrid event experiences. From corporate conferences to personal meetings and everything in between, Zoom Events is redefining the possibilities for gatherings of all sizes, ensuring you can connect, engage, and succeed from the comfort of your home or office.

Indiantelevision.com caught up with Zoom Video Communications country marketing leader, India, Debjani Gupta to discuss Zoom Events’ evolution, effective monetisation strategies, and much more.

Debjani Gupta leads Zoom’s marketing in India and is responsible for the company’s brand, communications, go-to-market, product marketing, lead generation, and customer marketing. She joined Zoom in 2021 and shaped its marketing from scratch. She has been instrumental in helping build confidence and trust in Zoom and its solutions among the country’s CIO community. Under her leadership, Zoom has been able to grow massively and develop a strong standing as a platform of choice within the enterprise business segment. Her understanding of the business, pulse of the team and market fuels strong go-to-market strategy and campaigns that drive business growth.

Edited Excerpts:

On Zoom’s launch in India, the idea behind its launch and were there any competitors at the time you launched it

Zoom was launched in India in early 2019. Back when we launched, the company set out to create a communications platform that would adapt to the realities of the world, not the other way around, and we operate Zoom with the same mindset today.

In order to match the diverse workstyles of our customers, we are able to use Zoom’s entire platform to get work done — with employees in the office, at remote locations, or working across time zones. Today, it’s not just meetings that keep our employees connected and efficient — it’s Team Chat, Zoom Rooms, Zoom Events, and other AI-powered solutions on our platform.

Zoom gained rapid popularity due to its user-friendly interface, high-quality video and audio capabilities, and features like screen sharing and virtual backgrounds. The platform’s ease of use and reliability contributed to its widespread adoption, making it a preferred choice for many businesses and individuals in India and globally. Zoom’s speed of innovation meets the modern pace of business, stays ahead of customers’ evolving needs, and delivers exceptional customer experiences. Only by using the platform with one another, learning what works and what needs fine-tuning, can we continue to make it a leader in the industry and what our customers deserve.

On Zoom Events’ evolution to meet the changing needs of event organizers and attendees as the world transitions to a post-pandemic environment

Virtual events have not only become more common but are now a critical part of marketing tools to reach and engage more people. Virtual and hybrid events have become a vital part of marketing strategies in recent years, as event marketers embraced the simplicity, expanded reach, and cost savings that virtual events can provide. Virtual events have not only become more common but are now a critical part of marketing tools to reach and engage more people.

With opportunities to extend brand reach, decrease operating costs, and engage audiences with inclusive and sustainable experiences, there’s never been a better time to host a virtual event and elevate marketing effectiveness.

Last month, Zoom bolstered its events portfolio with the addition of our easy-to-use Production Studio for Zoom Events, which allows event hosts to easily create professional virtual webinars and sessions without needing a production agency. Zoom has also enhanced its hybrid setup flow for event hosts. For event professionals who struggle with planning hybrid events and feel like it requires twice as much work, Zoom Events aims to simplify that process with new features. Now available in the web portal, event professionals can use templates to easily set up hybrid events, including the ability to build out hybrid ticketing, add venue maps, and set up a native hybrid experience via the Zoom mobile app.

On the differentiating aspect of Zoom Events from other virtual event platforms and the reason event organizers should opt for Zoom Events

Zoom understands what customers need for modern collaboration. We also look to our customers for their feedback and insights to determine what features they want to see. With Zoom, event planners do not need to settle for a one-size-fits-all option. Instead, they can choose from three flexible event solutions, each of which is designed to fit unique event needs. The Zoom Events portfolio plans, supports, and produces some of the best virtual, live, and hybrid events on Zoom and helps in meeting organizers’ varying needs, without sacrificing desired features. Our portfolio currently includes:

1. Zoom Sessions, our latest event management solution that delivers much-needed flexibility and expanded features for single-session events.

2. Zoom Events, an all-in-one virtual event platform for hosting multi-day, multi-track virtual and hybrid events supporting up to 50,000 attendees.

3. Zoom Webinars, ideal for large, one-to-many broadcasts featuring simple setup and join. It supports 500–100,000 participants.

Zoom’s AI-powered customer experience (CX) solutions announced at Zoomtopia 2023 help ensure that customer-facing teams have what they need in one place to support and engage customers. Event managers will receive better support around event prep and live event execution with the help of generative AI in Zoom Events through AI-composed event email invitations and lobby chats (coming soon), and sessions (available next year). Zoom also offers Event Services to help plan, support, and produce high-end virtual or hybrid events.

On the security and privacy measures that Zoom Events has in place to ensure the safety of sensitive data and interactions during virtual and hybrid events

At Zoom, security and privacy are a top priority. We are proud to promote meaningful and interactive online events around the globe, and we also want to empower users to help keep their events safe and secure. Here are the key insights into the security and privacy features provided by Zoom Events:

Before the event begins:

1. Geographic Access Control: Restricts event registration based on specified countries or regions, enhancing control over attendees.

2. Content Review: Hosts can review and approve content like speaker bios, documents, and polls before they are published, helping to ensure the appropriateness of materials.

3. Payment Processor Integration: Links to trusted third-party payment processors for payment transactions.

4. Registration Control: Hosts can cancel registrations and process refunds if needed, giving flexibility in managing attendee lists.

During the event:

1. Control Panel Features: Enables hosts to control chat functionality, reset messages, and manage different event sections, enhancing real-time moderation capabilities.

2. Moderator Roles: Allows hosts to assign moderators who can review incidents, report users, and manage event-related details, enabling a proactive approach to disruptions.

3. Annotation, Name, and Mute Controls: Hosts can disable annotations, prevent attendees from changing their names, and mute/unmute participants as necessary, minimizing disruptions and creating a smooth event experience.

By offering these features, Zoom Events provides a comprehensive set of tools for hosts to create security-focused and controlled virtual and hybrid events, helping to safeguard sensitive data and interactions throughout the event lifecycle.

On the strategies that Zoom Events offers to event marketers to effectively monetise their events and generate revenue

Hybrid events existed long before the seismic shift to remote life. More than just an alternative to in-person events, hybrid experiences are more sustainable, inclusive events that can reduce travel expenses and appeal to broader, more diverse audiences. These benefits, combined with advanced data and analytics, make it easy to see why they are an integral part of any modern event marketing strategy.

At the conclusion of an event, the Zoom Events dashboard enables hosts to generate reports and enjoy enhanced sorting functionality to view, export, and download valuable metrics. It is a valuable tool for hosts to review data and see how many connections and one-on-one chats were initiated.

Further, this provides additional opportunities to identify any areas to improve networking at future events. Event marketers no longer have to guess ROI and attendee engagement owing to transparent analytics surrounding registrations, booth sponsors, livestream views and duration, content downloads, tickets sold, event sponsors, and more. Hybrid events are changing the way we do business, and the companies that embrace this new event strategy will be better positioned to lead their markets and gain market share.

On any localised features or considerations that Zoom Events has incorporated to cater to the unique preferences and requirements of Indian event organisers and attendees

Zoom Events is a versatile, all-in-one platform that allows event organizers to create a variety of engaging virtual experiences for attendees will love.

On Zoom Production Studio and the mobile app for events enhancing the production quality, engagement, and collaborative aspects of virtual and hybrid events

Zoom recently announced two key updates and investments in its Zoom Events portfolio — Production Studio and a Zoom Events hybrid experience, including the ability to use the Zoom mobile app for events to help event professionals expand their reach and foster community beyond the events, engage and inform audiences while building connections across in-person and virtual audiences, and simplify the hybrid experience. Now available globally with a Zoom Events or Zoom Sessions license, Production Studio allows event professionals to easily create virtual event design elements for polished, professional, and dynamic events. With Production Studio, event specialists can curate and customize the attendee experience without needing specialized design skills. Whether planning internal events like an All-Hands webinar or external marketing events like product demos, Production Studio provides dynamic layout options, custom branding, and presenter management tools to help make virtual events visually engaging and uniquely branded.

The Zoom mobile app (available for Android and iOS) makes managing an itinerary, event chat, session Q&A, and networking easier for on-the-go participants. Attendees can join the event, explore, bookmark, and attend sessions; receive important event notifications; navigate the physical space using maps and digital aides; easily switch between in-person and virtual / on-demand sessions, and connect with other in-person and virtual attendees. During live events, mobile app users can access event sessions; participate in chats, polls, and Q&A, and view recordings of past events.

On Zoom Events replicating networking and real-time feedback in the virtual and hybrid event space to create a similar level of engagement and interaction

Virtual and hybrid events require a stronger focus on creating engaging, virtual experiences that replicate in-person networking. To ease this transition, Zoom Events virtual networking features, which can be enabled or disabled on a per-event basis, help event marketers bring the magic of in-person events to remote audiences. Zoom Events networking tools encourage active conversation and engagement between remote participants who enjoy networking with other attendees. With networking enabled, participants have several options to connect with others before, during, and after the event has ended.

Zoom Events Networking features include a variety of options to build your professional network with digital name tags and social profile directories. To improve communication among event attendees, Zoom has augmented the Zoom Events chat experience for easier profile discovery and navigation, and better participation throughout the event. Users can chat from the lobby, in between sessions, with sponsors, and one-on-one beyond the virtual expo floor.

Zoom Events Expo brings the excitement of an in-person expo to a virtual audience by connecting sponsors, attendees, and booth representatives. Attendees can “walk” the expo floor, chat with reps at the booth, and see sponsor logos, product demos, and relevant content just as they would in person. Where brand reach was once defined by the size or location of your booth, virtual events allow you to extend your brand beyond a 10×10 backdrop to an exponentially larger audience.

On Zoom’s vision and mission for the next three years and any future trends or innovations you anticipate will influence the events industry in India

India is a strategic market for Zoom, and Zoom is committed to the region. We see great opportunity in the communications and collaboration space and will continue to support the growing enterprise and SMB segments across multiple industries, including banking, healthcare, and education, as well as government and citizen services. Our latest innovations announced at Zoomtopia 2023 demonstrate our commitment to evolving our platform in ways that help empower limitless human connection, solve real business problems, and strengthen customer relationships.

Whether you are a seasoned events pro or need a guide to hosting hybrid events, we will continue to keep our customers at the centre and empower event specialists to curate and customize the attendee experience. The events industry will continue to evolve, and Zoom is dedicated to making virtual events as engaging, inclusive, and memorable as possible. With Zoom Events, organisations can foster a tighter sense of community between attendees and hosts, enabling them to connect, learn from one another, and expand their professional networks. Over the next several months, we’ll continue to add even more features and tools to help attendees be a part of meaningful, engaging and productive interactions within their industry. We aim to deliver an experience that enables a new kind of productivity — one that brings all the best tools and applications for modern, engaging collaboration into one destination.

October 30, 2023
Zoom crosses seven million subscribers on YouTube

Mumbai: Zoom, India’s one-stop youth entertainment destination, reinforces its unmatched leadership in the lifestyle and entertainment category with a monumental achievement, crossing seven million subscribers on YouTube. With its enthralling and interactive content spanning music, Bollywood news, celebrity interactions, lifestyle, and fashion, Zoom garnered an impressive 116.99 million video views on YouTube in July,making it the most-watched YouTube channel in its category.

Zoom has consistently maintained its undisputed dominance in the digital landscape, amassing an impressive 6.2 billion video views across platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, the Zoom website, and Sharechat among others throughout the past one year. Notably, Zoom has registered over two billion video views on Snapchat during this period, making it the only entertainment platform to build a strong resonance with the Gen Z audience. Making a significant impact on its digital viewership are the platform’s exclusive interviews with Bollywood and K-Pop celebrities and its highly recognized flagship entertainment news shows – Planet Bollywood and E-Town. Bringing the hottest and trendiest news stories from the entertainment industry, Planet Bollywood and E-Townhave cultivated a dedicated audience for over a decade, underscoring the brand’s enduring influence and relevance.

Zoom through the years has mirrored the audience affinity to content and has continually evolved to be relevant to both audience and our advertisers. We feel this achievement will only add more value to our partner brands to reach the right audience without fear of wastage to their ad dollars.

Times Network president & COO- digital business Rohit Chadda said, “We would like to thank our audience, who have showed immense faith in our content and this is a feat which wouldn’t have been possible without them.We take immense pride in accomplishing this remarkable feat, solidifying our standing as the unparalleled entertainment and lifestyle destination in the country. At Zoom, we have consistently aimed to stay attuned to our viewers’ preferences, strategically curating a diverse range of content formatsthatdeeply resonate with audiences spanning Gen X to Gen Z. This milestone is not only a testament to our unwavering commitment to top-notch entertainment but also signifies our vision to continuously evolve and provide our viewers with the best-in-class content, keeping them entertained and engaged.

August 22, 2023
Mark Zuckerberg expects Meta to return to healthier revenue growth trends next year

Mumbai: In a conference call with analysts to discuss the third quarter 2022 results, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that in terms of the business, total revenue grew slightly this quarter on a constant currency basis. “We’re still behind where I think we should be, but we believe that we will return to healthier revenue growth trends next year. That said, it’s not clear that the economy has stabilised yet, so we’re planning our budget somewhat more conservatively.”

He noted that the company in the quarter had launched JioMart on WhatsApp in India. “It’s our first end-to-end shopping experience that shows the potential for chat-based commerce through messaging.” He said that beyond Reels, messaging is another major monetisation opportunity. “Billions of people and millions of businesses use WhatsApp and Messenger every day, and we’re confident we can connect them in ways that create valuable experiences.”

For the record, Meta’s share price fell by 20 per cent in after-hours trading after it reported its fourth straight quarterly decline in profit. Analysts want Meta to cut costs. Some analysts describe Meta’s investments as being confusing and confounding.

Zuckerberg also said that Meta’s product trends look better than what the commentary that he has seen suggests.

“Our community continued to grow this quarter. We now reach more than 3.7 billion people monthly across our family of apps. And while we continue to navigate some challenging dynamics—a volatile macroeconomy, increasing competition, ad signal loss, and growing costs from our long-term investments—Iq have to say that our product trends look better from what I see than some of the commentary I’ve seen suggests.”

He said that three of the areas that Meta is very focused on are the AI discovery engine, the ads and business messaging platforms, and the future vision for the metaverse. “I believe the tougher prioritisation, discipline, and efficiency that we’re driving across the organisation will help us navigate the current environment and emerge an even stronger company.”

Reels, which is its short-form video platform, continues to grow quickly across apps—both in production and consumption. “There are now more than 140 billion reels played across Facebook and Instagram each day. That’s a 50 per cent increase from six months ago. Reels are incremental to time spent on our apps. The trends look good here, and we believe that we’re gaining time spent on competitors like TikTok.”

While analysts are unsure about whether the big bets on areas like the Metaverse will pay off, Zuckerberg expressed confidence in the work being done in the Metaverse space. “We just had our Connect conference and announced Quest Pro, which we just started shipping. It’s our new high-end VR headset that delivers high-resolution mixed reality so you can blend virtual objects into the physical environment around you. It’s pretty amazing when you see it, and it’s going to enable all kinds of new experiences in socializing, gaming, fitness, and work. I’m really looking forward to seeing what people build with this new capability.

Working in the metaverse is a big theme for Quest Pro. There are 200 million people who get new PCs every year, mostly for work. Our goal for the Quest Pro line over the next several years is to enable more and more of these people to get their work done in virtual and mixed reality, eventually even better than they could on PCs.”

He dwelt on the importance of partnerships. “To deliver a great work and productivity experience, I’m excited about the partnerships we announced with Microsoft bringing their suite of productivity and enterprise management services to Quest, Adobe and Autodesk bringing their creative tools, Zoom bringing their communication platform, Accenture building solutions for enterprises, and more.

“There’s still a long road ahead to build the next computing platform, but we are clearly doing leading work here. This is a massive undertaking, and it’s often going to take a few versions of each product before they become mainstream. But I think our work is going to be of historic importance and create the foundation for an entirely new way that we will interact with each other and blend technology into our lives, as well as a foundation for the long term of our business.”

October 28, 2022
Zoom switches from a video calling, meeting app to a UCaaS platform; bolsters business

Mumbai: Zoom, a collaboration platform, set up its office in India back in 2019. Due to Covid and the popularity of video conferencing, the company experienced rapid expansion. The company is trying to switch from a video, meeting calling software to unified communications as a service (UCaaS) platform as businesses return to the office, either fully or partially. As more individuals return to the workforce and the amount of WFH (work from home) increasingly decreases, it seeks to redefine and reimagine the workplace.

Zoom general manager and head of India & SAARC region Sameer Raje stated during a media briefing at a Zoom Rooms Experience Day that the Zoom India team has significantly expanded since beginning operations in India in 2019.

He stated that India is a significant market both within the Asia Pacific region and globally, but avoided discussing business objectives. “India forms a large part of our business. The idea was to provide video first collaboration for companies when it first launched back in 2011 abroad. It became the go-to choice for enterprises. Now Zoom aims to be a complete UCaaS platform in the country. Our aim is to move beyond being just a meeting app to offering a suite of services. These components have been built onto the platform. We had tremendous growth during the pandemic but that was video meeting growth. Now we are seeing growth from a collaboration platform aspect. People install Zoom and rework their workplace. The growth in India continues but in a different format.”

Raje continued the brief by noting that one of the components of Zoom moving towards being a UCaaS platform is Zoom Phone and the company is working with Indian regulators to bring it to the country. “We have Zoom Meetings and Zoom Webinar. We recently acquired Solvvy, a conversational AI Zoom that has also introduced its own conversational and AI platform.”

The company, which had earlier launched Zoom Contact Centre, is counting on the solvvy acquisition to help them redefine the contact centre category with unified communications. The goal is to accelerate its contact centre roadmap to create a concierge-level experience for customers.

He explains that Zoom also launched a service that allows clients to analyse their meetings. The final component in the move to being a UCaaS platform is Zoom Rooms. It can be used to elevate the customer experience across industries from education to BFSI. “People are thinking of changing the office environment. People do not want to do the same thing in the office that they do at home.”

He mentions features like Workspace Reservation, Virtual Receptionist, Smart Gallery and Zoom Whiteboard and their aim is to empower happy and connected teams to stay productive. “We are reimagining, redesigning the workplace. Integration into the workplace is key. We are bringing in a whole lot of services, features and functionality. You can interact with a remote receptionist or reserve your workplace for instance. With Zoom Rooms Kiosk mode, team members can engage face to face with a virtual receptionist anywhere an in-person receptionist could be – office, hotel, lobby, or other location. Organisations can brand the display and customise the message to match the environment and purpose.”

Remote meeting attendees may find it difficult to see people clearly when other meeting participants are in a Zoom Room. To address this issue, Zoom Rooms Smart Gallery displays multiple video feeds from a single conference room. This allows the Zoom Room cameras to focus more closely on groups of participants and display these people more clearly to remote attendees. Effective collaboration between remote attendees and Zoom Room participants can be enhanced by the face-to-face meeting experience.

Speaking on the challenges, Raje added, “The good part is that Zoom was built for handling areas that have low bandwidth. It also works with old devices. Also if you have built a service or a function for one purpose Indians will use it for 10 other purposes that you have not thought of. It is mind-boggling. Someone did a video shoot on Zoom. It was a photo shoot. We work through these unique challenges. One roadblock in India is language. India has so much geographical diversity it is difficult to cater to. We have just introduced live translation into international languages. Now a part of my job is to convince executives in Zoom to facilitate the same for Indian languages. Whether this will happen or not time will tell. ”

On the security and privacy front, he said that people who work from home often have children. Those children are their own chief information security officers. If children are on a mobile device one never knows what kind of content pops up. Now Zoom being a collaboration platform operates in a closed environment. So education is important be it for children or the end-user. “If it is an enterprise or an organisation they need to watch their back. So Zoom educates users through programmes that run on a regular basis. Zoom creates awareness programmes in conjunction with non-profits and governments. Then Zoom ensures that certain functions are pushed like enforcing password protection.”

Zoom also fixes bugs in the system by inviting ethical hackers to find issues. For that, a bounty is paid. This is a Bug Bounty Programme and it runs globally including in India. One challenge is that security parameters differ depending on the industry. So what works for banking will not work for FMCG for instance. He said that Zoom is the only collaboration platform to offer 256bit GCM encryption. “This is state of the art, the best encryption that you can get. This move is a part of our aim to stay ahead.”

When he was asked about the marketing plan of Zoom, he noted that it does online marketing. Then it has a partner ecosystem. It works with Savex and they have multiple partners who take Zoom to their customers. Tata Teleservices is another distribution partner of Zoom. Last year Zoom And Tata Teleservices had announced a tie-up to offer a communications solution to enterprises and individual customers. Then there is a direct sales team that interacts with customers.

June 23, 2022
Greg Tomb joins as president of Zoom

MUMBAI: Zoom Video Communications has announced that Greg Tomb will join the company as president effective from 7 June 2022. Tomb brings more than 20 years of experience and comes to Zoom from Google Cloud, where he was most recently vice president of Sales, Google Workspace, SMB, Data & Analytics, Geo Enterprises, and Security Sales.

Reporting directly to Zoom’s founder & CEO Eric S. Yuan, Tomb will oversee the company’s go-to-market strategy, revenue efforts, and office of the Global CIO. Tomb will help shape Zoom’s next chapter as the company continues transforming into a multi-product platform that enables communication, hybrid work, and an expanding number of business workflows.

Yuan said, “I am so excited to welcome Greg to the Zoom team. Greg is a highly-respected technology industry leader and has deep experience in helping to scale companies at critical junctures. His strategic thinking, can-do attitude, and value of care he brings to customers make him the perfect addition to our strong leadership team.”

Tomb said, “I’m thrilled to join forces with Eric and the Zoom team to help drive growth. I strongly believe that Zoom has an impressive foundation with its multi-product platform, and I look forward to the tremendous opportunities ahead to help businesses around the world address their communications and collaboration needs.”

June 7, 2022