Zoom has introduced a contact center-as-a-service chatbot (CCAAS) to simplify and manage task and time of support staff.
Customer assistance is facilitated by the Zoom Virtual Agent chatbot, which employs conversational language, proprietary AI, and machine learning. The chatbot processes queries by recognising consumer intent without relying on keywords thanks to automation technology.
According to Mahesh Ram, Zoom’s head of contact centre and digital customer experience, “I think 2023 is the year that every organisation we speak to makes automation an absolute focus.”
Through intent training, the chatbot gains knowledge. According to Ram, the procedure enables the virtual agent to assess the language used in callers’ questions to improve its comprehension of questions of a similar nature in the future.
When a user’s question is too complex for the chatbot to handle, they can communicate with a live agent, send an email, or use video chat.
Raul Castanon, an industry analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence, stated that “[AI chatbots] optimise the workload of human operators, enabling them to focus on more cognitively demanding activities while leaving requests that can be automated to the chatbot.”
According to Ram, the just-launched Zoom Virtual Agent can assist organisations with their internal IT helpdesks or customer care. Businesses can purchase it as a standalone solution or integrate it with different CRM systems.
At Zoomtopia in November, Zoom debuted their virtual assistant for call centres. The feature is comparable to what is offered by well-known CCaaS suppliers Genesys, Nice InContact, and Talkdesk in their respective solutions. The three businesses were ranked by Gartner in the 2022 CCaaS Magic Quadrant’s leader category. Zoom was not mentioned in the study by the analyst firm.
The technology behind Zoom Virtual Agent comes from Solvvy, a conversational AI platform vendor that Zoom purchased last year. The CCaaS products of other businesses, such as the German meal kit manufacturer HelloFresh, the e-book subscription service Scribd, and the video hosting company Vimeo, are powered by the chatbot and AI capabilities of Solvvy.
In 2022, a year after failing to purchase Five9 for $14.7 billion, Zoom launched their CCaaS product. The offer was rejected by the Five9 shareholders.
Zoom is a very new player in this market, according to Castanon.
The CCaaS market leaders and giants Google and Microsoft, which released contact centre products last year, are fierce competitors for the company.
Both businesses “stand to become important participants in the contact centre industry given that they have a lengthy trajectory and have developed AI expertise as a differentiator,” according to Castanon.
Zoom compatibility for Google Meet
In the meantime, Zoom has made Google Meet compatible. After getting an invitation, Zoom users can join Google Meet video conversations on room systems using the Zoom Interop capability. Users using Zoom do not require specialised equipment or a Google Meet subscription.
Participants in the meeting have access to simple tools including video, audio, and audio controls.
In a hybrid workplace, interoperability between virtual meeting rooms has become essential for meetings. 75% of the 396 firms surveyed by Metrigy Research deemed support for various communication platforms to be a crucial feature in room-based video conferencing solutions.
Not the first video meeting service to work with Google Meet is Zoom. Google introduced compatibility with Cisco Webex in November.
Microsoft introduced Direct Guest Join for Android-based room systems last year. Users of Webex on Android devices can participate in Microsoft Teams meetings thanks to the technology.
