Zoom's new features provide more evidence of market leadership

If you follow the Zoom blog, you read today about the new features available from Zoom across their product line - desktop app and Zoom Rooms.  There were also some announcements about additional support of hardware and configuration options, along with extended Zoom Rooms management capabilities and remote support.

Most of these improvement were announce at Zoomtopia 2018 and have either already been rolled out, or will be coming in the next few months.  2019 is an exciting for Zoom, as they demonstrate their market leadership with an ever increasing list of features, functions and management capabilities.

Let's dive into some highlights (or you can read the article on the Zoom blog and here's the official press release)

Zoom Voice is out of Beta and has been release

It appears Zoom Voice is now available to be added to your existing Zoom account. It has been in beta testing for a while - but it's now ready for prime time.  Zoom Voice is a cloud phone system available as an add-on to Zoom’s platform. Support for inbound and outbound calling through the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and seamlessly integrated telephony features enable customers to replace their existing PBX solution and consolidate all of their business communication and collaboration requirements into their favorite video platform. Zoom Voice is now generally available to US and Canadian customers with more than 50 employees. The service will roll out globally to all businesses and broader geographies over 2019. 

We can help you with adding Zoom Voice to your existing license agreement or answer any questions you might have concerning the new voice service.

Zoom Meetings (desktop app) has a new look

Zoom's flagship service, Zoom Meetings, has a new user interface, which simplifies access for Zoom.  Now with both singe and group messaging built int, along with a streamlined search capability.  It's familiar to users, but has been improved for better access to features.  Here's the new documentation page in case you need a refresher.

Customize your background without a green screen

One of those "little" improvements, that can have a big impact is the ability to customize your background without having a green screen behind you.  This feature is available for Mac i7, iPhone 8, iPad Pro 5, iPad 9.7, and all later models.  They expect this feature to be available for Microsoft Windows sometime in the 2nd quarter.

New Enhancements to Zoom Rooms

Zoom Rooms is one of the best video conferencing platforms for video meeting and collaboration available on the market today.  It shines in almost every way, from the ability to use a wide range of video and audio products seamlessly, to easy of setup and use, to just provide extremely high quality at a price point that is affordable for any size business.  The following are enhancements we have been looking forward to for some time.

Zoom Rooms enhanced interoperability support – enable one-click to join with HD audio and video for third-party meeting invitations, with automatic SIP/H.323 URI parsing

Redesigned Zoom Rooms administrator portal – enhanced usability and new enterprise management functionalities, such as additional room alerts, remote management capabilities, and room type filter

Usability enhancements – Zoom Rooms now features waiting room and webinar raise hand

1080p support for Zoom Rooms video and content sharing – This feature is limited availability. For Zoom Business and Enterprise customers who would like to be considered for this feature, please contact Zoom Support.

Zoom Rooms Touch 

Whether you're new to interactive, intelligent touch displays or have been using them for years, you know how they can help with collaboration.  But, there has always been a "dark" side to using them within Zoom Rooms, primarily you have been limited to ONLY using touch display.  No longer, now Zoom Rooms support the use of dual screen setup, where display can be an interactive touch display, and other a traditional (non-touch) display.  This is another "little" thing that has huge impact.  Now, you can use your touch display, while still having meeting participants on the other screen.  And there is also support now for multiple-page whiteboards and blackboards.  Touch is coming to your Zoom Rooms - it's time to get ready for it.

Zoom is changing how we communicate and helping us do it with constantly looking to enhance our experience.  These are great updates from Zoom, and as stated earlier, only prove they are the market leader in video conferencing and collaboration.

If you have questions, please ready out to us for help.