How Zoom is growing its APAC business

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has boosted the fortunes of technology companies that supply video-conferencing and collaboration tools used for remote work, but at least one supplier is looking beyond remote work to fuel its growth.

At Zoom’s recent virtual event for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, the company showed off how its software can be used by a clothing store to facilitate virtual viewing and buying of apparel, and by a financial institution to engage with customers and facilitate know-your-customer (KYC) processes.

Ricky Kapur, Zoom’s head of APAC, said video communications is moving from enabling meetings to enabling business processes in use cases such as customer engagement.

For example, a bank could process an entire loan through video and use digital signatures facilitated by third-party apps such as DocuSign, which is available through the Zoom app marketplace.

Kapur said Zoom is also looking to embed its platform into third-party platforms, particularly in the APAC region where there are more startups and innovative companies than anywhere else in the world.

“We’re starting to see increased demand from these companies, adopting and embedding Zoom into their platforms to reach new audiences, reach new markets and be more inclusive,” he said.

Another area of growth for Zoom in the region is the hybrid workplace, where employees can choose to work anywhere – in the office, at home or at a satellite location such as a service office near their homes or client locations.

For that, Kapur said organisations can use Zoom-powered conference rooms called Zoom Rooms that have capabilities to run or join video meetings. Banks could also provide Zoom Rooms that prospective customers can use to learn more about a financial product from a virtual agent.

“Every industry is thinking about what hybrid means for them,” said Kapur. “It’s going to be a world where there’s going to be more imagination – and that’s the growth opportunity for us.”

Zoom has been boosting its investments in APAC in recent years, including a Singapore datacentre that it launched in August 2020 to reduce the latency of its services in Singapore while enabling users to route their calls and data locally.

Raagulan Pathy, Zoom’s head of enterprise sales in APAC, said at the time that the new facility underscored Zoom’s commitment to its customers in Singapore and Southeast Asia.

“The datacentre is going to be another jewel in the crown, and further reinforces Singapore’s status as a strategic location for global businesses and our reach in the Southeast Asian market,” he said.

Kapur said Zoom will continue to expand its footprint in APAC, including ASEAN, South Korea, India and Australia, adding that the company is already bolstering its sales, technical support, business development and partnership teams in the region.

The former Microsoft executive acknowledged the stiff competition in a market that includes the likes of Cisco and Microsoft, both of which have made deep inroads into some of the region’s largest enterprises.

Noting that it is common for enterprises to use multiple platforms and tools depending on their needs, Kapur said Zoom will co-exist with its competitors, specialising in use cases that demand high-quality communications capabilities in areas such as digital health and education.

Zoom’s revenue grew by 54% year on year in the second quarter of fiscal 2022, reaching $1,021.5m. Its number of customers contributing more than $100,000 in revenue over the trailing 12 months was up by about 131% compared to the same quarter in fiscal 2021.