Zoom is no longer just Zoom: How Zoom Docs launch will disrupt Google and Slack in the Workspace market?

Breaking the workplace monopoly:

If you're starting a business in 2024 and need a collaboration workspace with essential tools like docs, meetings, and internal chat, you no longer have to rely on the old monopolies like Microsoft and Google.

Just click on the Zoom icon on your desktop and discover a wealth of tools launched in the past two years.

Recently, while setting up a meeting on Zoom, I stumbled upon their new product, Zoom Docs, and was amazed by its features—some even surpassing those of Google Docs.

How Zoom Is Disrupting Google and Slack in the Collaboration Space

Zoom was founded in 2011 with a singular focus: to deliver the best video conferencing experience. By focusing on simplicity & quality, it quickly became a household name, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, when remote work became the norm.

But Zoom's growth hit a plateau once people started moving back to the office. Recognizing the shifting needs of hybrid and remote teams, it has set out to create an ecosystem that would keep teams connected and productive.

Zoom’s recent launch of its Workplace platform, which includes internal chat, docs, mail, meet, and a whiteboard, marks a bold move to become the all-in-one solution for productivity and collaboration.

It's the typical formula in SaaS .. Build one hero product first, achieve PMF, and launch multiple products around an ecosystem to improve overall revenue for the business.

But Zoom has been typically longer in the game in its first product which is meetings.

Why Zoom Launched Workplace: A Strategic Perspective

Zoom Workplace debuted in 2023 as a strategic pivot to capture a larger slice of the workplace collaboration market.

The rationale was clear: businesses were looking for integrated tools to reduce app fatigue, save costs, and streamline workflows. By offering a unified platform, Zoom aimed to consolidate a fragmented market and provide a single video solution, chat, email, and document collaboration.

This move also aligns with Zoom's long-term vision of becoming the central hub for modern work.

With competitors like Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Google Workspace dominating the collaboration space, Zoom saw an opportunity to leverage its massive user base and video-first expertise to enter new territory.

If Google and Microsoft penetrated the workspace market through Gmail and Excel accordingly, Why not Zoom with meetings?

This is a bold bet by Zoom.

So far, zoom has 20 products in its portfolio which are essential tools to run a business irrespective of its size.

Zoom Docs:

If we have to launch a new doc product from scratch, we will have to keep in mind the recent user behavior around existing products especially around the adoption of AI.

Have tablestake features in addition to a 10 x feature.

Zoom has clearly understood this key change. By bringing in a hybrid of notion interface and AI companion, Zoom docs truly stand out from existing players.

One of the most important use cases around Docs is collaboration ie collaborating around meetings & delivering presentations.

10x Feature

The 10x feature in Zoom docs would be the AI companion, a generative AI assistant that assists in composing, converting, and refining content. It can generate meeting summaries, translate content into nine languages, and provide explanations to clarify existing material.

User Adoption features

• Collaborative Features: The platform supports real-time co-editing by up to 100 users on a single document. Users can tag colleagues, add comments, assign tasks, and manage permissions to streamline teamwork and maintain context.
• Flexible Content Blocks: Users can insert various content types, including text, images, tables, and media, allowing for customizable layouts and workflows tailored to specific project needs.

• Organizational Tools: Zoom Docs allows the creation of wikis and shared folders, enabling teams to link pages in a visual tree structure and group documents into hierarchies. This organization aids in consolidating knowledge and improving information accessibility

• Embedded Content from Third-Party Apps: Users can embed content from various third-party applications, such as Google Drive, YouTube, Figma, and X, directly into their documents, enhancing the richness and interactivity of the content.

Delighter Features

• Seamless Meeting Integration: Zoom Docs is natively embedded into the Zoom platform, enabling users to create, edit, and share documents directly within Zoom Meetings and Team Chat. This integration facilitates real-time collaboration without the need to switch between applications.

What Sets Zoom Workplace Apart?

Zoom Workplace is more than a collection of tools—it’s an integrated ecosystem designed to address the pain points of existing solutions.

Zoom Chat vs. Slack Chat

• Unified Communication: Zoom Chat integrates deeply with Zoom Meetings, allowing users to transition from chat to video with a single click. This tight integration makes it easier for teams to escalate discussions without disrupting their workflow.

• Thread Management and Search: Zoom Chat improves upon Slack’s thread system by introducing smarter categorization and search capabilities, reducing clutter and improving productivity.
• AI-Powered Features: Zoom leverages AI for smart suggestions, such as recommending relevant channels or summarizing lengthy conversations—a game-changer for busy teams.

Whiteboard and Beyond

Zoom’s whiteboard tool complements these features by offering a digital canvas for brainstorming and planning, seamlessly integrated with chat and video.

Zoom: Still a long way to go to replace Google

Zoom may not become an immediate replacement for business for two reasons

1) Lack of Products like Drive, Slides, forms which come as part of a package of google workspace.

2) Pricing based on seats.

Zoom restricts the no of users in the initial plan especially for the SMB space, while Google offers up to a maximum of 300 users in its starter, standard, and business plus plans.

Disrupting the market

Zoom’s entry into the workplace collaboration market is a bold, calculated move that capitalizes on its strengths in video and user experience.

By reimagining traditional tools like chat and docs and integrating them into a unified platform, Zoom Workplace has the potential to disrupt established players like Google Workspace and Slack.

However, the road to dominance won’t be easy.