By Avanti Kumar
To help APAC navigate through the rapidly evolving era of flexibility, Zoom Video Communications, Inc. has unveiled several business initiatives for the region including its growing partner ecosystem, customer success highlights, and new additions to its senior leadership team.
Employees in APAC want to choose how and where to work, while customers want hyper-personalization and total convenience across virtual and physical touchpoints, said Ricky Kapur, Head of Asia Pacific, Zoom (pic above), during a recent media webinar.
This has spurred a period of self-reflection among leaders in all sectors fuelling a period of review and including healthcare, education, and financial institutions, to reimagine the customer journey.
Exacerbated by life under the pandemic, Zoom has seen the ‘work-from-anywhere’ workforce rapidly adopt the digital technologies needed to maintain enhanced collaboration, productivity, and inclusivity in hybrid teams.
The changing scenario was explored in a CIO panel discussion involving Kapur, together with Roger Burgess, Chairman and Co-founder of Cloudwerx, Australia; Jacob Pereira, Head of Partners, APAC, Zoom; and Rajnish Virmani, Managing Partner, Positive Momentum, India.
The webinar also highlighted the strong growth of Zoom’s solutions and presence in key APAC markets including Australia and New Zealand, ASEAN, China, Hong Kong SAR, India, Korea, and Taiwan.
A US$4 billion revenue company today, Zoom has chalked up two record breaking quarters in the cloud services revenue space, said Kapur.
Hybrid future
“All of our conversations with customers highlight the importance of flexibility as the key. Everyone is experimenting as we move on to the next phase of the post-COVID19 journey,” continued Kapur, citing research from different analysts that shows that employees are demanding flexibility, remote working, and yet deliver greater productivity.
As APAC continues its transformation into a hybrid future, Zoom is addressed the demand for secure, seamless, and connected experiences across virtual and physical channels.
To expand its power as an integrated and robust communications platform, Zoom has embarked on various steps to maintain momentum.
Ramping up momentum
“We have built out over APC senior leadership team,” Kapur said in his presentation, adding that these new additions demonstrate the company’s commitment to further growth in the region:
- Lucas Lu, Head of Asia (ASEAN, South Korea, Hong Kong SAR, and Taiwan). Lu joins Sameer Raje, General Manager and Head, India and SAARC, and Michael Chetner, Head of ANZ to drive business traction in the respective territories within APAC.
- Cathy Yum, Head of Marketing, APAC, brings two decades of experience in building high-performing teams and delivering business goals and objectives for some of the world’s biggest technology giants.
- Gina Kuek, APAC Leader, People Experience Business Partner, comes with a wealth of experience in developing people and creating positive workplace cultures.
- Jacob Pereira, Head of Partners, APAC, is responsible for Zoom’s partner ecosystem and overall channel growth in the region.
- Raj Natarajan, Head of Customer Success, APAC, comes with a proven track record of driving innovation and transforming business outcomes with some of the world’s most successful brands.
Pereira said the company’s diverse ecosystem of partners has moved up to a new level with the launch of its Zoom Up Partner Program with a focus that includes Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, among others.
Additional highlights from Kapur’s presentation noted that beyond the core offerings of Zoom Meetings and Zoom Webinars, the company experienced rising demand in the region for products like Zoom Rooms, Zoom Phone, and Zoom Events.
In FY22Q4, Zoom closed its largest Zoom Rooms deal in APAC with a customer deploying more than 3,300 Zoom Rooms to drive hybrid work across their offices. Just last year, Zoom Events was leveraged for several high-profile occasions in the region, including the Facility Management Forum 2021 organized by Indonesian government taskforce SKK Migas and Zoomtopia 2021, the company’s annual customer conference.
Earlier this month, the company also announced a new technology center in Chennai, India. This facility adds to Zoom’s existing technology center in Bangalore, India, and 21 co-located data centers across the globe, including in Singapore, India, Australia, Japan, and Hong Kong SAR in APAC, along with a Singapore-based research and development (R&D) center.
“APAC has always been a strategic region for Zoom’s international growth,” said Ricky.
“The potential for this region is enormous, propelled by a new generation of digital natives that will spur APAC’s transformation into a thriving digital economy. We have been and will continue to be committed to supporting our partners and customers here as they transition successfully to a hybrid world. With the expansion of our operations and teams in the region, we look forward to continually delivering an unmatched pace of innovation, empowering our customers to leverage new opportunities and overcome challenges – both quickly and securely.”
