NEW DELHI: Bored of sitting staring at your screen for hours in a meeting? What if you can have your avatars sit in a virtual conference room instead, communicating and collaborating with your co-workers? Zoom is building exactly this and more.
Sameer Raje, General Manager and India Head, Zoom Video Communications, in a conversation with TNIE, said, new offerings are on the cards as the company is working on virtual reality and augmented reality to enable smooth collaboration in work-from-home as well as hybrid setting.
About features like avatars and a whiteboard to sketch out ideas, Raje said, “If we have to collaborate with someone on the field, it would be great if we have our avatars meeting in a virtual conference room.”
Zoom has announced a partnership with Facebook’s Oculus that will let users meet in virtual reality.
The company in September also teamed up with a maker of office phone booths to create a videoconferencing pod for offices, as part of its strategy to remain relevant even as workers move to offices. Booths will also have a Zoom Room where users can connect their accounts to a meeting room’s conferencing software quickly.
“In Zoom Rooms, there is a temperature check, there is a virtual receptionist. You can also check the CO2 levels in the conference room. We are bringing more elements, all around collaboration,” said Raje.
About a tool that allows workers to book and check into desks and workspaces at their offices, he said, “The immediate focus for Zoom right now is to help organisations navigate the transition to hybrid work, help professionals working remotely with a personal touch through VR and build the instant chat platform up.” “India has a humongous talent in terms of technology and that’s what we are looking at,” he says, adding, “We are recruiting big time in India in various fields of engineering. The numbers are huge and hiring will continue for a significant time.”