Watch out for an exclusive interview with Sameer Raje, the General Manager and Head of India & SAARC Region at Zoom

Zoom Video Communications is a unified communications platform that spans video, voice, content sharing, and chat across desktop, mobile, phone, and conference rooms. The video-first platform enables a hybrid work environment for businesses. Zoom is redefining how organizations engage with customers and employees by empowering them to decide where, when, and how they engage. work. Zoom innovates continuously to evolve by keeping an ear to the ground on what businesses need and how best it can address their needs. The company's frictionless communications platform is the only one that started with video as its foundation, and it has set the standard for innovation ever since. The dynamic platform offers a space where people can connect to others, share ideas, make plans, and build toward a future limited only by their imagination.

The Journey of a Successful Leader

Sameer Raje is the General Manager and Head of India & SAARC Region at Zoom Video Communications, Inc. Prior to joining Zoom, Sameer Raje has held leadership positions in technology MNCs including Cisco WebEx, IBM, and Microsoft where he contributed to building and leading high-profile teams across Pre-Sales, Sales and Support. In his last tenure, Sameer was at West Unified Communications (Intercall) for about seven years as Director Sales, India & Director, Inside Sales Small Medium Businesses APAC. He joined Zoom in April 2019 to kick start and grow its operations in the country. As Zoom's first employee in India, he was the one who set up the foundation for the company's rollout in September that year. Currently, he is responsible for Leading Strategic Initiatives, Operations, Pre-Sales, Sales, Customer Success, Support and General Management functions.

Being associated with the world of collaboration since its inception in India, Sameer has seen several spectacular innovations in a career spanning over 25 years – from organizations not knowing what audio-based collaboration was in the '90s to video-based collaboration now becoming routine, it has been quite a journey. Having been an industry insider, he saw the contribution these platforms were making in bringing the world together by dissolving boundaries and recognized the need for something beyond traditional meetings. Joining Zoom offered him a fantastic opportunity that builds upon his skills, experiences, and knowledge. He also had the opportunity of driving country specific strategic initiatives, owning key relationships and building cross functional teams. Today, Zoom in India has over 250+ partners, large employee count and a huge customer base spanning large enterprises and SMBs.

Navigating through the Challenges with Confidence

Sameer recounts that Zoom's platform was built primarily to serve as a collaboration tool for enterprises. Enterprises have elaborate security systems and IT support teams in place, who customize the security setting for secure meeting environments. With the onset of the pandemic, usage of Zoom's platform ballooned overnight. The company suddenly had a much broader set of users who were utilizing its platform in a myriad of unexpected ways, presenting the company with challenges it did not anticipate when the platform was conceived.

However, Sammer was confident when he mentions that Zoom took every issue seriously and was able to address these concerns through a concerted company wide effort and a series of initiatives and commitments. The employees worked around-the-clock to ensure that businesses, schools, and other organizations across the world can stay connected and operational. It started out with a 90-day feature freeze which was basically where all of its engineering resources were rededicated to only focus on features, on privacy and security. As a result of that, in that year, the company released over 400 features dedicated to privacy and security alone. Zoom released its latest platform version Zoom 5.0 which supports 40 to 256-bit GCM encryption. It also set up a CISO council, bringing together CISOs from reputed organizations across the world with more than 35 experts who continue to advise the company on what is the latest that it can do about security to stay on the cutting edge.

Major Characteristics of a successful CEO

Sameer feels that organizations are challenged with making big decisions to meet changing business expectations, and those decisions will dramatically alter how they hire, manage their facilities, buy technology, and maintain productivity. This will take a comprehensive reimagining. Past mindsets and traditional work solutions no longer meet the needs of many organizations and their employees. Both business and IT leaders will have to develop strategies and tools that can be leveraged to free themselves from past limitations and equip teams to succeed, both now and in the future.

Disruptive Technologies at the Heart of Innovation in Communication

Sammer explains that Zoom has innovated from a single video app into a comprehensive communications platform that powers modern organizations.  Zoom has an ambitious vision for the future of communications built on its track record of industry-redefining innovation. He reminded that Zoom were the first to introduce cloud-based, drastically simple, unified video and web conferencing across desktop and mobile in 2011. The company is in the business of solving its clients' problems, and as a result, deliver hundreds of features a year, including many industry firsts that became industry standards, like virtual backgrounds and gallery view. At Zoomtopia 2021, the company announced some interesting innovations to enable continuous collaboration across verticals like enterprises, financial services, government, education and healthcare. According to Sameer, some of these innovations include a whole new way to collaborate using Zoom Whiteboard, a powerful virtual hub for real-time and asynchronous collaboration anticipated later this year and the Zoom Video Engagement Center to help businesses of all types to reimagine how they interact with customers. To reimagine workspaces for hybrid teams we announced other exciting updates and new features which include innovations like Zoom Rooms to streamline the workspace reservation process and enhance your in-room presentations updated with Workspace Reservation to easily book spaces using an interactive map whether they are on-site or remote, creating a seamless experience for all employees.  The company also announced Smart Gallery enhancements to enable remote workers to be represented equally on screen with other participants and Hot desking options that will give employees the ability to book desks and spaces on an interactive map along with other key platform updates.

Sameer demonstrates that Zoom was purpose-built for the enterprise, and we are honored to be chosen and trusted by many of the world's largest, most admired, and heavily regulated companies. Zoom is not just for internal collaboration – it allows enterprises to build rich connections with external stakeholders and customers through our meetings, events, and video engagement solutions. Zoom's product was built from the ground up for its customers. This is the foundation upon which the company continues to enhance its platform: Zoom listens to its customers and delivers on their needs quickly. Sameer explained, "Today, we are partnering with our customers to build the future of hybrid work. Zoom has evolved to a comprehensive collaboration tool, and it will continue to bring siloed experiences together into a single experience platform."

Sameer reports that the consumer demand for communication to be frictionless and effortless, going beyond language or geographical barriers will facilitate more dependence on advanced technologies like AI, VR and AR which will prove to be game changers in internal and external collaborations. Video communications platforms will also see the addition of many more products and services powered by these technologies. CX teams will advance towards an era where AI-powered experiences will be created to feel like in-person engagement similar to real life interactions. AI, AR & VR technology are at the center of the conferencing room pod experience, enabling features like auto-tracking cameras, speaker focus or even people counting for meeting attendance. Visual collaboration tools will provide more immersive experiences that commission real-time and asynchronous communication, allowing teams to work more collaboratively and efficiently, irrespective of where they are located. With many companies now fully embracing a flexible hybrid workplace or finalizing their return-to-office plans, the role of a business leader has evolved to adopt the right technology to create a collaborative and inclusive work environment that meets the needs of their employees, irrespective of where they work. Conversations around protecting the hybrid workforce from risk will also lead security professionals to adopt modern tools and technologies, like multi-factor authentication and the Zero Trust approach to cybersecurity.

A Complete Change is Awaiting the Future

Sameer opines that the workplace of the future is undergoing a metamorphosis to meet the dynamic and flexible needs of today's workforce. This evolution has called for a shift in thinking of work not as a place, but as something that people do, regardless of the place they are at. Going forward, it will no longer just be about digital experience, customer experience or even employee experience. Businesses now need total experience, where all of these 'X's are delivered in one complete package. Zoom has an incredible role to play in creating the next journey with the hybrid world. By adopting new ways of thinking and strategically deploying collaboration technology to aid teams, the Everywhere Workforce can become a sustainable reality. Whether you need to better connect teams or are just looking for creative inspiration, Zoom is well-placed to support businesses, governments, and individuals through and into the hybrid future.  He adds that the future of work at Zoom will be based on enabling a flexible working environment for our employees. Work is no longer just a place but a space where we come together to collaborate in different ways. Modern working arrangements that accommodate its increasingly dispersed global employees — coupled with tools, resources, and principles to guide its new work reality will be crucial. And the Zoom platform will be critical to the success of these arrangements. According to Sameer, the video communications can no longer be seen merely as a means of connection, but as ammunition for businesses to stay ahead in the digital economy. Video will continue to reshape the workforce and experiences across every sector, be it retail, financial services, healthcare, education, insurance or emergency services.

Sameer states that the world has evolved quickly and today it has become all about engaging with people both externally and internally. Innovative product delivery in order to provide the customers with the best possible and smooth experience is everything in today's date and time. Leaders and executives alike need to be inquisitive and have a driving passion to do more in order to provide their customers with the best possible products and experience. At the same time, it is extremely important to also build a motivational and futuristic work culture internally and it helps you surround yourself with people who know more and give the best recommendations. "Don't be afraid to adopt new ways of thinking and strategically deploying collaboration technology to aid your teams – enable the Everywhere Workforce to become a sustainable hybrid business!" concludes Sameer.