Zoom Review: Everything Companies Can Do with Zoom

A complete overview of the Zoom platform

Last Edited: May 15, 2023

Rebekah Carter

In today's Zoom review, we’re going beyond the basics to explore the functionality of the entire Zoom platform. After all, though Zoom may still be commonly associated with video meetings and webinars, the company offers so much more than many businesses realise.

The Zoom ecosystem even earned a space as a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for UCaaS at the beginning of 2023, alongside major vendors like Cisco, Microsoft, RingCentral, and 8×8. For years, Zoom has positioned itself as an innovator and market leader in the communications space, committed to unifying teams with simple, yet transformational tools.

However, it wasn't until the pandemic hit in 2020 that Zoom's growth really skyrocketed. Within a year, active meeting participants grew by 2,900%, and by 2023, Zoom boasted a massive 12% increase in enterprise customers, demonstrating its growing presence in a range of markets.

So, what exactly does the Zoom platform offer? This comprehensive review will tell business buyers everything they need to know.

In 2022, Zoom cemented its position in the UCaaS market with a new packaged platform offering: Zoom One. Promising an intuitive experience capable of unifying teams across multiple platforms, Zoom One is an all-in-one collaboration and communication toolkit.

Pricing for Zoom One is based the number of users in a company, and the features required. Options range all the way from a free plan which supports up to 100 attendees in basic meetings, to various premium options such as:

Depending on the plan, the Zoom One solution combines the following features into a comprehensive tech stack for teams:

Zoom Meetings is the iconic HD audio and video meeting platform, designed for internal collaboration. The solution was built for modern teams, allowing staff to join a meeting from any device, using either a link, or an integrated calendar system invoice. There are even dedicated "Zoom for Home" devices available for remote workers.

Zoom Meetings goes above and beyond the basics of video conferencing, with powerful virtual meeting security sessions, such as role-based security, passcode protection and waiting rooms. It also features a number of innovative collaboration tools, such as screen-sharing, co-annotation sessions, virtual whiteboarding, filters, reactions, and polls.

Users can meet and chat at the same time with included messaging, share files, music, and video, and even record meetings which can automatically be converted into searchable transcripts. Some of the other core features of Zoom Meetings include:

Integrated with the rest of the Zoom One ecosystem, Zoom chat is the simple messaging solution provided by Zoom. It includes powerful search filters, to help teams find information quickly, message pinning and @mention options, and easy-to-use private and public chat threads.

Zoom Chat supports file and screen sharing, with advanced encryption options, SSO, and multi-factor authentication for security. Admins can also take advantage of granular admin controls to determine how files are stored, and which users can add new contacts. The solution comes with cloud storage support built-in, as well as integrations with options like Google Docs and Dropbox.

Plus, teams can enhance chat sessions with apps and bots, available throughout the Zoom platform. Accessibility features and analytics are also available within the same Zoom interface.

An essential part of the Zoom UCaaS toolkit, Zoom Phone (now with 4 million users), is a feature-rich cloud phone system intended for businesses of all sizes. The intuitive VoIP phone system allows teams to make outbound calls, and receive inbound calls in the same unified interface.

Zoom boasts global coverage for its phone technology, and promises exceptional security, with standards based SIP over TLS 1.2, and AES 256-bit calling encryption. Zoom Phone also aligns with various major standards and certifications relevant in a host of industries. Zoom Phone includes all the features you might expect from a leading VoIP solution, such as:

Companies can choose to either purchase phone packages directly from Zoom, which start at around $120 per year, per user, with included internal and outbound calling, or implement their own carrier into the Zoom system. The BYOC solution is available to access either in the cloud or on-premises, so teams can build their ideal communication strategy from scratch.

Part of the overall meeting experience offered by Zoom, Zoom Whiteboard is a digital, scalable whiteboard which allows staff to collaborate however, and whenever they want. Companies can take advantage of interactive, real-time whiteboard collaboration, virtual sticky notes, and convenient sharing tools. Whiteboards can also be saved automatically and shared outside of a meeting.

Advanced whiteboarding tools include custom templates, organizational templates teams can share through the organization, and third-party integrations. Plus, Zoom has a host of recommended partners available to deliver hardware to collaborating companies. Options range from the DTEN D7, to the Neat Board, and Logitech Rally Bar with Touch Display.

Otherwise known as "IQ for Sales", the Conversational Intelligence solution offered by Zoom provides direct access to productivity metrics and actionable insights in Zoom Meetings and Phone interactions. The platform transforms raw data from across conversations into visual graphs and dashboards, with AI-enhancements to help guide business decisions.

Companies can aggregate Zoom reports with their CRM system, implement insights from sales funnels, and create custom reports based on a host of KPIs and metrics. The platform can also deliver useful insights and next-best actions to agents in real-time, through Zoom IQ.

The Zoom IQ solution is an integrated artificial intelligence assistant, which leverages OpenAI (ChatGPT) technology to generate meeting summaries, guidance, and even content for chats, emails, and whiteboard sessions.

The Zoom email and calendar client supports business leaders in managing interactions and campaigns in one environment. Users can connect Gmail or Microsoft 365 accounts to the Zoom platform, and leverage email and calendar features alongside Zoom Meetings, Chat, Whiteboard, and Phone sessions. The integrated solution allows users to schedule and join meetings, send copies of emails to chat channels, and schedule calls instantly.

The Zoom One portfolio also includes access to a component of the "Zoom Spaces" collection of products: Zoom Huddles. The Huddles app provides instant access to an overview of the number of employees using huddle or meeting environments in a workplace, it also allows users to participate in huddles with comprehensive audio and visual controls.

Users can choose how they want to interact with a huddle, maximizing and minimizing the view of other users, and each huddle comes with its own team chat channel. Plus, Huddle users can also connect their solution to Zoom Rooms, the all-in-one meeting room creation solution from Zoom.

As a leader in the meetings and collaboration space, Zoom also supports business leaders in the development of intelligent, hybrid meeting rooms. Companies have a range of ways to create rooms or spaces with Zoom, including:

Zoom Room and Spaces pricing depends on a number of factors, but basic Zoom Rooms licenses start at around $499.00 per year, per room.

Zoom Events is the all-in-one event and webinar hosting solution, intended to help businesses host virtual experiences of any size or style. The all-in-one platform includes everything companies need to host single session events, online webinars, and community events, with live streaming.

Zoom's Events solutions split into three separate offerings:

Zoom Events, Session, and Webinar prices are based on the specific attendee capacity needs and feature requirements of each company. Prices start at $990 per year, per license for Zoom Sessions, or $1,490 per year per license for Zoom Events.

Finally, like many competing brands in the UCaaS industry, Zoom has also begun expanding its footprint in the contact center. The Zoom Omnichannel Contact Center provides all the tools businesses need to drive customer loyalty with personalized voice, chat, and video interactions. Users can leverage screen and file sharing tools, create personalized waiting rooms for customers, offer self-service experiences, and even design an intelligent IVR with drag-and-drop tools.

Some of the core features of the Zoom Contact Center include:

Pricing for the Zoom Contact Center is delivered on a per-quote basis, chosen according to the number of users in a team, the number of phone numbers needed, and other factors.

Overall, it's hard to deny that the Zoom portfolio has a lot to offer. The company covers every aspect of the communication landscape, from meetings and webinars, to events, phone conversations, and even contact center interactions. Plus, with a vast developer platform available, and dozens of integrations to choose from, it's easy for Zoom users to customise their experience.

Zoom has come a long way from being just an innovative video conferencing company. Today, it's a true contender in the UCaaS and CCaaS landscapes.

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