As the world continues to grapple with Covid-19, which has kept most people out of offices for the past year and a half, videoconferencing app, Zoom, has moved to make virtual meetings even more convenient. The firm has introduced Zoom Apps and Zoom Events which became available on global market on Wednesday. According to MarTech series, a tech news outlet, Zoom Apps seamlessly embeds third-party apps within the Zoom Meetings and desktop client experience, enhancing collaboration, productivity, and entertainment for today’s hybrid workforce. On the other hand, Zoom Events is an all-in-one platform for creating a wide range of interactive and immersive virtual events to reach and engage audiences. “These innovations will enhance the ways in which we connect and collaborate with our colleagues, clients, friends, family members, and others, improving productivity and collaboration while maintaining elements of fun and well-being,” Eric S. Yuan, Founder and CEO of Zoom told the tech outlet. Zoom Apps “Zoom Apps (Zapps) help surface all the applications you need to be productive and enable the free flow of information between teams before, during, and after the meeting,” the company said in a press release in October 2020. “Think of Zapps as an app store right where you need it most — in a Zoom meeting, chat, webinar, phone call, and even your contacts directory.” According to theverge.com, if you’re on the latest version of the Zoom client, you’ll be able to install apps from a new Apps tab you’ll see on the toolbar during Zoom calls (though your company administrator may need to enable them). There will be more than 50 apps available, including apps like Asana, Dropbox the Pexels backgrounds app, or even games like Heads Up. Less exciting but more practical, is Zoom’s integration of third-party apps directly into calls. That means the user will be able to do things like access tasks in Asana or documents stored in Dropbox without switching to another window, The Verge wrote. Zoom Events Zoom Events offers features to help you host robust virtual events. For example, you can make a hub that provides details about the event and set up a chat in the hub. You’ll also be able to sell tickets through Zoom Events, and the company won’t take a cut of those sales, The Verge Wrote. “We know that people are looking for flexibility in how they attend events in the future. The hybrid model is here to stay, and Zoom Events is a perfect solution for our customers who are looking to produce and host customer, company, and public events with an easy, yet powerful solution, Oded Gal, Chief Product Officer at Zoom told investors.zoom.us. This is another way we’re helping customers scale to meet consumer demands and the evolving virtual and hybrid landscape.” Zoom will still offer OnZoom, its events platform designed for small businesses that acts more like a marketplace for virtual events, though it will remain “in beta,” the company said. Zoom first announced OnZoom and integrated third-party apps in October 2020. The Zoom Events platform was first revealed in May. Users’ perceptions Vincent Sugira, a student at the University of Rwanda who uses Zoom frequently said that these features, especially Zoom Apps will be helpful especially in this time of working at home. “This time you will be able to access most things you need while in the Zoom meeting. Like before, you would need to have all the documents saved on your computer but for now, you will access them on document apps that will be on Zoom and share it without going out of Zoom. This will make the work and preparing meetings easier and as well as save time,” he said. Brenda Keza, the Country Director of Afflatus Africa, an organisation that hosts different literary events on Zoom also recognises that these features will be helpful. “Now, the only person that is allowed to share the screen is the host but if Zoom allows users to access different apps through Zoom App, the non-hosts will also be able to share them and this will ease interaction in the meeting,” she said. She continued, “About Zoom Events, there were physical events before Covid-19 where organisers would sell tickets to get money, but because now meetings are virtual, people are not able to do so with Zoom. This new feature is going to help event organisers keep organising virtual Zoom meetings because they will be able to earn financially.”
