Zoom Perspectives: Why ‘agent’ work is the new business standard

I have been waiting for the 2026 edition of the Zoom Communications Inc.‘s Perspectives, its annual gathering of industry analysts recently, because I find Zoom to be the most interesting vendor in the communications business today.

Although it has many competitors, its product roadmap is remarkably different. Other communications-as-a-service and center-as-a-service providers have focused deeper into those stacks, but Zoom has complemented those efforts by expanding into more adjacent areas, such as email, documents, sheets, notes and other productivity tools. In addition, the company provides advanced employee tools with Workvivosmall business applications through Bonsaimany more.

This has many industry watchers raising eyebrows and wondering why Zoom would want to go head-to-head with Google LLC and Microsoft Corp. in their key areas of power. At Perspectives, I was looking forward to gaining a better understanding of Zoom’s core plan for its next move.

The timing of the event was appropriate, as business and information technology leaders have moved beyond thinking about video, chat, and calls and are focusing more on artificial intelligence partners, digital workers and a relentless focus on business results. Here are my key takeaways from Zoom Perspectives 2026:

Zoom disrupts work, not communication

Zoom is repositioning itself as an “action app” that goes beyond simple communication to disrupt the way work gets done. By combining its extensive tools — including meetings, phone, group chat, documents, sheets and a new note-taker, Zoom My Notes — into a unified platform, Zoom looks to bridge the gap from “conversation to end.”

This strategy focuses on removing the “collision tax” of switching between different applications by enabling AI to think through unstructured conversational data and trigger automated workflows. Instead of simply competing in feature sets with giants like Microsoft and Google, Zoom is betting on an integrated AI approach that delivers a seamless, “disposable” user interface designed for a specific task at hand.

As CEO Eric Yuan (pictured) explained during the event: “For many years, we only focused on the first step: rich communication. Now, we aim to embrace the completion. Basically, give the customer a seamless experience to get the job done. It used to be two steps; now it’s just one step with AI.”

From transactional information to functional orchestration

While most platforms focus on organizing data, Zoom repositions the interface as a logic engine that actively guides the next steps of a project. Acting as a “semantic layer” between the user and his tools, the platform uses AI to identify commitments made during the conversation and translate them into integrated actions across third-party systems such as Jira or Salesforce. This changes Zoom’s role from a simple information display to an active orchestrator of business processes.

As Chief Marketing Officer Kim Storen noted, “We recognize that there is an opportunity to add value to the entire conversation lifecycle, from preparation to meetings and all the way to the end of the transaction, with the understanding and context that comes with embedded AI.”

From a parallel service to a progressive platform

A recurring theme among large enterprise customers is the move to cross-platform integration – not just a cost-saving function, but an information persistence strategy.

The “utility phase” of the pandemic era was about keeping the lights on. The current phase is about eliminating human delays caused by cooperation between international groups. My research shows that employees spend 40% of their time managing their work rather than doing their jobs.

For today’s information executives, the value proposition has shifted from the quality of streaming video to the value of capture from the data generated. By using persistent whiteboards, documents, and AI-generated context, organizations can bridge time zones with ease. When a development team in one hemisphere folds, the next team can quickly resume work, guided by an AI-selected “play mode” rather than a grueling four-hour meeting.

AI as a new accountability partner

Enterprise AI conversations have moved from “What can AI do?” on “How is AI changing our social work contract?” For many IT leaders, the Zoom AI Companion is more than a meeting summary; it becomes a form of accountability. When logging and action tracking are enabled by default, the meeting’s “public contract” changes.

Common post-meeting ambiguity provides a digital record of commitment. If the participant accepts the delivery, it is picked up, delivered and tracked. This change transforms AI from a passive assistant into a persistent partner that drives project speed and ensures that “stealth drives” no longer hold back critical workflows. This provision is what causes large businesses to lose their agility which results in them falling behind smaller competitors.

What does this mean for the CIO

For the CIO, the evolution of Zoom marks a shift in the “center of gravity” of business data.

• To reduce tool fatigue: By combining disparate tools into a single AI-enabled ecosystem, CIOs can reduce the cognitive burden of employees and the integration burden of IT.
• Data fee: An agent approach means that data no longer resides in silos. If AI can track a project from the phone to the whiteboard session to the final document, the CIO is no longer managing disparate applications; they manage the continuous flow of the company’s intelligence.
• ROI for “earned time”: The main metric is changing to “context time.” The more an employee can quickly understand the current status of a project without human intervention, the more organizational value is realized.

Zoom Effects

As Zoom pivots toward this future of the agent, the company faces several strategic needs:

1. Identity challenge: Zoom should continue to fight the “video only” perception. Its success depends on the market viewing it as an “operating system” rather than an assembly tool.
2. Platform compatibility: To truly have an “agent,” Zoom’s AI will need to integrate seamlessly with third-party ecosystems (Salesforce, ServiceNow, Jira). The more “open” their agent structure is, the more important Zoom becomes.
3. Security and trust: As AI moves from shortening meetings to “holding people accountable” and managing workflows, the privacy and security of that data will face greater scrutiny. Zoom’s “AI-first” structure must remain “Trust-first” to maintain its focus on a regulated business.

Finally, Perspectives showed that Zoom is no longer content to be just a place to discuss work; it aims to be a working engine. It’s definitely a departure from where the industry has been, but Zoom has never been afraid to do things differently. The platform is ready, and products are coming out at a rapid pace.

Can Zoom change the way people work? Only time will tell, but with companies making heavy AI investments, Zoom will certainly have a chance.

Zeus Kerravala is a principal analyst at ZK Research, a division of Kerravala Consulting. He wrote this article for SiliconANGLE.

Photo: Zeus Kerravala