Everyone is online – at least that’s what we think is true. The rapid digital transformation across Southeast Asia has underscored the importance of effective collaboration tools, especially as businesses continue to adapt to new hybrid work models. Organisations, from large enterprises to SMEs, need solutions that not only bridge the physical divide between dispersed teams but also drive productivity, engagement, and overall business growth. This evolving need is met by a surge in the adoption of advanced collaboration platforms, integrating AI and robust technological features to redefine how work is performed and managed.
One of the major players that has dominated the market since the start has been Zoom. The pandemic was a catalyst for growth with the product addressing the region’s challenges with tailored solutions that cater to diverse business needs. Companies realized that traditional free tools were insufficient for long-term growth and efficient collaboration, prompting a shift towards comprehensive platforms that reduce friction and enhance human connection. In SMEs particularly, where budget constraints and scalability concerns are significant, the demand for cost-effective, multifunctional tools has grown rapidly.
Is AI changing the ticketing and tourism industry in Southeast Asia?
The integration of AI within collaboration tools is shaping the next phase of workplace productivity. In Southeast Asia, a recent survey highlighted that 38% of employees use AI daily or almost daily in their work, surpassing usage rates in other global regions. This adoption trend reflects the region’s readiness for AI-driven innovations that optimise workplace operations. AI functionalities, such as automated transcription, predictive scheduling, and virtual assistants, allow teams to reclaim valuable time for strategic work and foster more meaningful interactions.
Zoom’s launch of its AI Companion and AI-first platform, Zoom Workplace, exemplifies how technology can enhance work processes by automating routine tasks and enabling seamless communication. This shift helps employees stay focused, reduces task backlogs, and supports the creation of an engaged, connected workforce—a necessity as organisations contend with declining engagement levels amid the hybrid work shift.
In this interview with William Smith, Head of Mid-Market Sales, Asia at Zoom, we explore how the region has continued to adopt more collaboration tools and how the industry is evolving.
What trends do you observe in the adoption of collaboration tools across Southeast Asia? Are there particular sectors in the region where you’ve seen a stronger demand for Zoom’s solutions?
A major trend we are seeing in Southeast Asia is that organisations are beginning to recognise that improving top-line revenue, boosting productivity, and reducing costs are all connected to the collaboration tools they adopt. Improving collaboration has thus become top of mind, especially as companies in the region continue to seek their best-fit hybrid work model. No matter the model—be it more days in the office, more at home, or anywhere in between—there remains a critical need for effective collaboration between increasingly dispersed teams. A recent survey we conducted with Morning Consult found that nearly half of Singapore leaders (45%) spend at least one hour catching up on overdue tasks. The same is true for Singapore employees (32%), though to a lesser extent. Leaders bear the brunt of ineffective collaboration when the time wasted could be channelled into higher-value tasks, such as building relationships and creative brainstorming—all of which could directly impact the bottom line.
This is particularly true for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the region. With return on investment (ROI) a key consideration, SME leaders are looking for cost-efficient collaboration tools that can help them navigate the increasingly difficult business environment while remaining on track to scale. Many SMEs we speak to now realise that relying on freeware is no longer enough to accelerate their business. To grow in the long term, they need to invest in the right platform technology that reduces friction in collaborating while enhancing human connection.
Another key trend we are seeing is the demand for AI embedded within collaboration tools. Organisations in the region are already using AI in their day-to-day workflows: the same Morning Consult report found that the Asia Pacific (APAC) region emerged as the region with the highest percentage of employees reporting daily or near-daily usage of AI (38%), compared to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (26%) and North America (34%). Beyond productivity, there remains untapped potential to expand AI’s use and maximise its value in the workplace, particularly in enabling and improving collaboration efficiency.
This is why we recently launched Zoom AI Companion 2.0, the next generation of the company’s AI personal assistant that has enhanced capabilities designed to help teams get more done. For instance, an exciting innovation is the expansion of our AI Companion capabilities in Workspace Reservation, where it will automatically recommend what days you should go into the office based on when your teammates plan to be there — so you can make the best of your time in the office.
Is localization a challenge when it comes to Southeast Asian markets, given the challenges with AI tools and local dialects and accents?
Localisation is definitely a challenge, as each market in SEA has its own language and unique business idioms. At Zoom, we prioritise localisation by expanding our solutions’ abilities to support the diverse languages in the region, leveraging our platform’s AI capabilities. For example, Zoom AI Companion supports over 30 languages for translation capabilities in Zoom Meetings and in Team Chat, including Indonesian, Malay, Chinese (Simplified), Thai, and more. Another key feature of Zoom AI Companion is our automatic language detection capability, which identifies the primary supported language spoken during a meeting and generates the summary in the relevant language — eliminating the need for hosts to pre-select a language.
As teams become more linguistically and geographically diverse, work platforms must support the wide range of languages used by global teams. In fact, we are continually looking at how we can refine our language capabilities and support. This is at the core of what Zoom is all about—making sure global teams can connect and work together more effectively.
With more businesses in Southeast Asia moving to digital collaboration tools, concerns around data security and privacy have increased. How do you navigate these issues in different regulatory markets?
Security and privacy are key pillars of our platform, and Zoom complies with applicable laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which it operates. For example, earlier this year, we worked closely with the Thai government and its auditors to achieve the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA) certification for Zoom Meetings in Thailand. Such standards are integral to strengthening our security foundation and serve as a testament to our focus on building a safe and reliable platform for users around the world.
We also rolled out optional post-quantum end-to-end encryption (E2EE) in Zoom Workplace in May, making us the first Unified Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS) company to offer a post-quantum E2EE solution for video conferencing, and have since expanded support beyond Zoom Meetings to include Zoom Phone and Zoom Rooms. If enabled, post-quantum E2EE is designed to provide only the participants with access to the encryption keys that are used to encrypt the meeting or call. This is on top of our comprehensive in-meeting security capabilities that are available to the meeting host, including 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption, secure options for local recording or on Zoom’s cloud, and two-factor authentication.
SMEs form the backbone of Southeast Asia’s economy, yet they often face challenges in adopting new technology. How much of your focus is on the SME market and building market share in that segment?
Running a small business comes with unique challenges, from managing multiple processes with a limited team and budget to increasing revenue, trimming costs, embracing new ways of working, to meeting new customer needs, and finding ways to stand out in a competitive market. This also means that any tech implementation needs to align with the business’s financial capacity while offering tangible ROI.
Zoom has always been customer-first, and empowering SMEs on their path to growth is a core mission for Zoom. For example, we worked with TheShareCo, a Singapore-based counselling application on their mission to make mental health support more accessible, affordable, and available on-demand. With the integration of the Zoom Video Software Development Kit (SDK), TheShareCo was able to transform the online therapy experience for its users. Our platform’s layout customisation flexibility allowed the creation of an environment that mimics face-to-face sessions, with a focus on the main video feed while providing easy access to essential tools. These built-in tools provided by the Zoom Video SDK, including annotation, screen sharing, and chat, also contribute to making online therapy sessions as effective as in-person sessions.
Our teams across Southeast Asia have been working closely and speaking with SME leaders to understand their challenges and offer tailored solutions to help meet their unique challenges. These conversations helped us understand that these SME leaders are looking for a workplace platform that saves them money yet provides rich collaboration and communication capabilities to energise their employees and engage customers.
This is exactly what we are offering with Zoom Workplace, an AI-first work platform for human connection. Zoom Workplace is designed to achieve this by streamlining communications, increasing employee engagement, optimising in-person time, and improving productivity across flexible work—all within a single platform. Various means of collaboration, be it Zoom Team Chat, Zoom Phone, Zoom Docs, or Zoom Mail and Calendar, are integrated within Zoom Workplace, allowing users to switch between these different modes seamlessly. Zoom AI Companion, the company’s AI personal assistant, is also offered at no additional cost to existing eligible paid Zoom Workplace users because we believe that the benefits of AI should be made available to as many people as possible — especially SMEs that need a one-stop, cost-effective solution that can scale with them.
With regard to AI-powered features like automated transcription, virtual assistants, and enhanced data analytics? How are these technologies expected to transform the way teams collaborate?
The future of collaboration will be revolutionised by AI, and this ties in with Zoom’s vision to deliver an AI-first work platform for human connection to help teams free up time and focus on what they do best: engaging and connecting, as well as delivering creative and insightful work.
There are already many examples of how AI can help teams become more productive: managers, for instance, spend time writing meeting summaries and coming up with next steps, searching for information, and drafting emails every day. With AI helping tackle routine tasks, managers can focus on more strategic work like workforce and business development planning to drive real growth. And, as hybrid work becomes the norm in Southeast Asia, organisations are seeking more than just increased productivity — they need tools that foster collaboration and keep teams engaged, no matter where they are working from or how they choose to work. This is a major challenge for businesses in the region. A recent survey Zoom commissioned with ReworkedINSIGHTS found that six in 10 organisations in APAC report declining employee engagement with current hybrid work models.
Teams are only becoming more dispersed and multi-generational, with different expectations and preferences for collaboration in the workplace. As organisations seek to reduce friction in the transition to hybrid ways of working, AI is a critical tool at their disposal to help employees collaborate better and feel more connected to each other. This will be key to building and maintaining company culture amidst changing workplace dynamics.
What organisations will need are AI-first employee engagement solutions that stay focused on fostering human connection. AI-powered features like automated transcription, virtual assistants, and enhanced data analytics will become par for the course in such an environment. At Zoom, we recognise this and recently launched Zoom Workplace, our AI-first work platform that goes beyond providing productivity benefits to transform the entire work experience. At Zoomtopia, we also announced AI Companion for Workvivo, which will help keep employees informed, engaged, and connected by creating content faster, and Workvivo Employee Insights, which will help measure and improve employee engagement.
Southeast Asia is a highly competitive market. Whether it is to secure top talent or drive growth in the region, companies big or small must focus on building happy, connected teams who can do their best work wherever they are. This can pay off in the long run by fostering a strong company culture, creating happier customers, and building a more resilient organisation for long-term success.