Toronto-based Zoom.AI has now found a major partner in Microsoft, as the company announces its integration into Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Office 365.
Users of Microsoft Teams and Office 365 will now have access to Zoom.AI’s automated assistant without having to leave their respective platforms, with services ranging from automating tasks like booking meetings, to finding information within applications and managing documents. The AI assistant can learn a user’s daily routines and automate based on that information.
“They are very serious about the enterprise software space and continuing to be the larger player there.”
– Roy Pereira, CEO of Zoom.AI
The company has been working with Microsoft for the last year and a half to add more support to Teams and Office 365. When Zoom.AI acquired SimplyInsight in September 2017 — which plugs into a company’s data sources and allows users to ask questions in natural language delivered through chat — the company said that Microsoft represented 75 to 80 percent of its leads because of its integration into software like Skype and Teams.
“We try to support all of the tech stacks we find in enterprise environments. So the Google G Suites, Salesforce, and others. But what we find is that the vast majority of our enterprise customers are on the Microsoft tech stack,” CEO Roy Pereira said.
With this partnership, Microsoft is now officially supporting the company by promoting the solution across their channels, having salespeople including them in presentations to customers, and demoing during onboarding for employees.
“Our working relationship has showed us that they are very nimble and reinventing themselves,” said Pereira. “They have a lot of dedicated resources that we’ve interacted with that have helped us with the relationship.”
Last year, the company raised $2.1 million to double down on the enterprise side, working with large businesses struggling to incorporate emerging technology, like chat, into existing legacy infrastructure. By plugging in to a user’s data sources, Pereira says that its machine learning algorithm can understand the nuances of what users mean when they type, even if they aren’t being precise.
“Both natural language processing and machine-learning are major strategic imperatives for Microsoft. There is no doubt that these technologies will completely change the way people interact with not only the devices they use but how they interact with their workplaces,” said Rob Howard, director, Microsoft Office 365 Ecosystem at Microsoft. “The availability of Zoom.ai’s automation technology within Office 365 will help our joint customers automate simple tasks and improve communication within their existing collaboration tools, allowing them to get more tasks off their plate in less time.”
The company says the support from Microsoft will allow it to better target its customers as they work closely with their sales and marketing teams to include Zoom.AI in their activities. “This should allow us to achieve our revenue goals,” said Pereira. “They are very serious about the enterprise software space and continuing to be the larger player there, and they are leveraging partnerships like Zoom.ai to achieve that goal.”