Zoom plans email, calendar services after massive success in video calling space

Zoom Video Communications has had a tremendous year. The enterprise-focused video calling platform saw its usage grow multi-fold as the Covid-19 pandemic forced users to look for digital tools to communicate and collaborate. The company is now looking to replicate the success in other areas – corporate email and calendar.

According to The Information, Zoom has begun working on a web email service and "might offer a very early version of the product to some customers next year". The company is also developing a calendar application, added the report.

Even as Zoom had the upper hand in the video calling service, it will face competition in the email space. As of now, Microsoft (Office 365) and Google (G Suite) dominate the space and have become synonymous with corporate emails. As The Verge points, Zoom’s new foray will help the company find an application of its solutions in different areas than just video calling. It added that both Google and Microsoft offer video calling services as well.

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As said earlier, Zoom has a massive user base. The problem, however, is that its gross margins have remained under pressure as the surging free user base made it difficult to offset the escalating costs.

"We expect gross margins to be consistent with Q3 into the next fiscal year before starting to improve towards our long-term target margin," Chief Financial Officer Kelly Steckelberg said.

Zoom reported it had 433,700 customers with more than 10 employees, a 485% increase from the year before but only a 17% increase from the fiscal second quarter, compared to the 40% growth rate between the company's first and second quarters. The slowed growth is attributed to growing competition with established tech companies, which are trying to match Zoom’s offerings.