Zoom May Be One Of The Latest Companies To Announce Layoffs, But It Once Changed The World Of Digital Communication

Just three years ago this month we were all watching the uncertainty–and eventual global spread–of the coronavirus unfold in our workplaces, schools, neighborhoods and even homes. At the time, many of us wondered what we would do if we couldn’t communicate in person to do our jobs, celebrate birthdays or even just grocery shop. 

Of course at the time we had Skype, an old reliable. There was FaceTime and Google Meets and Facebook Video and even Instagram had gotten into the business of video calling. I don’t know about you all, but I personally had never heard of Zoom until March of 2020. Considering that at the time I worked for a news station that often interviewed international guests, you’d think I would have prior to that awkward and uncomfortable third week of that month. But for me, you and everyone else who wasn’t an essential worker, Zoom quickly became a part of our daily lives.

I watched my niece turn one year old on Zoom, I went to bookclub on Zoom, I attended meetings and even funerals on Zoom. I’m sure that for better or worse you did, too. At the time video made us feel closer, gave us something–or someone–to relate to, and brought the community we miss during social distance back into our lives. While it may not be the primary way that we all socialize in 2023, it is a primary way that we do business as a tool for democratizing, diversifying and growing the global workforce.

The self-identified unification and collaboration platform offers everything from a VoIP phone system and conversation intelligence to omnichannel cloud contact center solutions optimized for video. And over the years, it has proven to be an effective tool in supporting and integrating communication technologies for a variation of companies and organizations. While some platforms look at the traditional phone or chat roles of contact center communications, Zoom puts video at the forefront of customer engagement while allowing agents and supervisors to better monitor interactions, manage queues, gather customer analytics and even use interactive voice response at communication touchpoints.

From 2020-2021, Zoom boasted as many as 300 million daily meeting participants and 3.5 trillion annual meeting minutes, Zoom has become a video conferencing giant in a little over 18 months. In March of 2020 alone, the app saw as many as 2.3 million downloads per day. Considering that in 2023, more companies are prioritizing improving knowledge, elevating customer data collecting and increasing personalization in the contact center, it appears that Zoom can continue on as a mainstay that organizations can meet those specific needs while also addressing customer complaints on automation and the downfalls of self-service.

But, as we know, things are not always as they appear to be: in February Zoom announced that it would be laying off nearly 15% of its workforce, signaling that in a hybrid world video communication might not be as universally applicable as it once was. While companies more than ever see the value of Zoom, its social desirability and traction has lessened with the onset of Zoom fatigue.

“We built Zoom to remove the friction that businesses felt when collaborating. Our trajectory was forever changed during the pandemic when the world faced one of its toughest challenges,” CEO Eric S. Yuan said in a statement on the company’s website. 

“To make this possible, we needed to staff up rapidly to support the quick rise of users on our platform and their evolving needs. Within 24 months, Zoom grew 3x in size to manage this demand while enabling continued innovation… As the world transitions to life post-pandemic, we are seeing that people and businesses continue to rely on Zoom. 

But the uncertainty of the global economy, and its effect on our customers, means we need to take a hard – yet important – look inward to reset ourselves so we can weather the economic environment, deliver for our customers and achieve Zoom’s long-term vision.”

Although the company founded in 2011 achieved IPO status in 2019 and later skyrocketed to digital communication stardom, the positive growth does not necessarily constitute positive business results. “We didn’t take as much time as we should have to thoroughly analyze our teams or assess if we were growing sustainably, toward the highest priorities,” Yuan explained, noting that he sees himself personally responsible for these mistakes and will be reducing his salary by 98%, in addition to forgoing a bonus this year. 

While scaling struggles are common in the world of business, many organizations that saw an increase in usage during the pandemic–among them Amazon and Meta–faced similar hiring and firing issues in accordance with the ebb and flow of pandemic needs. Ideally, all company founders and leaders would like to have a pandemic proof, recession proof, or even emergency proof business model that can allow for flexibility and change of direction based on consumer need. 

When Zoom was once the most accessible, cost effective way to have dozens of people on a call to celebrate those milestones, its use case today expands well beyond the sphere of social influence. Loved ones, friends and social circles are more commonly a walk, drive, plane or simple ping away. The challenge for Zoom in the coming months will be defining the brand in a world that once needed it for interaction, and now has it as a leverage tool for business satisfaction.

Photo by Compare Fibre on Unsplash