SEEK, Australia and Asia Pacific’s leading job marketplace, has expressed its appreciation for Zoom Video Communications’ artificial intelligence (AI)-based innovations, leveraging Zoom’s suite of communications tools to maintain connectivity and collaboration between its geographically dispersed teams.
Speaking at the Zoomtopia Asia 2024 event, Peter Bithos, Director of SEEK Business Group. (on the left in the photo) highlighted the critical role that Zoom’s technology, particularly Zoom Events, has played in facilitating communication in the region.
“Operating across the Asia Pacific region, it is important for us to create a unified experience for our employees,” said Bithos, who was previously CEO of SEEK Asia. “We use it for everything from large-scale town halls to hybrid career fairs, and features like machine-translated captions have been crucial to overcoming language barriers and ensuring seamless communication with our teams abroad. »
“With Zoom, we have strengthened our engagement across the region and we are excited to continue transforming the way we work,” he added.
SEEK Group operates Asia’s leading job platforms — JobStreet and JobsDB — in six markets and holds minority stakes in JobKorea and Bdjobs.
In Malaysia, the company is led by Managing Director Vic Sithasanan, an industry thought leader and seasoned executive who previously co-founded and sold two innovation-focused start-ups, successfully turned around two digital advertising agencies and managed to develop technological activities across the world. different markets and segments.
Bithos’ endorsement comes as Zoom unveiled a series of groundbreaking AI-driven platform innovations at its annual Zoomtopia Asia Pacific (APAC) 2024 event.
Ricky Kapur, Head of Zoom for APAC (second from left in photo) opened the session by highlighting the unique challenges and demographics of the region.
“With up to five different generations – from Baby Boomers to Gen Z – working side by side in the workforce, companies that effectively use technology to bridge this generation gap are able to strengthen their talent pipeline, to increase their productivity and gain a competitive advantage,” Kapur said.
He stressed that technologies such as AI are particularly important in the region.
“Our commutes are exceptionally long in many countries and we regularly work across borders and languages, particularly in regions like Southeast Asia. With 60% of the world’s youth, this region has the largest youth population in the world; this means our workforce is young, tech-savvy and quick to adopt new technologies.
Citing a Deloitte analysis report on the adoption of generative AI in the region, Kapur noted that “it is estimated that generative AI could impact 16% of work hours, or more than 11 billion hours of work per week in this region.
“This could result from AI automating tasks to free up employees’ time or augmenting tasks in a way that allows workers to use AI tools to do their jobs faster and better .”
He added: “A recent Zoom and Reworked Insights report found that generative AI has become a key tool in supporting employee productivity and the overall work experience. Organizations in APAC saw the highest use of meeting transcripts, summaries, and chatbots in this report, and 85% of APAC leaders believe generative AI has made their workforce more productive.
Kapur envisions a world in which asynchronous work is as productive as traditional work models, with AI supporting how individuals organize and plan their day to maximize productivity.
“AI can take notes, summarize a meeting, and identify actions to take in meetings you may not even have attended. Language barriers are a thing of the past, as AI-generated translations make communication across borders much easier,” said Kapur.
Zoom Founder and CEO Eric S. Yuan also shared the company’s vision at the event, highlighting the recent launch of AI Companion 2.0 as a reflection of Zoom’s evolution into a workplace platform. focused on AI for human connection.
Provided at no additional cost for paid Zoom Workplace accounts, AI Companion 2.0 integrates data from meetings, chats, documents, and external tools such as Microsoft Outlook and Google Workspace. This integration allows users to receive comprehensive responses to queries, facilitating effective and clear communication.
AI Companion also accelerates project launches by using content from Zoom Meetings to draft documents in Zoom Docs, reducing administrative burdens. It offers reliable information with citations, allowing users to verify sources with confidence.
Zoom is expected to launch a custom add-on for AI Companion in the first half of 2025, allowing organizations to personalize interactions with AI through Zoom AI Studio. This customization includes dictionaries, meeting summaries, and knowledge collections, improving response accuracy by connecting to business-specific data sources. The add-on also supports integration with third-party applications such as Atlassian Jira & Confluence, Workday and Zendesk, enabling comprehensive insights and cross-platform actions. Personalization features include coaching capabilities and the creation of custom avatars for Zoom Clips, streamlining video content creation.
“Zoom helps you create more space so you can hear your inner voice, be more creative, connect with others and achieve more. This is what Zoom AI Companion was designed to do, with innovations built into Zoom Workplace that drive collaboration between individuals and teams,” said Yuan.
“Zoom AI Companion frees us to do more so we can focus on what we do best; then we can work happily.
Yuan believes that over time, AI will become even better and safer, evolving into a tool that can reduce overall workload while leaving important decisions to individuals.
“As we get closer to realizing our dream and vision for the future, I want to assure you that we will continue to work as hard as possible to provide solutions that help you work happily with Zoom AI Companion,” he added.
Following the main session, Zoomtopia was divided into four regional customer streams: ANZ, Asia, India and Korea, as well as the Partner Connect stream specifically for Zoom partners. Other clients featured during this track included Raj Dogra, Chief Information Officer at upGrad; and Associate Professor Lee Wee Leong, Vice-President (Learning Services) at the Singapore University of Social Sciences.
Professor Lee shared his thoughts on the evolving role of generative AI. “Generative AI is evolving toward multimodal capabilities spanning text, audio, image and video. I believe that text-based interaction will remain the most widely used mode of using generative AI chatbots. As generative AI becomes more refined and reliable, its use will likely be accepted as another valuable educational tool,” he said.
He added that in the business world, generative AI could streamline various administrative tasks.
“For example, AI-based tools can manage document processing, automate data entry, and support decision-making by analyzing large sets of information. In HR, we have seen that the recruitment process has been simplified through the use of AI to filter CVs,” explained Professor Lee.
“Finance teams can also use it to automate expense management or generate financial reports. As businesses become more familiar with this technology, we will see an increase in AI-enhanced workflows, leading to more efficient operations, cost savings and allowing employees to focus on strategic activities at high added value.
As companies like SEEK endorse and adopt Zoom’s latest AI innovations, it’s clear that artificial intelligence is set to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of work in the Asia-Pacific region. Peaceful.
