The popular videoconferencing platform is adding a green room for virtual events as part of a raft of new features aimed at enterprise marketing and sales teams. Credit: Amazon Zoom is adding new features to its Events, Webinar and Meetings tools in a bid to help enterprise marketers and salespeople better engage with customers and employees using its videoconferencing platform. What’s in the Zoom Events and Webinar updates Zoom first announced its events platform, OnZoom, back in 2020, offering users the ability to create and host live events and webinars for up to 50,000 attendees, depending on a company’s Zoom license. Later this month, Zoom Events users will be getting a virtual backstage environment—think of it as a virtual green room. This feature allows panelists, speakers, and production staff to stay behind the scenes while viewing the live event feed, chat with each other, answer attendees’ questions, and practice their presentations. Zoom Webinar users are also getting two new features. Sessions can now be branded, with hosts able to customize the in-webinar experience by adding a wallpaper behind the video tiles, set a common virtual background for all panelists, and provide name tags for each panelist. In-webinar reactions can now be posted to the bottom-right corner of the main webinar window also. Launching Zoom IQ for Sales The new Zoom IQ for Sales tool is a “conversation intelligence add-on” for Zoom Meetings that turns customer interactions into actionable insights for salespeople. By automating next steps, risk assessments and adding quick search functionality, Zoom says it can boost sales productivity during and after meetings with clients. IQ for Sales integrates with Salesforce, various email calendar platforms, and Zoom Meetings to consolidate workstreams, and provide an aggregated view of conversations. Zoom IQ for Sales is immediately available as an add-on for Zoom Meetings customers, with support for Zoom Phone coming soon. Dave Michels, founder and principal analyst at TalkingPointz said these improvements are another example of Zoom continuing to meet the expanding needs of its customers. “The Zoom platform is poised to make an impact on reimagining the customer experience, by expanding it to include the entire customer journey, from marketing to sales to ongoing support,” he said. Chief product officer at Zoom, Oded Gal, said the new additions mark “further steps in Zoom’s journey to establish new heights for customer experiences and flexible collaboration across the workforce.” Related content news OpenAI unveils ‘Model Spec’: A framework for shaping responsible AI This first-of-its-kind document outlines the principles guiding model behavior in its API and ChatGPT, OpenAI announced in a blog post. By Gyana Swain May 09, 2024 4 mins Technology Industry Emerging Technology feature Windows 11 Insider Previews: What’s in the latest build? Get the latest info on new preview builds of Windows 11 as they roll out to Windows Insiders. Now updated for Build 26212 released for the Canary channel on May 8, 2024. By Preston Gralla May 09, 2024 253 mins Small and Medium Business Microsoft Windows 11 opinion Think Shadow AI is bad? Sneaky AI is worse It’s bad enough when an employee goes rogue and does an end-run around IT; but when a vendor does something similar, the problems could be broadly worse. By Evan Schuman May 09, 2024 5 mins Vendor Management Security Vendors and Providers feature Office 365: A guide to the updates Get the latest info on new features, bug fixes, and security updates for Office 365/Microsoft 365 for Windows as they roll out from Microsoft. Now updated for Version 2404 (Build 17531.20140), released on May 7, 2024. By Preston Gralla May 09, 2024 110 mins Microsoft 365 Microsoft Office Office Suites Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe