The founder and CEO of Zoom, Eric Yuan, said that the way we work has changed forever, and we'll witness a new hybrid way of working when the pandemic is over. Yuan was interviewed by Alyson Shontell, editor-in-chief at Business Insider, at 100,000-attendee online conference Web Summit.
When asked about Zoom's stock price dropping following news of a COVID-19 vaccine, Yuan remained optimistic about his platform and pointed to the lessons we've learned about remote working.
"I believe the way we work, and live, and learn, and play is very different now. Let's say the pandemic is over tomorrow. Do we all go back to the office? I don't think every employee will go back to the office. It's very likely we'll end up with a hybrid. Because it's good for climate change and it's good for productivity. That's why I think a tool like Zoom will stay."- Eric Yuan
Yuan also highlighted the benefits of video conferencing in a post-COVID-19 world.
"Using tools like Zoom, I can meet many more customers than the business traveller. I fundamentally believe that, after the pandemic, business travel will be less and less. I'm pretty sure everyone now realises you can leverage tools like Zoom to meet more employees, more customers, more prospects... and it works."
Yuan also spoke about the room for improvement when it comes to the video conferencing software of the future, using AI and VR to bring people together.
"We believe that video conferencing tools like Zoom can deliver a better experience than face-to-face meetings in the future. I'll be able to shake hands with you and, if we speak different languages, with AI we'll be able to understand each other."