Zoom launched several new features Feb. 3 aimed at helping organizations navigate new remote, in-person hybrid work spaces while keeping employees safe during and post pandemic.
Four details:
1. One of the new tools is a virtual receptionist, which lets a company's human receptionist work remotely but still guide people coming into the office through temperature checks and other safety protocols.
2. Zoom worked with communications tech company DTEN to create a tablet device for the feature. Using the tablet, an employee in the physical office can communicate with the virtual receptionist via Zoom, Harry Moseley, global CIO of the video conferencing platform, told The Wall Street Journal.
"People can walk up to the screen, see the friendly face, and have a video and audio interaction with the receptionist who could actually be anywhere," he said.
3. Another new tool lets managers and employees monitor how many people are in a single room in real time to ensure meeting spaces don't get overcrowded. Software hooked up to a video conferencing device in the meeting room can detect the outline of a person and counts the number of individuals in the room.
4. Zoom on Feb. 11 is also launching an air quality monitoring tool, which lets users manage air quality, humidity, CO2 and organic compounds in the room and send real-time feedback to managers.