In March of 2020, the world changed. Within days, one of the largest digital evolutions happened, globally! Tens of millions of people around the world, at the same time, reverted to virtual communications, instead of in person. Digital became the norm; Zoom and Microsoft Teams exploded. Given the trajectory ahead, it was clear that the world would remain fully digital/virtual for several years and eventually revert to hybrid. This means that virtual was (and is) here to stay.

 

So, why did Zoom and Teams operate like it was 1999, not 2020, and still looked like Skype for a long time? Why did Zoom, the company, and Microsoft, the giant tech company, not seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to evolve and innovate more quickly? Why was it “good enough” to offer basic functionality for over two years?

 

People were happy because they both offered free services for most uses and nominal fees for corporate licensing, but was that really “good enough?” Maybe not. Within early 2020, both companies should have seen the need for:

–              Motion sensitive cameras

–              A/V interconnected equipment

–              Digital notebooks

–              Digital whiteboards

–              Voice to text transcription

–              Virtual assistants

–              Hybrid evolution

–              AI

–       And the list goes on…

 

For two years we did not see any innovation. The best offered was the ability to run parallel Zoom rooms with no virtual assistance and people fiddling around to get their speakers and microphones to work. Specifically for Microsoft, with massive research labs, it is insane to imagine the lack of creativity and innovation that was not incorporated into Teams.

 

Why? At times, corporations are so excited with their revenue growth and market share increase that they actually STOP innovating. They become complacent and comfortable. 24 months with a captive audience should have revolutionized virtual connectivity, yet it has changed almost none.

 

The best time to ramp up innovation and elevate one’s imagination is when you have a captive audience. Otherwise, you become a commodity player. Zoom and Teams missed a great opportunity and I hope that they will think about the future differently than proceed in the same manner that they have in the last 2 years. In 2010, I formed a startup called ProVoke Live Network, and I had many of the features listed above. I shut down my startup because the world was not ready for video communication. To truly innovate we need to be less greedy for market share and hungrier for innovation and progress.

Come on, Zoom and Microsoft, you can do so much better… Let’s see it!

 

Disrupt | Innovate | Lead | Imagine