Over the last one year, Aparna Bawa is helping transform Zoom from a video conferencing app to a technology platform by adding products and services for a hybrid work environment. These include Zoom phone (cloud-based phone system), Contact Center (video-optimised contact centre software), Chat and Zoom Events, a virtual event platform. It is also offering multi-language translation capabilities for captioning and a visual collaboration platform, Whiteboard, which helps people work asynchronously, in person or virtually. Bawa, who was earlier an investment banker at Lehman Brothers and Deutsche Bank, says they are focused on enabling the hybrid experience as employees go back to work.
Companies like Zoom or Netflix, which saw a spike in users during the pandemic, have not been able to sustain the same momentum. Bawa says Zoom, however, continues to prioritise innovation and invest in growth areas. In FY22, revenue rose 55% to $4 billion. Bawa, previously chief legal officer of Zoom, says she is most excited about increasing the number of services and products. “We will always be at our core a technology company that’s driving innovation.” — Arnika Thakur