Zoom adopts collaborative AI approach for intelligent user experiences, says India head
Zoom Communications
has adopted a collaborative
AI
approach to deliver flexible and intelligent experiences to its customers, according to a senior company executive.
'We have adopted a unique federated AI approach.
Zoom AI Companion
leverages our proprietary LLMs alongside trusted industry models like those from OpenAI and Anthropic. What sets us apart is the openness — customers can even bring their own AI models, within certain technical boundaries. With our new custom AI feature, we now enable orchestration across multiple AI agents, addressing diverse needs with agility and scale,'
Sameer Raje
, general manager & head (India & SAARC Region),
Zoom
Communications, told ETTelecom in an interview.
'AI is going to simplify our lives and probably not going to take away our jobs or take away the creativity of the human element. But it's going to — at least in the near future or in the interim — make our lives much better and simpler,' he said.
The company on Wednesday announced the launch of Zoom
Contact Center
in India, an AI-first, omnichannel contact center-as-a-service solution (CCaaS) optimised for video. The contact center will support various channels, including voice, video, virtual agents, social media, email and messaging apps.
AI is transforming the future of
customer engagement
and Zoom Contact Center is at the forefront of that shift.
'With intelligent self-service, predictive analytics and auto-summarisation, AI is driving greater efficiency, enhancing agent productivity and elevating customer satisfaction. Customers move effortlessly across channels without needing to repeat themselves, thanks to complete interaction visibility for agents,' Raje said.
According to him, this results in a unified, intelligent workflow that delivers a holistic experience, seamlessly connecting people, processes, and data beyond the traditional contact center to empower agents and drive collaboration across the organisation.
Zoom's bring your own carrier (BYOC) capabilities will allow businesses to retain their existing public switched telephone network (PSTN) service provider while routing voice traffic through the Zoom contact center cloud.
The company also announced expansion of Zoom Phone service to four major metro telecom circles in India — Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Karnataka (Bengaluru) and Andhra Pradesh & Telangana (Hyderabad), after securing necessary license from the
Department of Telecommunications
(DoT). This service is already available in the Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu (Chennai) circles.
The US-listed cloud communication solutions provide plans to bring Zoom Phone to additional telecom circles across India, accelerating its commitment to make AI-first modern telephony available to more organisations.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Mint
23 minutes ago
- Mint
Raghuram Rajan reacts to Donald Trump's 50% tariffs on India: ‘It's hard to negotiate with a gun to your head…'
Renowned economist Raghuram Rajan has called out United States President Donald Trump's 'pressure tactics' in imposing 50 per cent tariffs on India and Brazil, in an interview with Brazilian economic and financial publication, Valor. Speaking on Donald Trump's apparent 'shift in mood' against India, Raghuram Rajan said that while trade with Russia could be 'reconsidered', its is 'hard to negotiate with a gun to your head', and that this seems like an 'exercise in power' from the US. Donald Trump last week said the US would impose 50 per cent tariffs on India as 'punishment' for buying oil from Russia. He has in the past also criticised India and Brazil for being part of what he dubbed 'anti-American' BRICS bloc. Brazil has also been slapped with similar 50 per cent duties. According to the professor of finance at the University of Chicago, former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor, and a former International Monetary Fund (IMF), chief economist, the time for a joint global response to US tariffs has 'past'. 'It's hard to negotiate with a gun to your head. And that's basically what's happening right now. I hope sanity will prevail in US relations with India,' he said. The public, threatening aspect has made negotiations difficult, according to Raghuram Rajan. 'Lowering tariffs can help our economy. But again, it's hard to negotiate with a gun to your head. I hope that tempers cool and talks resume, because a 50 per cent tariff is unsustainable—not just for India, but also for the US, which risks alienating a country it hopes will be a strategic partner. People remember these things for a long time, and turning them away is rarely smart geopolitics,' he cautioned. Raghuram Rajan noted that India may have expected trade talks to extend till October-November, and so held firm on some areas while negotiating. 'But that's not how it's worked for countries that have already reached agreements. This isn't about a balanced trade deal; it's an exercise of power.' He added that India could give in on trade with Russia, since current prices are not much different across markets. 'If Russian oil were cut off entirely, prices would rise, but India could handle that. The bigger issue is political: an overt public decision to stop buying from Russia would be seen domestically as bowing to US pressure, which plays badly in any democracy. If Washington had quietly asked India to phase out Russian oil, it might have been acceptable,' he added. On the impact of the tariffs, Raghuram Rajan noted that $80 billion of Indian exports to the US would become 'unviable', and in return some $40 billion of US imports into India, including Apple products, could 'hurt America to some degree'. On Donald Trump's opposition to BRICS, Raguram Rajan noted that as a group of emerging economies, the interests of BRICS nations has 'diverged over time'. He added, 'India is not anti-US, and neither is Brazil in its current government. Being pulled into a bloc seen as anti-American is problematic for both.' 'If tariffs stabilise, even at high levels, the world will adapt. It won't be as efficient as the low-tariff era, but supply chains will adjust over time. The bigger problem is volatility. If today it's 50 per cent tariffs on one set of countries and tomorrow another, uncertainty will keep disrupting trade and investment. Stability is essential, and that's what's in the shortest supply right now,' he added. 'It would have been useful to form a broad coalition early on, before individual countries struck their own deals with Washington. That would have increased bargaining power. But now, with Japan, the EU, and the UK satisfied with their arrangements, it's harder—especially if China is excluded, since both Beijing and Washington may prefer separate dealings,' according to Raghuram Rajan. 'It's good for Brazil and India to talk about boosting trade and investment, but a united global front is probably too late at this stage. Still, maintaining dialogue is important, because this may not be the last disruption—more could come if the U.S. administration targets other countries,' he added.
Mint
24 minutes ago
- Mint
Identity verification startup 1Kosmos raises $57 million in Series B
BENGALURU : Identity verification and security startup 1Kosmos Inc. has raised a $57-million Series B round led by Oquirrh Ventures and Origami Capital Partners at a valuation of approximately $360 million (~ ₹3,000 crore), said a top executive at the US-based firm. Existing investor ForgePoint Capital also participated in the round, which included a $10 million line of credit from Bridge Bank. The latest round brings the total funding to $72 million for the company, which has raised two rounds before—a $15 million Series A fundraising led by ForgePoint Capital in 2021 and an undisclosed amount from cybersecurity investor Gula Tech Adventures in 2022, according to data from Tracxn. 'With the new funds we're going to double down on Southeast Asia, and one of the growing markets we're going to focus on is the Middle East," Siddharth Gandhi, chief operating officer, Asia Pacific at 1Kosmos, told Mint. 1Kosmos positions itself as a multi-factor authentication (MFA) provider that replaces old security measures like two-factor authentication (2FA) and passwords. It uses methods like one-time passwords, push notifications, FIDO Passkeys (which allow users to sign into apps and websites using their device biometrics) and even facial and fingerprint recognition. The company also does employee and vendor onboarding using MFA. It competes with IDfy, HyperVerge, Zoop, OnGrid, and inVOID, among others, in the Indian identity verification and management market, which, according to Tracxn, boasts 90 players. These companies receive small cheques, starting as low as $250,000 and going as high as $11 million, which is what the digital transaction and enterprise documentation management platform Digio received in 2022 as seed funding from Groww Invest Tech Pvt. Ltd and Rainmatter by Zerodha. Product development 1Kosmos will be directing 35-40% of the funds raised towards research and development for product development. Currently, it has three products: 1Kosmos Verify, 1Kosmos Workforce, and 1Kosmos Customer. Specifically, the company is doubling down on improving its AI-detection algorithms. 'We're improving capabilities around deepfake detection and injection attacks," said Gandhi. Injection attacks occur when artificial intelligence is made to behave like a user, thereby breaching enterprise ecosystems. Second on the company's list of priorities is deepening its presence in Asia and the Middle East, for which it's putting aside 25% of the funds raised. The remaining is being split between deepening its services to government entities in the North American geography and increasing its sales and marketing spending. North America accounts for 65% of its revenue, while Asia accounts for the remaining 35%. 'With Southeast Asia and the Middle East kicking in, we will continue to maintain that ratio," said Gandhi. 'The balance that Asia brings in is in terms of contract volumes, not in terms of value." India plans When 1Kosmos, founded by Hemen Vimadalal, Rohan Pinto, and Mike Engle, launched simultaneously in the US and Indian markets in 2018. Since then, its client list in the country has grown. It began the year with 22 clients. As of last week, it had onboarded six more clients, bringing its total to 28 clients in India. It plans to bring its total number of clients in the country to 50 by the end of 2026-27. Initially, the company's clients, including India Infoline and Kotak Securities, mostly came from banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI), telecom and a few business process outsourcing companies. It is trying to broaden its client base to more sectors. 'We're moving towards pharma and education. A country with a population of 1.4 billion is a very large addressable market for us to cover. That's including customer-facing businesses," said Gandhi. 1Kosmos' India subsidiary recorded a revenue of ₹14 crore in 2023-24, up 5% year-on-year. Its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (Ebitda) rose to ₹2.7 crore and profit to ₹1.8 crore.
Time of India
41 minutes ago
- Time of India
Russia to test revolutionary Burevestnik nuclear cruise missile with unlimited range as Putin gets ready to meet Trump over Ukraine war
Russia is planning a new missile surprise for the world as it prepares to test its 9M730 Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile. The development comes ahead of a crucial face-to-face meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, to discuss the Ukraine war. Moscow is likely to test its nuclear-tipped 9M730 Burevestnik intercontinental cruise missile in the Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the coming days, according to the Barents Observer. Using a nuclear reactor as its power source, the missile is capable of unlimited range and can circumnavigate the earth multiple times before hitting its intended target. Ahead of the likely missile firing, the airspace above the 500 km zone is shut starting August 7, 2025, till August 12, 2025, and Rosatom ships and aircraft are deployed in the region. Most probably, they will measure radiation levels and record the test results. Finance Value and Valuation Masterclass - Batch 4 By CA Himanshu Jain View Program Artificial Intelligence AI For Business Professionals Batch 2 By Ansh Mehra View Program Finance Value and Valuation Masterclass - Batch 3 By CA Himanshu Jain View Program Artificial Intelligence AI For Business Professionals By Vaibhav Sisinity View Program Finance Value and Valuation Masterclass - Batch 2 By CA Himanshu Jain View Program Finance Value and Valuation Masterclass Batch-1 By CA Himanshu Jain View Program The reports of the Russian missile test comes days after Putin's aide and former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev threatened US of war over Trump's ultimatums to Moscow seeking an end to the Russia-Ukraine war. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like AI now helps people speak languages fast Talkpal AI Undo 'Trump's playing the ultimatum game with Russia: 50 days or 10… He should remember 2 things: 1. Russia isn't Israel or even Iran. 2. Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country. Don't go down the Sleepy Joe road!' Medvedev said in a post on X in July 2025. Putin has also constantly issued warnings to Washington and its NATO allies of taking the war to their doorsteps if they get involved directly in the Russia-Ukraine war. Live Events 9M730 Burevestnik missile The Burevestnik is a nuclear-powered cruise missile that can carry a nuclear warhead. It is a cruise missile that can fly at a very low altitude, maneuver, and display extreme agility. If Russia successfully carries out the test, it will become the first country in history to have an operational cruise missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead that uses a nuclear propulsion system. All active nuclear missiles in the world are ballistic missiles. This gives it an unlimited range that can hit any point on the planet. The range of this missile is unlimited because it has a nuclear reactor as a power source, according to media reports. It is pertinent to mention that the Burevestnik is one of six new Russian strategic weapons unveiled by Vladimir Putin in 2018, according to Moscow has so far kept the details about the Burevestnik's design and capabilities under wraps. According to The Barents Observer, at least four vessels are in position along the coast of Novaya Zemlya, and a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) warning for an area of about 40,000 square km is being activated. Additionally, two Rosatom aircraft are currently based at Rogachevo airbase. The Novaya Zemlya archipelago has been a Russian nuclear test site since the Cold War. To keep a tab on the missile test and find out its secretive details, the US Air Force sent its 'nuke sniffer' WC-135R Constant Phoenix plane near the Russian range bordering the Barents Sea. Multiple failed tests According to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies' Missile Defense Project, Russia has carried out over a dozen tests of the cruise missile in the past, according to The Eurasian Times. The first test of the missile was reportedly in 2016. In August 2019, the Russian Defense Ministry issued a statement revealing that two scientists were killed and six others injured after they were sent to recover the debris following a failed Burevestnik test. There were further tests conducted in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
