Zoom showcases AI tools for APAC SMBs in daily work

Zoom held its second Asia Pacific SMB Summit, focusing on how small and medium-sized businesses in the region are using AI in day-to-day operations.

The event brought together Zoom executives and customers from sectors including employment screening, healthcare technology, education, and language learning. Discussion centred on a common challenge for smaller companies: moving from AI trials to practical use without adding cost or operational complexity.

William Smith, Head of Mid Market & Small Business, Asia at Zoom, said businesses across APAC are facing rising expectations around productivity, collaboration, and customer engagement. He cited Deloitte research showing that 78% of SMBs in APAC already use at least one AI-enabled tool.

"AI is no longer sitting inside innovation labs or pilot programmes. It's being embedded into everyday workflows," Smith said.

He added that the debate among business leaders has shifted from whether to adopt AI to how to use it in ways that remove friction and help teams manage growth. "Growth today requires better coordination, faster responsiveness, and a connected system of action that carries conversations through to completion," he said.

Mainstream use

Sara Staffaroni, Global Product Marketing Manager at Zoom, said many companies still struggle to connect AI ambitions with daily work. Despite broad interest in the technology, many remain stuck in the experimental phase rather than seeing measurable operational change.

She said this gap is often more pronounced for SMBs, which typically have fewer specialist staff and smaller budgets than larger organisations. As a result, they are often left juggling administrative work, multiple software tools, and fragmented systems while trying to improve service and control costs.

In her view, the issue is not a lack of willingness to use AI, but how it is applied. Businesses need AI built into existing workflows rather than added as another standalone product.

During the event, Staffaroni pointed to tools such as Zoom Virtual Agent AI Receptionist, designed to handle customer enquiries, bookings, and call routing. Zoom executives argued that automation can manage routine customer interactions while staff focus on other work.

Customer cases

A panel of regional customers described using Zoom products while expanding across markets and teams. Their examples reinforced a broader theme from the summit: growth often brings more systems, more handoffs, and more pressure to simplify operations.

Leo Ma, CEO of eeCheck, said the employment screening company used Zoom Phone, Zoom Meetings, and Zoom Webinars as it expanded across several countries. As the workforce grew, communication became harder.

"When you're adding every new member in, that communication gap basically multiplies as you have a bigger team," Ma said.

He said the company wanted a single set of tools to support staff working across Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Vietnam, and the UK. "I think the solution itself was very agile and helped solve the very problem that we face, which was how to get a seamless experience for the whole team, no matter if they're in Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Vietnam, or UK," he said.

At Harrison.ai, a Sydney-based healthcare technology company, growth and organisational change created a different challenge. Raj Bhuva, Global Head of IT at Harrison.ai, said the company had to align systems and workflows after bringing together product-facing and research teams.

A mix of tools and duplicated processes had increased overhead for a lean IT function. "Every consolidation decision we made was driven by the question - does this reduce overhead and allow my team to add value back into the business?" Bhuva said.

He also outlined the company's broader ambition for AI in its operations. "We want to become an AI-native organisation. We should see AI as a superpower that really amplifies what our people are already capable of," he said.

Education focus

Education businesses on the panel described a similar push to scale with limited internal resources. Sachin Mishra, Head of Business at Aevy Video School, said the Indian education company used Zoom Webinars Plus and Zoom Phone to manage larger programmes and improve coordination.

With core communications technology already in place, the company could focus more on teaching. "When it comes to technology, we know it's already taken care of by Zoom, so we can focus on upskilling our students," Mishra said.

Aevy Video School now supports 600 to 700 learners per session in its upskilling programmes and hosts thousands each week in free sessions related to the creator economy. According to the company, features including call transcription and integrations reduced the need to build tools internally.

Mishra added that the platform had also been useful for smaller businesses with tighter budgets. "We've always looked up to Zoom, and we're really grateful it has helped us launch and scale our programs. Even today, we're keen to continue exploring what Zoom offers, especially for bootstrapped companies. Zoom gives us the most democratic access to the best technology out there," he said.

Youngwhan Kim, TUIT Product Manager (PM) at Yoons English, said the Korean education company adopted the Zoom Video SDK to support its AI-based tutoring service. After testing several video products, it chose Zoom for its audio and transcription performance under the same network conditions.

"As we expanded our edtech business, we needed a solution that could support seamless conversations and reliable learning data. After testing various video solutions, Zoom Video SDK stood out for its flexibility, as well as the quality of its audio and transcription under the same network conditions," Kim said.

He said integrating the software into the company's own application improved lesson delivery and the quality of data used by its AI systems. "By integrating Zoom into our own app, we've been able to provide a smoother lesson experience for students, improve the reliability of our AI analysis, and deliver more personalized feedback. For us, Zoom is more than a video collaboration tool. It is a core solution supporting our AI-powered learning experience," he said.