Product and engineering chief Velchamy Sankarlingam says the country’s talent pool, multinational presence and language diversity make it a key testing ground for Zoom’s AI push
Zoom regards India as one of its most important markets globally, according to Velchamy Sankarlingam, the company’s President of Product and Engineering. He pointed to India’s deep talent base, strong educational institutions, and the heavy presence of American and European multinationals as reasons the country matters both as a customer base and a hub for local businesses.
A learning lab for AI and languages
Sankarlingam said that Zoom is using India as a testing ground because the country’s languages offer unique insights the company can use to improve its technology elsewhere. Zoom supports Indian languages such as Hindi, Gujarati, and Tamil and is working to expand its offerings to include more languages and comply with data privacy regulations.
Infrastructure and contact center growth
Zoom has offices in Bengaluru and Chennai and data centres in Mumbai and Hyderabad. The company has been promoting partnerships, such as with eyewear retailer Lenskart, which utilised Zoom Contact Center for remote eye tests by optometrists through an uneven distribution chain. Zoom Phone, which is licensed by the Department of Telecommunications in India, has since rolled out services in six telecom circles in the country, including Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
Milestone anniversary, new AI chapter
The comments come as Zoom celebrates its 15th anniversary this month, and its founder and CEO, Eric Yuan, rang the bell on the Nasdaq. In his blog, Yuan wrote that they were transforming from a video platform into a system of action, that the new era has begun, and that they want to focus on building artificial intelligence to make work-life simpler and more human.
