Zoom’s partner ecosystem in APAC explained

“Businesses want simplicity in the use of AI and the flexibility of integration into the ecosystem. We offer a good total cost of ownership and ease of use for customers,” says Jacob Pereira, Head of APAC Partners for Zoom.

Unlike other partner ecosystems in the region, Zoom plans to ensure partners get the best offer when working with them. This is why Zoom introduced the Zoom Up services program for its partners. The objective of that program is that any partner can now be certified and endorsed by Zoom for their services.

According to Jacob Pereira, Head of APAC Partners for Zoom, this is how the tech vendor recognizes a certified partner. Pereira explained that Zoom will provide partners with the revenue opportunity of added value pricing, showing them there are different types of offers that they can offer for customers. Zoom’s partners will also have the ability to provide specialized expertise via partner enablement.

“This is kind of an endorsement from Zoom. You're a certified partner. So today, our Zoom Up program, we only had the resale capability, and we had tiers. The tiers were gold and platinum, and it was based on a revenue threshold, MRR, and then their competency. We're further extending it now to basically build professional services capability with our partners,” said Pereira.

For Pereira, if the partner is not a resale partner and doesn't want to sell the product as a total solution, they can be on the bench of Zoom.

“What I mean by that is, say we sell a solution to the customer, and we only need the partner for services capability like implementation, solutioning, and such. They fall under what we call the Partner Delivery Program (PDP). The PDP is specific to deployment where they co-sell on Zoom paper. They also have support capabilities, offered in coordination with Zoom,” explained Pereira.

The aim of this is to drive new business for Zoom because the platform is wide. The deal registration program is tailored to new product introduction. Hence, if there is a partner that is selling Zoom Meeting Conferencing, they’re a partner who sells to contact centers.

“You have the ability to go in and tailor that solution for the customer. So that's what we call a new product family deal registration. So, we have flexibility in our registration process for partners to build and create stickiness with the customer. It's very flexible from our perspective of deal registration. And partners are responding positively to this,” said Pereira.

Pereira also pointed out that a lot of customers are having a bit of anxiety around where these solutions are going. As such, Zoom has built a hybrid connector for them to go into and co-exist in different environments. Zoom also has the option to give the customer a roadmap to look at their own contact center as well as collaboration opportunities. For Pereira, that’s an exciting thing for partners to leverage and it’s very current right now.

Growth in the region

When it comes to growth in the region, Pereira mentioned that Zoom is currently focused on the insurance, retail and manufacturing sectors in the region. In Southeast Asia, there is a strong focus on customer service and customer care centers.

“In Southeast Asia, all our countries are growing significantly, based on last year's aspect. We have grown in every market and the catalyst for that is AI Companion. We have also had a lot of innovations. Now, specifically to Indonesia, we are winning both what we call an enterprise space and the mid-market space,” said Pereira.

For midmarket businesses, Pereira pointed out that these customers can start with the Zoom Workplace, which is the advantage of Zoom. They don't need to go and build the entire platform.

“If they're using just, it for frontline workers or they're using it for their knowledge workers, they can start with Zoom Workplace. It gives you chat capabilities, email capabilities, and so on at that base level. Now, when you start looking at having omni-channel capabilities to support your customer base, that's when they move beyond. It’s a building block that they can go from Zoom Workplace and add on contact center capability, phone capability, and so on. So, it gives you flexibility,” explained Pereira.

At the same time, the growth in the region has also led to partners requesting Zoom to drive more enablement.

“Our partners are not a one-size-fits-all. So, we have partners who build capability for meetings and rooms that can sell workplace. We have partners who specifically drive and focus on events, and they really focus on doing large-scale events and so on, and event services. And then we have contact center partners as well.

Depending on their competency and capability level, they will be able to get accredited for that perspective. On what we've announced for Zoom Up services program, there are capabilities for Zoom Workplace, Zoom AI companion and contact centers that they need to complete the milestones to be certified. It’s very over-encompassing to make sure that they're not only specialized in one area, but they also have the ability to build a services practice,” explained Pereira.

Another additional program within the Zoom partner program is the Referral Program. Pereira said that this program is driving good adoption in Australia, US, and India, because it's tailored for IT consultant companies to highlight Zoom updates and refer that opportunity to Zoom. Zoom closes that opportunity, and the referral partner gets a referral commission for it.

“Right now, I'm expanding our distribution capability across Southeast Asia. I'm adding capacity in Korea and Australia and also having a focus on service providers. Service providers have an element where they want to increase the average revenue per subscriber, and we are looking at positioning Zoom as a potential offer for them,” added Pereira.

Looking at Zoom’s plans for the rest of the year in the region, Pereira believes that customers are looking at AI and how they can drive its adoption. He believes this will be an opportunity for Zoom as they are offering AI capabilities with no additional cost and also have a strong roadmap for agentic AI capabilities.

“Businesses want simplicity in the use of AI and the flexibility of integration into the ecosystem. We offer a good total cost of ownership and ease of use for customers,” concluded Pereira.