TLDR: Both Zoom and 8×8 have announced significant updates to their platforms, focusing on artificial intelligence-driven features, enhanced communication channels, and improved administrative controls. Zoom’s new capabilities include an AI Companion for in-person conversations and automated captions, while 8×8 is rolling out AI-powered conversation intelligence, agentless digital payments, and expanded digital channel support for its contact center and communication platforms.
Leading communication and collaboration platforms, Zoom and 8×8, have independently announced a suite of new features and enhancements, with a strong emphasis on artificial intelligence and expanded communication capabilities. These updates, released around August 22, 2025, aim to streamline workflows, improve customer engagement, and offer more granular control to administrators.
Zoom’s AI-Powered Innovations and User Experience Enhancements
Zoom’s latest updates introduce several key features designed to boost productivity and accessibility. A significant highlight is the expansion of its AI Companion, which now allows users to capture in-person conversations directly through the Zoom mobile app. This includes the ability to record scheduled calendar events, access AI-generated summaries, full transcripts, and speaker tagging from the calendar card on both mobile and desktop. Account owners and administrators can manage this feature via the ‘Voice Recorder with AIC’ setting in the Web Portal, offering control at account, group, and user levels.
Accessibility is further enhanced with Automated Captions on Device. This new capability enables account owners and admins to provide users with automated captions generated directly on eligible devices, ensuring reliable captioning even in environments with lower internet connectivity. The ‘Automated captions on device’ setting is now available and enabled by default if the general ‘Automated captions’ feature is active, with a backend server update scheduled for June 30, 2025, to fully support this functionality.
For improved user onboarding, Zoom is introducing an Educational Onboarding Assistant. This feature, controllable by account owners and admins, will periodically display pop-ups to guide users through the setup of new functionalities within the Zoom Workplace app, such as the AI Companion onboarding workflow.
Administrative control also sees an upgrade with Granular Settings Control for Zoom Meetings and Audio Conferencing. Admins can now select individual settings when configuring user groups, with the system providing notifications for any setting dependencies. This allows for faster searching of specific settings and offers a more detailed view of sub-sections within product categories.
Finally, a new ‘Join Anytime’ feature provides hosts with the option to allow participants to join a meeting before the host arrives, enhancing flexibility for attendees.
8×8’s Comprehensive Customer Engagement and Communication Platform Updates
8×8 Contact Center introduces several innovations, including AI-powered conversation intelligence and agentless digital payments. It also features seamless Viber integration and smart self-service tools leveraging ICA Knowledge AI and xApps. These additions are designed to boost customer experience (CX) and operational efficiency through capabilities like social listening, secure banking data access, and actionable conversation insights.
8×8 Engage™ sees its next evolution with expanded support for a wide array of digital channels, including SMS, RCS, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger, alongside traditional voice and video. New administrative controls and smarter call context are implemented to drive faster resolutions, ensure consistent workflows, and facilitate clearer interactions for agile, customer-facing teams.
For internal communication, 8×8 Work® is streamlined with smarter AI summaries, standardized ‘Do Not Disturb’ (DND) controls, and SMS keyword filtering to enhance clarity, consistency, and compliance. The platform also expands device flexibility by supporting new 8×8-compatible headsets, Wi-Fi phones, and analog gateways.
Lastly, 8×8 Communication APIs are enhanced with new WhatsApp carousel templates for managing campaigns and boosting engagement. A new Voice Reporting API provides deeper voice insights, offering greater control, visibility, and flexibility for developers and businesses.
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Both companies continue to push the boundaries of unified communications, with AI playing a central role in their latest offerings to meet the evolving demands of modern workplaces and customer service.
