There is a virtual gold rush among the biggest players in the virtual meeting workspace.
A wave of activities by Slack Technologies Inc. WORK,
, Microsoft Corp. MSFT,
and Zoom Video Communications Inc. ZM,
Wednesday and Tuesday highlight the aggressive actions they are ready to take to capitalize on the hottest technology market: the forced migration of millions of employees to homework has accelerated what was already a fledgling business.
In a short time, Slack has made a rare acquisition, Microsoft Teams has dressed its Teams platform and Zoom is getting into computer hardware.
Read more: Slack acquires professional directory provider Rimeto for an undisclosed amount
According to a new study from Global Market Insights, every company is looking for an advantage in a market that should be worth more than $ 50 billion by 2026.
Slack started the day with only the sixth acquisition in 11 years of history. For an undisclosed amount, he recruited Rimeto, a manufacturer of business directory software to offer a searchable directory, automatically integrating information from across your company to provide rich profiles of each employee, their skills, experience and their current projects. Rimeto will operate as a standalone application, extending the horizontal strategy of Slacks.
Expect more, much more, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield told MarketWatch. He said Slack, overflowing with money after raising $ 1.4 billion, is expected to increase purchases from startups.
The news boosted Slack’s shares by 8% on Wednesday.
Several hours later, Microsoft, which has added millions of customers in a relentless digital takeover, unveiled new features to the teams, including an Ensemble mode that places all participants in a single virtual environment. The mode displays images of the user and up to 49 other participants in a video conference in the same context, ranging from a coffee bar for a couple of people to an auditorium for larger gatherings.
Together mode makes meetings more engaging by helping you focus on other people’s faces and body language and making it easier to spot the non-verbal cues that are so important to human interaction, Microsoft said in a statement .
Several clients, including Levi Strauss & Co. LEVI,
, Stony Brook University and the University of Texas-Arlington have tested Together, a Microsoft spokesperson told MarketWatch.
The Microsofts title increased by 2% when their teams were announced.
On Tuesday, Zoom announced its partnership with hardware manufacturers DTEN, Neat, Poly and Yealink to streamline its video communications services. Zoom, whose wild popularity during the coronavirus pandemic transformed its name into a verb, saw its stock increase by 293% this year.
See also: Zoom offering a hardware option as a service