Zoom Has Transformed Into a Consumer Platform, Says CFO
“The (COVID-19 crisis) has really transformed what used to be a business platform primarily used for enterprises to now be used for all kinds of new consumer and small business use cases,” says Zoom CFO Kelly Steckelberg. “I don’t see everybody going back to the way that it was before. I don’t think that everybody that’s working from home today is going to go back to their office necessarily or that these small business owners are going to stop using it in the way that they’ve had.”
Kelly Steckelberg, Chief Financial Officer of Zoom, discusses how the COVID-19 crisis has transformed Zoom into a consumer platform with a 20-times increase in daily usage:
Zoom Has Transformed Into a Consumer Platform
We are proud that we’ve enabled over 90,000 schools in over 25 countries around the globe to use a Zoom. That along with many other use cases that we didn’t contemplate before this such as grandmother’s using Zoom to read bedtime stories to their grandchildren across the country. We are also seeing small businesses using it now to do tutoring or give yoga lessons. It has really transformed what used to be a business platform primarily used for enterprises to now be used for all kinds of new consumer and small business use cases.
That has caused a 20-times increase in our daily participants from just December through March. Yes, with that has come new opportunities and challenges as well including opportunities to educate and enable our users in a very different way than we needed to before. Coming into this pandemic and seeing the increase in demand we have been very focused on ensuring that the platform is stable and reliable and available for everybody who needs it.
When we had our earnings call on March 4th we did talk about this that we already had started to see the rise in demand. While I’m not confirming guidance today, we did indicate then that we expected to see an increase in our cost of goods sold that would have an impact on our gross margins. That is consistent with what we’ve continued to see.
I Don’t See Everybody Going Back To The Way It Was
In terms of what does this mean going forward and are we trying to convert some of these users, we have a freemium version of our product that many of these new users are using today. We are really focused on ensuring that everybody and anybody who needs Zoom or has a use for it today can get access to it. We really want to focus on minimizing the disruption and communication during this difficult time for everyone.
It’s too early to tell what comes next. Ideally, in a few months, we’re all back to a more normal state. I don’t see everybody going back to the way that it was before. I don’t think that everybody that’s working from home today is going to go back to their office necessarily or that these small business owners are going to stop using it in the way that they’ve had. So we’ll just see what that brings. it’s really too early to tell today.
