How Zoom is reinventing its partner ecosystem in India & APAC

For many enterprises and users, Zoom became synonymous with video meetings during the pandemic. But behind that familiar interface, the company has been quietly executing a far larger transformation, one that spans employee experience (EX), customer experience (CX), AI-powered workflows, and a reimagined channel-first go-to-market strategy.

In an in-depth interaction with DQ Channels, Jacob Pereira, Head of APAC Partners at Zoom, and Vishal Amin, Channel Head – India & SAARC, explained how Zoom has evolved from a direct-led, meetings-centric platform into an AI-first work platform for human connection, and why partners sit at the centre of this next growth phase.

From Direct Sales to Channel-First: Jacob Pereira’s Zoom Journey

Jacob Pereira joined Zoom four years ago with a very specific mandate.

“The purpose and charter of my hire was to transform Zoom from a very direct-led business to a channel-based business,” he said.

Drawing on his experience across Nutanix and Dell Technologies, Pereira has overseen a fundamental shift in how Zoom engages markets across APAC.

“What we’ve achieved in Zoom over the last four years is moving the company forward in line with the innovations that we’ve done,” he explained, adding that Zoom today is very different from the company people remember from the pandemic era.

Zoom Is No Longer Just Meetings

Pereira was quick to reframe what Zoom represents today.

“Everything around video conferencing is where Zoom was at the height of the pandemic,” he said. “But since then, we’ve evolved significantly.”

At the core of this evolution is Zoom Workplace, a unified employee experience suite.

“Zoom Workplace Suite has phone, chat, meeting, scheduler, mail, and calendar,” Pereira explained. The idea is simple: enable employees to communicate, collaborate, and stay productive without leaving the Zoom environment.

Beyond individual collaboration, Zoom has also expanded into physical and digital workspace management through Zoom Spaces.

“We have a Zoom Spaces portfolio that covers rooms, digital signage, visitor management, and workspace reservations,” Pereira said. Employees can reserve desks, pre-register visitors, and manage office experiences without toggling between platforms.

Workvivo, Events, and the CX Stack

Zoom’s expansion doesn’t stop at internal collaboration. On the employee engagement side, Workvivo plays a key role.

“Workvivo is basically an employee engagement product that targets large customers,” Pereira noted. “If you’re an airline and you need to communicate from top management down to the baggage handler, many of whom don’t have email, Workvivo is the answer.”

On the customer experience front, Zoom now offers a full CX portfolio.

“Think about this as EX and CX,” Pereira said. “Events, sessions, and webinars make up our events portfolio… Revenue Accelerator improves conversations into an AI-coachable aspect… and customer experience is omni-channel, from chatbot to voice to video.”

This positions Zoom uniquely across both UCaaS and CCaaS, a point Pereira stressed repeatedly.

“Zoom is named within the Gartner Magic Quadrant for both UCaaS and CCaaS,” he said. “Our competition is either playing one or the other. We are integrated across both.”

AI Companion: Differentiation Without an Extra Cost

One of Zoom’s strongest differentiators, especially for partners, is its AI strategy.

“Our AI Companion is our utility for AI that we are giving to all our paid subscribers at no additional cost,” Pereira said. “Unlike our competition that charges for AI, we do not charge for our AI Companion.”

This AI layer spans meetings, docs, whiteboards, notes, tasks, and customer conversations, making AI adoption frictionless for customers and easier to position for partners.

Inside ZoomUp 3.0: A Reimagined Partner Program

Zoom’s channel strategy is anchored in its newly enhanced ZoomUp 3.0 partner program, built around a flexible, point-based model.

“The major difference in our partner program is how we deliver the outcomes we want from the partner,” Pereira explained. “We have a point-based program that offers flexibility to both reseller partners and referral partners.”

Zoom supports two clear engagement models:

“Anything from distributor to reseller to customer is what we call a resale motion,” Pereira said. “Referral is where Zoom contracts with the customer, and we pay a commission to the partner.”

This dual model significantly widens Zoom’s partner universe.

“With referral, I can get a Fortinet partner, a Palo Alto partner, partners who are not part of UCaaS, to refer opportunities,” he added.

The 3P Framework: Performance, Proficiency, Participation

ZoomUp 3.0 is built on what Pereira calls the 3P system.

“Performance is about driving new business, retention, conversion bonuses, and managing the book of business,” he explained. “Proficiency is about enabling partners across the workplace, phone, contact centre, and spaces.”

A major addition is services certification.

“We are now giving partners the ability to drive their own professional services that are endorsed by Zoom,” Pereira said. Partners must complete deployment and support certifications to qualify.

Participation, the third pillar, measures joint marketing, pipeline contribution, and engagement with Zoom’s demand centre.

“All of this determines whether they are Platinum, Gold, or Silver partners,” Pereira said.

India-Specific Strategy: Referral-Led, Services-Driven

India presents a distinct model within Zoom’s global strategy. “Zoom Phone is a referral model for India,” Pereira clarified. “We don’t offer resale for phones in India.”

This creates a strong opportunity for services-led partners, a point Vishal Amin reinforced.

“In India, we are going after phone and contact centre partners who already have strong service practices,” Amin said. “They are good at integrations, CRM workflows, and creating white papers.”

He noted that while Indian partners cannot resell the phone and contact centre, they are building robust consulting and integration practices around them.

“We already have two partners who are service-certified by Zoom in India,” Amin added.

Unified Partner Dashboard: Simplifying Growth

Zoom plans to launch a unified partner dashboard in early 2026 to reduce operational complexity.

“The objective of the dashboard is to remove complexity,” Pereira said. “Partners can see competencies, revenue, retention, and progress toward their annual assessment in one place.”

Amin highlighted the practical impact.

“Earlier, everything was very manual,” he said. “Now partners will be self-sufficient and know exactly where they stand, what gaps they need to close, and how to plan investments.”

India and APAC: Strategic, Not Just High-Growth Markets

For Zoom, India is not just a growth market; it is strategic.

“India is a very strategic position that we’ve taken at Zoom,” Amin said. “We have global technology centres in Bangalore and Chennai, and data centres in Mumbai and Hyderabad.”

Partner momentum reflects this commitment.

“Our Platinum partners have grown from zero to three in the last six months,” Amin noted, citing Gurusan, Sixth Grade, and Aeontech.

Across APAC, Pereira sees partners as the primary scale engine.

“We expect our partners to be the sales multiplier for Zoom in each country,” he said.

Conclusion: Why Zoom’s Channel Reset Matters

Zoom’s evolution, from meetings provider to AI-first work platform, has fundamentally reshaped its channel strategy. Through ZoomUp 3.0, referral flexibility, services certification, AI monetisation, and a simplified partner experience, the company is aligning its ecosystem with how modern work and customer engagement are actually delivered.

As Jacob Pereira put it, “The enhancements we’ve brought together give partners simplicity to measure success, embrace AI, and build service profitability.”

Vishal Amin echoed the sentiment from an Indian lens: “We’ve created a level playing field for all partners, new or old, to grow with Zoom.”

With AI-driven collaboration, hybrid work, and CX transformation accelerating across India and APAC, Zoom’s partner-first approach positions its ecosystem not just to sell licenses, but to architect the future of work itself.

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