Zoom reaches one million Phone seat sales in adoption milestone

If you asked what Zoom videoconferencing was a year and a half ago, many would not have heard of the service. 

However, with the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic, so did changes to our working lives -- namely, remote work became far more common due to lockdowns, and, perhaps, this trend will become a permanent fixture in the future even after stay-at-home orders become no more than a distant memory. 

Zoom, alongside rival telecommunications services such as Microsoft Teams, is now a tool commonly used to catch up with friends and family, as well as to conduct virtual meetings with colleagues. 

Investors took note. Over the past year, Zoom's share price has skyrocketed from roughly $74 to $337 at the time of writing. On Tuesday, the company also declared its intention to publicly offer $1.5 billion of shares of Class A common stock.

Zoom has had to quickly expand and tighten up its operations since March 2020, when demand for its services increased, improving security and introducing new features to tackle issues such as Zoombombing. 

See also: The complete Zoom guide: From basic help to advanced tricks | Zoom security: Your meetings will be safe and secure if you do these 10 things

Now considered a stable and convenient method of teleconferencing for the average consumer and businesses alike, Zoom has reached another milestone: the sale of one million Zoom Phone seats. 

Launched two years ago, Zoom Phone is an enterprise-focused communications platform that complements Zoom Meetings, Zoom Chat, Zoom Rooms, and Zoom Video Webinars. Available on the Zoom Pro tier and as a bolt-on, the cloud service can be used for domestic calls in 44 countries and territories worldwide for central telephone management, call routing, and contact center operations. 

"We are excited to see this level of uptake in such a short timeframe," said Graeme Geddes, Zoom Phone chief. "Our customers have come to rely on Zoom to deliver amazing video and audio for them at scale, and they're seeing tremendous value in consolidating and modernizing their telephony services with us as well."

Read on: Working from home: The future of business is remote | Working from home 101: Every remote worker's guide to the essential tools for telecommuting

Going beyond videoconferencing, Zoom's bring-your-own-carrier model, use of public switched telephone networks (PSTN), and a cut-and-dry pricing model for cloud telephone management is likely to solidify the company's position in the enterprise for the foreseeable future.  

As the effects of the coronavirus pandemic continue to impact working practices and appear to be encouraging permanent changes to hybrid and remote working, cloud telephone solutions may also be an area rival companies will start to explore to stay ahead of the curve.  

Previous and related coverage

• Work from home on the cheap: Build a budget home office for $312
  
• Remote work: 10 ways to upgrade your working from home setup
  
• Microsoft Teams and Zoom have a new competitor (you may not love it)
  

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