The virtual assistant, rolled out for Zoom users in May, gains support for three more platforms: Microsoft Teams, Google Meet and Cisco Webex.
AI-powered transcription firm Otter.ai ‘s Otter Assistant, a tool that can automatically join calendared video meetings on a user’s behalf, expanded its reach beyond Zoom this week. It now works with Microsoft Teams, Google Meet and Cisco Webex. Available to Otter.ai Business users, the tool is designed to make video meetings more productive because participants can focus on what’s actually being said rather than taking notes. If participants are late, or need to step away, the automatically generated transcript keeps them from missing important information, the company said. Although most video meeting tools have transcription capabilities, these are typically limited to the host, said Dave Michels, principal analyst at TalkingPointz. Otter Assistant’s cross-app functionality offers an advantage for workers who switch regularly between video applications — a common occurrence over the past year with the rise in remote work. “Otter solves these problems by being one app — that’s one UI and one app, and one repository,” said Michels. While some workers this summer started to make a cautious return to the office, the shift toward hybrid workplaces and the rise in the Delta variant of the coronavirus is unlikely to mean a meaningful drop in online meetings anytime soon. “It only takes one remote participant to justify the use of online meeting services,” Michels said in an interview earlier this year.
