Many companies see hybrid work as a permanent fixture: Abe Smith, Zoom Video Communications
c o v e r
s t o r y
Zoom in 2019 to accelerate revenue growth while delivering happiness in all markets outside of the USA and Canada. Abe graduated with the highest honors from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst where he studied Political Science with a certificate in International Relations.
In an exclusive interaction with us, Abe Smith, Head of International for Zoom Video Communications, shares how the pandemic has shown businesses the possibilities of a future of remote and hybrid work, with more productive employees, who are working the same or fewer hours and enjoying better work-life balance By Mastufa Ahmed
A 44
be Smith is the Head of International for Zoom Video Communications. An industry-decorated technology executive, Abe is recognized for building high-growth global teams at leading enterprise cloud companies such as Oracle and Cisco where he held senior roles. Bring| APRIL 2021
ing almost two decades of experience in SaaS, Smith is an authority on scaling operations in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Drawing on over 8 years of leadership at WebEx, where he was responsible for pioneering the web-conferencing category across emerging markets globally, Abe joined
The year 2020 is over and but we still have uncertainty. How do you see the current business landscape and organizations’ rebound strategies? The pandemic has shown businesses the possibilities of a future of remote and hybrid work, with more productive employees, who are working the same or fewer hours and enjoying a better work-life balance. With vaccinations enabling us to shift into a post-pandemic world, it’s clear that many companies see hybrid work as a permanent fixture – HSBC announced long-term plans to halve its global office space, while Twitter has allowed employees to work from home indefinitely. We believe that workplaces across different verticals like finance, educa-