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AI and video conferencing come together at Enterprise Connect
While AI seemed like the star of the show at Enterprise Connect, video is still a key technology for UC buyers. Explore the top video trends from the conference.
There was a time only a few years ago when it felt like video trends led the news cycle at Enterprise Connect. The biggest keynotes focused on video product updates, and video trends, like huddle spaces, dominated the show floor. But judging by the content of the keynotes and sessions at Enterprise Connect 2025, one might think Enterprise Connect is simply an AI event.
While AI has become a driving force for unified communications (UC) and contact centers, it's not a standalone technology. At the end of the day, the show is about connecting people. While AI and contact centers are stealing some of the spotlight, video trends are still a big part of Enterprise Connect.
Keynote vendors, including Microsoft, Zoom and Cisco, all had video-related announcements at the show -- even if AI was part of the mix. It was also easy to spot the latest video hardware trends on the show floor.
AI is changing business video
It seems like we are throwing AI at the wall to see what sticks, and meeting summaries have stuck. Meeting summaries have quickly shifted from a novelty to something we can't imagine living without. The quality of summaries has improved as the AI assistant figures out the context of comments in the meeting and identifies tasks for follow-up, which validates the value of AI for many of us.
The same can be said for other AI video conferencing features, such as background noise reduction and "touch-up" video filters that make us look a little less tired. They are no longer a novelty and have become part of how we use video.
The latest AI-powered video features were on display at Enterprise Connect. In the Microsoft keynote, Ilya Bukshteyn, corporate VP of Teams calling, devices and premium experiences, demoed real-time language translation in a live call with Snorre Kjesbu, senior VP and general manager of collaboration and employee experience technology at Cisco.
Kjesbu spoke German on the call, and the showstopper was that not only did AI translate Snorre's comments into English, but did so using his voice. Everyone at this show knows Snorre well as he gave Cisco's keynote. And that AI sounded like the real Snorre.
Microsoft also teased a feature called Facilitator for Teams Rooms, which enables AI to participate in meetings using video. Today, AI bots can listen to meeting audio for transcriptions and summaries but can't see what is happening in the room. With the Facilitator feature, AI can use the meeting room camera and understand what it sees. In testing, the AI noticed when people walked into the meeting room with large bottles of water and commented positively on their hydration habits. Having AI as a full, visual participant in meetings feels like a leap forward.
Zoom's keynote was all about agentic AI, a concept that was pervasive throughout the event. The idea of agentic AI is that it doesn't talk back to you like modern conversational large language model bots, but can reason and take action. A regular AI bot helps you set up a plan for a team project and suggests you send emails and schedule meetings. An agentic AI bot sets up the plan, sends out the emails and schedules the meetings itself.
The AI Companion tool in Zoom Workplace constantly gives users suggestions, such as creating a document based on team chats. When AI Companion becomes agentic, it will create the doc for you. AI Companion can also coordinate team members' calendars to schedule a meeting.
Agentic AI may be the latest hype, but the capabilities Zoom plans to apply to UC workflows are ones typical Zoom customers will use daily. We see a lot of "demoware" at these shows, but agentic AI in UC is real.
Hardware is in its video bar era
There were no big surprises on the show floor. The days of saving major product announcements for the big show ended with the COVID-19 pandemic. Trade shows are still a great opportunity to talk to vendors at their booths and find the best products for your teams. But don't expect to see anything revolutionary on the show floor.
That said, trends were easy to spot. Video bars continue to dominate, with little surprise. An all-in-one video and audio product makes setup easier than separate components, and the bars look nice in meeting rooms. Most vendors offer a video bar, and some are adding more processor power in anticipation of deploying more advanced capabilities, like running room software and AI applications.
Other video trends from Enterprise Connect include better interoperability -- vendors are introducing video bars that can connect to multiple video services. We still have a long way to go, as many meeting rooms still have multiple video bars, one for each service.
Addressing meeting equity continues to be a trend as well. Center-of-table and multiple camera setups can use AI to better capture and frame meeting room attendees. These offerings were on display at the show, but unfortunately, adoption is lagging. They solve the problem but are still a little too complicated and expensive for mass adoption.
Business video remains key technology
The fact that video no longer dominates the discussion at Enterprise Connect does not diminish its importance in the workplace. To the contrary, video has become so ubiquitous that it no longer needs the kind of evangelism it required in the past. Video is simply an accepted and normalized part of our everyday lives.
That doesn't mean video has gotten less interesting. The introduction of AI to video conferencing has already changed how we use video, and even more changes are on the horizon. If current trends continue, meetings may cease to be a place where we plan our projects and become a larger part of our new AI workflow.
David Maldow is founder and CEO of Let's Do Video. He has written about the video and visual collaboration industry for almost 20 years.
