There are times when technology appears to resemble a magic trick, a mysterious sleight-of-hand that makes things happen in ways that can be difficult to fathom.

Walk into a room, speak to a device and the lights and television immediately turn on. Autonomous vehicles motor down roads in some parts of the world where the driver is nothing more than a passive observer. Users can summon a car, order groceries or make payments instantly with just a few taps on a mobile device screen, virtually anywhere and anytime.

What was once seemingly impossible is now very real, and this is the philosophy driving Zoom Video Communications Inc., provider of enterprise communications in video and audio conferencing, chat and collaborative content sharing. On Friday, Zoom filed to go public and posted a net income of $7.6 million on $330 million in annual revenue.

Because it is device-agnostic, Zoom leverages cloud-based software to provide users with an ability to connect into meetings via video from literally anywhere, using customized backgrounds to make it appear they were sitting in a corporate conference room. Back of an Uber car? No problem. Sitting at the departure gate of a busy international airport? Piece of cake.

“The things that we can actually do today, we only dreamed about them a year ago,” said Harry Moseley (pictured), Zoom’s chief information officer. “The pace of change is just growing exponentially.”

Moseley spoke with Lisa Martin and Stu Miniman, co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the Enterprise Connect event in Kissimmee, Florida. They discussed the important role of video in business communications, recent new product enhancements, Zoom’s extensive industry partnerships, the role of the remote worker and tech’s nonstop innovation (see the full interview with transcript here). (* Disclosure below.)

This week, theCUBE features Harry Moseley as its Guest of the Week.

Moving away from ‘phone-first’

While customers can use Zoom’s platform as an audio-only communications channel, the placement of “video” in the company’s name highlights a key element of the firm’s business strategy. Zoom’s pitch to potential customers is how it can move them from “phone-first” to “video-first” using its software-based technology.

Last week, Zoom announced new integrations and features, including smart tools for Zoom Meetings to facilitate HD video and content-sharing across all devices.

“Would we rather get into a room and have a face-to-face meeting?” Moseley asked. “Absolutely. So why would you get on a call and not like to see the people you’re talking to?”

Zoom has also created a significant number of partnerships to build its platform and expand the user base. After its founding in 2011, Zoom formed early partnerships with Logitech Inc., provider of personal computer and mobile peripherals, and Redbooth Inc., supplier of a workplace collaboration tool.

This month, the company announced a partnership with HP Inc. The collaboration between the two companies involved the integration of HP’s hardware with Zoom Rooms, a conference room video product.

The ability to foster greater workplace collaboration is a major part of Zoom’s value proposition. Many of the company’s recent announcements have enhanced content sharing, such as interactive whiteboard solutions and real-time transcription.

“It’s very hard to work if you don’t collaborate,” Moseley said. “Collaborating locally, nationally and globally is super important.”

Support for distributed workforce

Behind the popularity of Zoom, as evidenced by both its profitability and decision to go public, is a continued affinity by users for working remotely. Many startup companies today transact business within a 100 percent cloud-based infrastructure, lacking a single filing cabinet or physical office.

A recent study of workers in Seattle, Washington, found that the number of people working remotely had increased 89 percent since 2005. And they made more money too, approximately 30 percent more than traditional working commuters.

That’s precisely the kind of trend that Zoom is seeking to capitalize on, but don’t call its users remote workers. As technology has improved communication and collaboration, work has simply become more distributed now than ever before.

“We should drop calling people remote workers, and we should call them a distributed workforce,” Moseley noted.

Impact of 5G

The rocket fuel poised to accelerate the distributed workforce could well be the roll out of 5G. The wireless standard will offer a quantum leap forward in bandwidth and speeds, with estimates of 10 to 100 times the data speeds of 4G networks.

This form of “wireless on steroids” could have a major impact in the video conferencing space. Late last year, Chinese engineers demonstrated a six-person 5G video call in a lab environment and announced plans to test 3D video calling in the near future. The new wireless standard isn’t here yet, but it’s coming and could rapidly revolutionize video-based communications.

“Video is the new voice,” Moseley said. “5G is becoming a reality, but it’s going to take some time to get there.”

Zoom’s CIO has seen the tech revolution evolve over a storied career. Before coming out of retirement to join Zoom, Moseley previously served as a CIO for KPMG, Blackstone and Credit Suisse. He has also been inducted into CIO magazine’s Hall of Fame and named one of the world’s top CIOs by Computerworld. By all rights, he should be relaxing on a beach.

Yet Moseley clearly retains an enthusiasm for the magic that emerging technology still brings. The rise of tech solutions such as facial recognition and its adoption for a growing range of uses, including car rentals and airport security, still generates a measure of amazement, much like pulling a rabbit and three doves out of a small hat.

“Who would have thought a year ago that when you rent a car, you can just look at the camera on the way out and you’re approved to go?” Moseley said. “The future is going to be absolutely amazing.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Enterprise Connect event. (* Disclosure: Five9 Inc. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Five9 nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE