Digital Learning in Education

Zoom Video Communications Managerial Report Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Course Professor’s Name Submission Date Executive Summary It was established in this paper that not only did the Covid-19 pandemic fuel the explosive growth of Zoom Video Communications, but it also culminated in significant security and privacy breaches because of managerial negligence. Despite being informed about the vulnerabilities, Zoom’s management did not take any actions until the issues were publicized. The company exposed its users to diverse harms, many of which are currently being felt. The deceptive and unfair business practices prompted the need for market research to establish the technical and business ramifications of such actions. The action plans recommended in this report entail administrative and technical measures. The company should implement data security policies and encryption and publicize its countermeasures following the security breach in order to regain public trust and ensure business sustainability. Table of Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Executive Summary PAGEREF _Toc158571253 \h 2Introduction PAGEREF _Toc158571254 \h 4Management Decision Problem Definition PAGEREF _Toc158571255 \h 4Market Research Problem Definition PAGEREF _Toc158571256 \h 5Approach To Market Research Problem PAGEREF _Toc158571257 \h 6Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc158571258 \h 8References PAGEREF _Toc158571259 \h 9 Introduction Zoom Video Communications, Inc., is a firm based in San Jose, California, that offers online chat and video telephony services to fulfill the teleconferencing needs of its customers globally. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a global lockdown that saw an increase in the popularity of Zoom Video Communications. Zoom became a popular tool for keeping learning institutions, socialization, and business running amid the lockdown. Since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, approximately 3 million individuals have downloaded and used the Zoom application for the first time, bringing its global downloads to 59 million since its launch in April 2019 (Cao, 2021). Based on the preceding background, this paper delineates Zoom’s management decision problem (MDP), appropriate market research problem (MRP), and the approach to address the issue. Management Decision Problem Definition Although the pandemic made Zoom a famous software company, it also promoted significant security and privacy crises that its management needed to address in order to survive in the long run (Dassel & Klein, 2023). It can be derived that this problem was motivated by results or, instead, an upsurge in usage of the Zoom platform without the company implementing sufficient security measures. Zoom experienced far-reaching criticism and accusations over its security and privacy practices in early 2020 following the eruption of the Coronavirus pandemic (Chen & Zou, 2023). These included misleading encryption allegations, unnecessary data sharing to LinkedIn and Facebook, possible attacks and virtual control via Zoom macOS installer, and leaked Zoom passwords and usernames for sale. Other issues included poorly randomized and widely broadcast meeting room information without adequate preventive or detective security measures. In this vein, Zoom recorded a significant uptick in security and privacy issues and a deep-pocket rivalry from competitors such as Cisco WebEx, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams. Amid this situation, the management faced an increasingly difficult decision to effectively address the security and privacy breaches and ensure business sustainability. It is vital to question Zoom’s management response to such security and privacy breaches during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to augment the understanding of the technical and business implications of the crisis. The security and privacy incidents created severe risks and were detrimental to governments, individuals, and organizations (Chen & Zou, 2023). It is necessary to alter the current mitigation strategies in order to improve the data security and confidentiality of Zoom users and prevent such incidents from recurring. Market Research Problem Definition The security and privacy breach issues emanated from Zoom's action to convert Windows UNC paths into clickable l...