Zoom has introduced a new tool to create and edit polls and surveys, which it claims will make it easier to gauge employee engagement.

While Zoom had already enabled surveys for feedback during and after meetings, Zoom Surveys extends this capability more widely across its portfolio of collaboration and productivity tools, the company said Wednesday.

"People have different workstyles and meeting styles, and we wanted to make it easier for our customers to interact with their entire audience, not just those who attend meetings," Darin Brown, head of product and productivity applications at Zoom, said in a blog post. "With Surveys, users can easily get a quick pulse on whatever issue they need from those who matter most, without having to call an unnecessary meeting to discuss."

There's an option to send surveys via a link to employees, allowing managers to track employee engagement, or externally to customers. This could allow a contact center supervisor to evaluate agent performance, for instance, or customer satisfaction.

All surveys and polls are hosted in a user's personal library, where they can access collected data. The survey data can be aggregated by meeting, webinar, link, or individual response. Survey creators can also set up "default surveys" that are automatically sent to all meeting and webinar attendees.

There are options to customize surveys with company logos and brand visuals, as well as edit background colors.

"Worker engagement is rising in importance, as is customer engagement," said Wayne Kurtzman, IDC research vice president, social, communities, and collaboration. Zoom Surveys builds on the vendor's "growing communications and collaboration platform to both add more sought-after features and deepen the Zoom One suite functionality.

"Zoom Surveys is effective, yet not overly complex, and works within Zoom Meetings and Zoom Events. For tests, quizzes and even icebreakers, this is a great addition," Kurtzman said.

Zoom's product portfolio has grown substantially from its origins as a basic videoconferencing tool. The new survey tool is part of this strategy.

"With Surveys, Zoom is likely looking to fill a gap in its platform," said Ra