AI meeting notetaker applications are evolving beyond basic transcription and summarisation. Recognising the limitations of their original models, companies like Otter, following the footsteps of Read AI, Fireflies.ai, and Fathom, are expanding to create comprehensive workspaces. These platforms now allow users to integrate data from various sources, enabling holistic searches and informed business decisions.
Otter, established for nearly ten years, has recently accelerated its transformation into an enterprise productivity tool. In October, the company introduced a feature enabling organisations to establish custom Model Context Protocols (MCPs) for accessing Otter data externally. The latest development enhances the platform’s ability to import external data into the application.
Users can now connect their Gmail, Google Drive, Notion, Jira, and Salesforce accounts, facilitating a seamless amalgamation of both meeting data and external information. Future updates will include integration with Microsoft Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, and Slack, offering users the ability to perform cross-tool data searches and even share meeting summaries with Notion or draft emails in Gmail.
Moreover, Otter has redesigned its AI assistant for improved accessibility across the interface. It remains constantly available to users, offering context-specific responses based on the current screen, whether related to a specific meeting or platform channel.
As part of a broader trend, many notetakers are shifting towards ‘botless’ meeting recordings, capturing audio directly from devices instead of having a bot join the call. Otter has adopted this approach, launching it for Mac users last year and extending it to Windows users now.
The debate continues over the optimal method for meeting note-taking, particularly the use of bots. Otter’s CEO, Sam Liang, indicated that enterprise clients generally prefer a bot that actively participates in meetings, enhancing transparency; they also appreciate that meeting notes are shared with all attendees rather than being restricted to one individual.
To address the issue of multiple bots overwhelming meetings, Otter has implemented a deduplication feature, ensuring that only essential bots participate, preventing scenarios where bots outnumber human attendees.
In terms of user base and growth, Otter reported 25 million users and $100 million in annual recurring revenue last year. The platform has since increased its user count to 35 million, reflecting its successful pivot towards catering to enterprise needs and enhanced functionality.
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