Otter launches search across company tools and a Windows app that records without joining the call

Otter.ai has released two updates for enterprise users: a search function that spans all of a company's connected tools, and a native Windows app that records conversations without having to join the call as an official participant.

Unified search across company tools

Until now, Otter users had to switch between different systems, such as Slack, Google Drive, CRM platforms and corporate email, to find context from past conversations. The new search feature brings everything into one interface: you ask a question in natural language, and the service aggregates an answer from all connected sources.

Under the hood, this is what the industry calls "enterprise RAG", or retrieval-augmented generation. The model does not just transcribe a meeting; it also enriches the context with data from the company's other systems. Competitors such as Notion AI, Microsoft 365 Copilot and Google Workspace AI are already moving in a similar direction. Otter is betting on specialization: meetings as the core around which all company data is gathered.

In practice, this addresses a specific pain point. Questions like "What exactly did we promise this client in November?" or "Who on the team talked to this vendor?" used to mean manually combing through Zoom archives, Slack history and several CRM tabs. Now a single question in Otter is enough.

The list of supported integrations will most likely grow, since the depth of connections is what determines the value of such products in the enterprise.

Windows app with no bot in the call

The second update is a native Windows app with an unusual feature: it records conversations through the microphone or system audio without adding a bot to the call's participant list. The user is physically present at the meeting or listens through headphones, and Otter captures everything without a visible "robot" in the Zoom, Teams or Meet interface.

This covers several scenarios that were not covered before:

• Offline negotiations in meeting rooms without video conferencing
• Meetings with external partners where company policy prohibits bots
• Conferences and business presentations
• Calls in messaging apps with no native Otter integration
• Meetings on the client's premises, where third-party services cannot be added

Otter's macOS version appeared much earlier, so the Windows app is more a case of reaching parity than an independent breakthrough. Still, it matters for the enterprise market: the vast majority of office computers run Windows, and the lack of a native app was a noticeable gap for enterprise sales.

Otter moves into the enterprise

The market for AI meeting assistants has become noticeably more crowded over the past two years. Fireflies.ai, Fathom, Gong, and the built-in Microsoft Teams Copilot and Zoom AI Companion are each looking for their own niche. Otter has historically stood out for affordability: its subscription costs less than those of the corporate giants, and its interface is simpler to set up and use. The company has existed since 2016 and was one of the first to turn meeting transcription into a mass-market product for business.

The latest updates, cross-company search and a native Windows app, signal a shift of focus to the enterprise segment. Otter now aims to be more than a transcription tool and to become a "corporate memory": a single place where meetings are linked to the rest of the company's data.

What this means

Otter is broadening its position, from a call-recording tool to an AI assistant with access to all of a company's information. If the integrations with CRM, Slack and Google Workspace work seamlessly, the way people use it changes from "listen to the recording" to "ask the AI what was decided last week". The coming months will show how deep these connections turn out to be.