"To date, WeChat Work has connected over 14 million real enterprises and organizations, with more than 750 million WeChat users served by enterprises through WeChat Work daily," said Huang Tieming, Vice President of Tencent Holdings and Head of WeChat Work, showcasing impressive metrics before announcing the new version. On August 20, WeChat Work 5.0 was officially released, introducing three core AI functions: intelligent search, intelligent summary, and intelligent robots, making AI practically usable.

Coincidentally, DingTalk, also competing in the collaborative office space, will launch updates next week. Since going online in 2016, WeChat Work has been in direct competition with DingTalk, with both sides closely monitoring AI functionalities and trying various entry angles. This synchronized late-August update is no exception.

**Three Core Features**

Over the past year, WeChat Work has completed 12 version iterations and launched over 1,700 feature updates, demonstrating that integrating technology with practical applications is not an overnight achievement. This latest attempt in WeChat Work 5.0 is summarized into three core functions: intelligent search, intelligent summary, and intelligent robots.

Search is a high-frequency requirement in office scenarios. Users often encounter problems with vague memory, unclear keywords, and large amounts of scattered information, leading to very low search efficiency and accuracy. WeChat Work's new intelligent search function allows conversational queries, with AI automatically correlating chats, documents, meetings, emails and other scenarios, precisely locating final document versions and automatically summarizing data.

Intelligent summary addresses management pain points by automatically integrating group chats, documents, and meeting records to generate project progress reports. A key detail is that the intelligent summary function requires no additional manual organization by users - AI automatically extracts objective conclusions based on natural workflows, making summaries more objective and authentic.

The intelligent robot function is positioned as an "AI colleague." Enterprises can input business SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures), regulations, product introductions, and customer cases for AI learning to achieve zero-threshold Q&A. WeChat Work has also opened the intelligent robot's API (Application Programming Interface), allowing enterprises to integrate their business systems with intelligent robots.

WeChat Work states that all data used by AI functions flows only within enterprises internally and supports enterprise local private deployment.

**Smart Tables and Email**

An industry practitioner in collaborative office software noted that currently, WeChat Work, DingTalk, and Feishu are all focusing on integrating AI into specific business operations. Some functions are must-have competitive features, such as smart tables, while others highlight differentiation based on their own characteristics, such as the connection between WeChat and WeChat Work.

Specifically for WeChat Work's smart tables, they can automatically track task progress, provide overdue task reminders, and automatically generate visual data dashboards while leveraging AI capabilities for more automated intelligent functions. For example, in e-commerce, smart tables can automatically analyze customer reviews and categorize them with tags, processing thousands of reviews in 3 minutes. Manufacturing enterprises can use smart tables for automated inspection functions - when employees upload photos during inspections, smart tables can automatically determine whether workers are wearing safety helmets according to regulations.

Regarding integration with WeChat, for each new WeChat customer added, smart tables can automatically create files, extract information, follow up summaries, analyze purchase intentions, and help enterprises connect internal and external collaboration.

Email functionality also has usage scenarios integrated with WeChat Work. WeChat Work email can automatically integrate chats and meeting records to generate emails, while supporting English grammar correction. Currently, the email function has integrated with WeChat Work's address book, allowing direct quick messaging through employee names and direct selection of departments for group sending or external customer communication.

"Because email and WeChat Work are integrated, when recipients receive your email, they can see not only email addresses but also your business card directly," explained the WeChat Work email product manager.

**Going Global**

From functionality to geography, when WeChat Work 5.0 was previewed, overseas business was one of two items revealed in advance. On August 20, WeChat Work's dedicated overseas version WeCom was officially launched.

With AI technology support, WeCom can provide real-time translation for chatting, meetings and other scenarios. Additionally, WeCom can automatically switch time zones, has set up 16 global acceleration points, supports over ten interface languages, and complies with international standards like GDPR.

Customer data shows that currently, BYD's 1 million employees across 96 countries use the overseas version of WeChat Work for communication, and Luxshare Precision's 260,000 domestic and international teams share one workspace on WeChat Work's overseas version.

According to Bida analyst Li Jinqing, "Competition among office collaboration companies is all about details and very fragmented. It won't have an obvious 'iPhone moment' like consumer AI products. Moreover, in collaborative office fields, different types of enterprises and even similar enterprises have different needs, making it difficult to test with unified standards."

However, in the current large language model boom, the outside world is eager to know which of the three "shovel sellers" can first strike AI gold.

"Strategic significance is reflected not only in their own commercialization but also in assistance to their groups," Li Jinqing noted.

According to iResearch consulting reports, China's collaborative office platform market will reach 13.9 billion yuan in 2025, compared to 11.7 billion yuan in 2024, growing to 16.3 billion yuan in 2026. This market has numerous players, divided into three categories: traditional OA vendors, internet companies, and other professional software vendors. WeChat Work, DingTalk, and Feishu belong to internet companies.

The earliest batch entering the collaborative office market, such as Landray, Weaver, and Seeyon, holds 45.5% market share. The report notes that compared to peers from other backgrounds, WeChat Work and the other two currently focus mainly on small and micro enterprises, excelling in communication collaboration and ease of use.

Specifically regarding differences between WeChat Work, DingTalk, and Feishu, iResearch defines them as follows: DingTalk is a new productivity tool; WeChat Work is an integrated free collaborative enterprise communication and office tool; Feishu is an advanced enterprise collaboration and management platform.