Zoho eyes large enterprises business via platform model

BENGALURU: Zoho’s new CEO Mani Vembu will steer the software as a services (SaaS) company into a platform-led entity, graduating from the app vendor status, as it targets large enterprises globally for the next level of growth.

Sharing details of Zoho’s latest approach in enabling the digital transformation journey of large enterprises here on Wednesday, he said this strategy reflects its efforts to expand the bouquet of services in regions beyond its fastest growing market, India.

Signifying its intent to expand its footprint globally, Vembu said, the vertical approach of servicing its customers would mean catering to markets in Europe, Asia Pacific, US, Latin America and the Middle East. After India, Middle East has proved to be its fastest growing market.

While the US continues to drive Zoho’s revenue, India is projected to overtake the former in a less than a decade, chipped in Praval Singh, VP – marketing, customer experience, Zoho Corp.

The privately-held Zoho, employing over 18,000 people, has over 55 apps, servicing over 100 million users globally, across 150-plus countries.

Giving an overview of the platform approach, Vembu said ‘’one platform can’t be force-fitted for all use cases across different domains/verticals.’’ The platform combines the power of domain-specific features and low code tools and contextual coding.

Businesses are looking for highly customised solutions that align perfectly with business needs; he elaborated, and said integration with a host of legacy systems helped in managing changes in a rapidly evolving environment.

Rather than being merely a SaaS vendor, Zoho is now positioning itself as a long-term technology partner. So from point products (standalone applications such as CRM, project management), Zoho has moved to unified suites (domain specific suites to serve domains such as customer experience, finance and operations; Zoho One introduction in 2017, which is an integrated suite of 50 plus products) before finally entering the enterprise scalability phase, through its platform model.

Zoho would be investing heavily in APAC region as it looks to close larger deals, Vembu said.

He also spoke about Agentic AI, with use cases such as filling a RFP or questionnaires, showing promising results.

Earlier, as per a study by IDC that has been commissioned by Zoho, about 75 per cent of Indian enterprises that have adopted SaaS solutions since 2020 have seen implementation delays, resulting in an average timeline overrun of 57 per cent and cost overrun of 43 per cent.

Revealing the outcome of the study titled ‘IDC State of SaaS Adoption in India Survey 2024’, here on Wednesday, Sharath Srinivasamurthy, AVP, IDC India, said these setbacks have led to an average loss of Rs 5.6 crore in missed business opportunities, besides impacting employee productivity, customer experience, and competitive positioning.

“The ability to deploy SaaS solutions efficiently is no longer just an IT priority—it is a business necessity,” he said.