MANAMA: Zoho, the global provider of cloud-based business software with the most extensive portfolio in the industry, has commended Bahrain’s start-up ecosystem and planning to open an office and data center in the Kingdom.
Hyther Nizam, President, MEA, Zoho Corporation, who was in Bahrain to conduct a major meeting for the clients, customers and business partners, told a Press conference that Zoho was looking at opening full-fledged office and data centre in the Kingdom of Bahrain in future.
Zoho has been steadily increasing its investment in Bahrain. In 2018, it launched VAT-compliant version of its accounting software, Zoho Books. Zoho held its debut user conference in the country, Zoholics: Bahrain where the speakers educated attendees about the latest Zoho solutions and ways to leverage cloud technology for growing business. The event is part of the Global Entrepreneurship Week 2019.
On Wednesday Zoho announced the launch of the Arabic version of its low-code development platform, Zoho Creator. With Creator, business owners who do not have any coding experience can easily create custom apps using its simple drag-and-drop interface. In the Arabic version, the orientation of the UI is reversed, allowing businesses to build fully Arabic apps with easier to use UI and right-to-left data entry capabilities.
For businesses who do not wish to keep their data in the cloud, or would like to opt for third-party public clouds, the company has also launched an on-premise version of Zoho Creator. With the on-premise version, businesses will be able to create and deploy applications on their own servers, or other public clouds such as AWS.
“With the low-code platforms, an organization can provide all the departments access to technology, thereby empowering them,” Hyther Nizam, President, MEA, Zoho Corp, said.
“Teams need no longer rely on their IT department for each and every app requirement. On the other hand, the IT department is free to concentrate on mission critical issues. This enables businesses to bring down their IT cost. While the Arabic version of Zoho Creator removes any language barrier, its on-premise version removes any technological barriers for Bahraini businesses to adopt this digitally transformational technology,” he added,
According to Gartner, by 2024, low-code application development will be responsible for more than 65% of application development activity.
With the simple drag-and-drop interface, even managers with no programming knowledge can create custom applications to streamline their business processes. For example, an HR manager can create an application to track employee requests or a marketing head can create an application to track event registrations and even use AI-enabled fields that can tell how many of the registered people will actually attend the event.
Experienced programmers, on the other hand, can add their own custom code to create more complex applications. The apps built on Zoho Creator are available on mobile devices without any further effort. They can also be white-labeled and pushed to App Store or Play Store, bringing massive efficiencies to the app building and deployment process.
“Zoho has also seen impressive growth in Bahrain in the last one year with 85% year-over-year revenue growth; around 250% new revenue year-over-year growth till date and 100% partner year-over-year revenue growth,” Ali Shabdar, Regional Director, MEA, Zoho Corp, said.
Zoho has over 50 million users in over 180 countries. With 45+ apps in nearly every major business category, including sales, marketing, customer support, accounting and back office operations, and an array of productivity and collaboration tools, Zoho Corporation is one of the world’s most prolific software companies. Zoho is privately held and profitable with more than 8,000 employees.
