Manama: Zoho, a global technology company offering the most extensive suite of business software applications, has shifted focus to helping businesses to navigate through the uncertain times in the wake of the pandemic.
“At Zoho we have put in place a strategy aims at minimizing the impact during the pandemic,” a spokesperson of Zoho said.
“When the pandemic struck, Zoho immediately increased access to technology and support services that can help businesses pivot quickly and remain relevant in the face of adversity,” the spokesperson, said.
“In March, we had launched Remotely, a suite of 11 products that help businesses adopt remote work and provide employees the right infrastructure as they worked from home. Remotely is free for all businesses till November, 2020. Soon after, we announced the Emergency Subscription Assistance Program (ESAP), wherein our small businesses customers who were affected because of the pandemic were given three months waiver on their subscription fee. We also launched a Vertical Relief Programme in April, wherein we announced apps and initiatives for education, government, non-profits and retail sectors, apart from other programmes to help businesses. Then, Zoho BackToWork was launched in August, a comprehensive application for businesses to ensure workplace readiness and safety as employees begin returning back to their offices.”
These initiatives, the spokesperson continues, have allowed us to genuinely help our customers to continue using our products rather than let them go. Today, we already see a substantial number of these customers getting back on their feet in this quarter.
Highlighting the initiatives the spokesperson said that Zoho has formed partnerships in Bahrain including the Startup Bahrain aims at broadening the horizon and scope of businesses.
The partnership with Startup Bahrain, the spokesperson said, the first of its kind in the region, is a foundational part of our long term strategy in Bahrain. We have been able to support the vibrant Bahraini startup ecosystem while strengthening our relationships with the visionary government offices in Bahrain.
“We are currently working with the Economic Development Board of Bahrain on a number of exciting initiatives, which we’ll announce soon,” spokesperson said while highlighting the salient features of Zoho’s new initiatives in Bahrain.
“Zoho One: For its compelling value at an affordable cost; the suite includes everything from CRM and support desk software to HR management, finance and more. The products integrate contextually with each other as they are all built on the same technology platform, allowing data to flow seamlessly from one app to another, giving businesses a complete overview of their operations from a single dashboard,” the spokesperson said while highlighting new products and services in Bahrain.
“Zoho Workplace: A suite of productivity and collaboration apps, including email, project management, office suite (that includes word processor, spreadsheet tool, presentation software and file management), and online meeting and conferencing solutions. Workplace has seen tremendous adoption in Bahrain as it allowed businesses to function remotely and is easy to use.
“Zoho Creator: For allowing custom app creation by business users who do not have programming knowledge to serve unique business needs.
“Zoho Books: For its affordability, ease of use and value proposition. The tax accounting software is VAT-compliant.”
In Bahrain, the spokesperson said, Zoho is catering to a plethora of business verticals and industries in the Kingdom, namely retail, education, professional services, IT, hospitality, and real estate.
“Over the last few months, we have grown considerably in Bahrain. Our customer base has grown by 85% and products like Books and Workplace have recorded tremendous growth—188% and 83% respectively.
“In an earlier interaction with one of Zoho’s spokespersons, there was a mention of the company looking at setting up a data centre in Bahrain. What is the update on that?
“We do plan to open a data center in the region. However, the pandemic has offset our plans, and it’s too early to give an update on this.
“Zoho has taken a tough stand on user privacy and has been a strong advocate for that. How has this impacted your business?
“We got rid of the third-party trackers on our website sometime back. While that might have impacted our business slightly, we are confident that, in the long term, customers would appreciate our genuine efforts,” the spokesperson said.
“With B2C companies like Apple taking a stronger stand on privacy, awareness of privacy issues is increasing every day. Customer data is one of the Intellectual Property of any business, and today, businesses are quickly realizing the multiple issues that come from handing over customer information to surveillance companies.
“As a business, Zoho is growing even in this pandemic. That itself, is testimony to the fact that we have built the business on a solid foundation, and privacy is one of those pillars.”
