Skip the navigation
News

Zoho slows frantic growth, works on integrating Web apps instead

But it still offers the broadest Web productivity suite

By Eric Lai
February 4, 2010 01:37 PM ET

Computerworld - Nearly four years after its launch, Google Docs still consists of just three components: word processor, spreadsheet and presentation maker. This "less is more" approach, while natural for a resource-challenged start-up, remains puzzling coming from a $22 billion-a-year giant ostensibly committed to beating Microsoft Office.

Instead, it's been the little guy, Zoho Corp., that has built the broadest Web productivity suite out there. Today, it offers 20 office and business apps (21 if you include e-mail). These range from the basic word processor and spreadsheet to specialized HR and business intelligence apps, to its most profitable offering, a Salesforce.com-rivaling CRM app that has more than 10,000 paying users, said Chief Evangelist Raju Vegesna.

"Believe it or not, we were competing with 17 online word processor apps when we launched in 2005," Vegesna said. "And when Google launched Google Docs [a year later], we thought we'd get crushed."

By driving its now-350-strong Indian development team hard, Zoho has thrived, while others, like ThinkFree, have faded.

Not only does Zoho have more than 2 million paying and nonpaying users, its revenue has been growing at a rate of 40% per year and it expects to hit profitability by year's end, Vegesna said. (A New York Times story that said Zoho had $50 million in revenue last year failed to note that that total was for Zoho's parent company, which operates two unrelated divisions, Vegesna explained.)

"Google Docs validated the market," he said. "It is the best thing that happened to Zoho."

Vegesna is confident that Microsoft Corp.'s coming Office 2010 as well as its belated online entry, Office Web, will also prove to be boons for Zoho. And he's unworried about the potential creation of Oracle Cloud Office, saying he doesn't expect it to arrive "for four or five years."

He also said Zoho has slowed its breakneck rate of development to the relatively relaxed pace of about three new apps per year. Rather than a sign that it is easing up on the gas pedal, Vegesna said it's a shift in strategy to polish up its existing apps and knit them together better.

Recent improvements, he said, include letting users open an attachment with Zoho Writer inside the Mail app and attaching files stored in their Google Docs database. Others include letting users quickly edit sales leads stored in the form-based CRM database in the more powerful Zoho Spreadsheet, and letting users sign in via their Google, Yahoo and Facebook accounts.

The goal is to reduce friction and let its users, mostly workers at smaller, distributed companies, move around the various Zoho Apps as quickly and painlessly as possible, Vegesna said.



Additional Resources
Forrester Consulting - Optimizing Users and Applications in a Mobile World
WHITE PAPER
Solving application issues over the WAN requires careful consideration. Based on their independent research, Forrester Consulting offers recommendations on how to tackle application performance issues, insufficient bandwidth and the inability to quickly restore users in a disaster.

Read now.

Security KnowledgeVault
WHITE PAPER
Security is not an option. This KnowledgeVault Series offers professional advice how to be proactive in the fight against cybercrimes and multi-layered security threats; how to adopt a holistic approach to protecting and managing data; and how to hire a qualified security assessor. Make security your Number 1 priority.

Read now.

Cut Communications Costs Once and for All
WHITE PAPER
New IP-based communications systems are being deployed by small and midsized businesses at a rapid rate. Learn how these organizations are enabling faster responsiveness, creating better customer experiences, speeding office or mobile interactions, and dramatically reducing existing communications costs.

Read now.

Networking White Papers
Make the Connection: Better Network Connectivity Drives Transformation
Network connectivity is more than just plumbing. Leading organizations today see high-performance network connectivity as a critical enabler of competitive advantage, and not...
Virtualizing Government Infrastructure
All server virtualization solutions are not created equal. The more-with-less agenda for government agencies is tailor-made for server virtualization, which is evolving into...
Moving Service Management to SaaS
Today, organizations can enjoy similarly substantial benefi ts by migrating their IT service management functions to a software-as-a-service model. This paper shows how...
Achieving 360 Degree Network Visibility with Nimsoft
360° network visibility is critical for ensuring continuous availability of networks, servers, and applications-anything less could
have costly bottom-line implications.
Increase IT Performance from the Enterprise to the Cloud with WAN Optimization
WAN optimization plays an important role in today's highly distributed datacenters and cloud computing architectures. This paper discusses how Riverbed solutions effectively eliminate...
All Networking White Papers
Networking Webcasts
Unified Communication for Dummies
What's the best way to implement a unified communications solution for your organization?
Try the OptiView® XG on your network - FREE
The OptiView® XG is the first dedicated tablet with automated network and application analysis -- fastest way to root cause. XG raises the...
Optimizing Networks for the Cloud
Join guest speaker, Rohit Mehra, IDC Director of Enterprise Communications Infrastructure, to explore current trends, discuss best practices for optimizing Data Center and...
Apps QuickStart Series Part 2: Designing and Deploying SQL Server on VMware vSphere
Download this webcast to learn about the design considerations for virtualizing SQL workloads, performance and scalability information and high-availability options, as well as...
Apps QuickStart Series Part 1: Designing and Deploying Exchange 2010 on VMware vSphere
Download this webcast to learn the virtual hardware design considerations for Exchange 2010, deployment using the building block approach, options for high-availability and...
All Networking Webcasts
Newsletter Sign-Up

Receive the latest news test, reviews and trends on your favorite technology topics

Choose a newsletter
  1. View all newsletters | Privacy Policy
IT Jobs