Indian Face behind ZOHO

ZOHO CORPORATION

Zoho Corporation (formerly AdventNet) founded in 1996, is located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The company started as a network framework provider for telecom equipment vendors. In 2003, ZOHO Corp diversified into IT Management software with ManageEngine. In 2005, it launched Zoho Office Suite with a web based word processor, and later expanded to offer other applications, including spreadsheets, Mail, a calendar, contacts list, and other business-oriented programs. 

AdventNet has transformed itself from a modest beginning as a software company serving network equipment vendors to a be an innovative online applications provider. It has maintained growth and profitability, without needing outside capital.

Dr. Shridhar Vembu is the Founder of ZOHO Corporation. He is not only known for creating one of the first online (Cloud Computing) office suites as a company, but also for the unique staffing practices of Zoho which hires economically disadvantaged high school graduates and puts them through two years of education with a strong focus on engineering / software.Such "Zoho University“ graduates now make up 10% of their workforce.Despite increasing growth and market presence.Forbes quoted him as “Smartest Unknown Indian Entrepreneur”.Entrepreneur Marc Benioff is afraid of him. Venture king Mike Moritz wants to invest in him. 

From Chennai to California:Journey of a silent Entrepreneur and making of

ZOHO

Sridhar Vembu obtained his B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from IIT, Madras, and PhD in Electrical Engineering in Princeton University in 1994.

He served as a systems design engineer in Qualcomm from 1994-96, focusing on CDMA for satellite communications, where he had the privilege of working with some of the leading minds in wireless communications.

In 1996, driven by a passion to play a role in the emerging technology industry in India, he reinvented himself as a software entrepreneur. Along with friends and his brothers, he co-founded what became AdventNet where he has served as CEO since 2000.

The two most important contributors to its early success were Tony Thomas and Shridhar’s brother Kumar; Tony had envisioned and implemented early product ideas that made us money, and Kumar set up our engineering organization in India which is the core of the company to this day. The Zoho name was suggested by Raju Vegesna, who serves as the Zoho evangelist. The name was changed to Zoho Corporation in 2009.

Privately held AdventNet has grown to over 600 employees, with all the growth funded internally, without requiring outside investment. AdventNet is a diversified software company, with a portfolio of successful products. It has an excellent work culture and environment which keeps the employess going.

Driven by the learning needs of his son diagonsed with autism, AdventNet has created Jambav.com, an interactive learning and entertainment site for kids.

AdventNet is pioneering a new approach to higher education in India, combining class room instruction with hands-on experience. This is helping under-privileged students in India enter the world of technology.

Dr. Shridhar says, “We will continue our tradition of investing heavily in engineering R&D. We hope to introduce interesting new products, to address a variety of customer needs. With the continued growth of the company, I feel fortunate that we can attempt many interesting projects, which excites the engineer in me. ”

ZOHO

What is ZOHO??ZOHO offers a wide range of

applications used to grow businesses all over the world.

Customers use Zoho Applications to run their business processes, manage their information and be more productive while at the office or on the go, without having to worry about expensive or out-dated hardware or software.

o Zoho Creator is an online database service that lets you create custom database applications easily and to share and collaborate on structured data  via a web interface. Your team members and clients can access real-time data from anywhere, anytime even on your mobile phone.

      Zoho Creator offers first of its kind drag-n-      drop interface to create tables/forms,       design,    schedule workflows and perform      variety of automated actions.

What is ZOHO Creator?

ZOHO OFFICE SUITEThe Zoho Office Suite is a Web-based online office suite containing word processing,  spreadsheets, presentations, databases, note-taking, wikis, customer relationship management (CRM), project management, invoicing, and other applications developed by ZOHO Corporation (formerly AdventNet Inc.), a US-based company. It was launched in 2005 with a web-based word processor. Additional products such as spreadsheets and presentations, were incorporated later into Zoho. 

Zoho applications are distributed as software as a service (SaaS).Zoho uses an open application programming interface for its Writer, Sheet, Show, Creator, Meeting, and Planner products. It also has plugins into Microsoft Word and Excel, anOpenOffice.org plugin, and a plugin for Firefox.

ZOHO’s Apps:Zoho has got three types of Applications:- Collaboration Applications: Chat,

Meeting, Projects, Docs, Pulse and Mail.

Business Applications: CRM, Bug Tracker, Assist, Recruit, Reports and People.

Productivity Applications: Calendar, Show, Sheet and Writer.

ZOHO CRM

What is CRM?Customer Relationship Management is a word originally defined and 

designed to improve Customer Service.1. Customer refers to an entity that acquires or consumes goods 

or services from a desired firm.2. Relationship in business refers to a state involving mutual 

dealings between people or parties.3. Management refers to managing of customer 

interactions,thus involving a customer-centric thinking and acting .

If there is one thing that differentiates Zoho CRM from its competitors, it’s the way they excel at managing leads and contacts. That’s something many salespeople appreciate: the ability to store everything about a customer under one page, including emails, activities and product purchases.

Zoho CRM APIZoho CRM provides API (Application Programming Interface) for integrating CRM modules with third-party applications such as, accounting, ERP, e-commerce, self-service portals and others. With the Zoho CRM API, you can extract CRM data in XML or JSON format and develop new applications or integrate with your existing business applications. As the Zoho CRM API is independent of programming languages, you can develop applications in any programming language (Java, .Net, C, C++, PHP, etc.).

You can use the Zoho CRM API to integrate the following types of applications: Zoho Services Third-party applications

ZOHO ONLINE DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT

Online Workspace ->Work together on projects with less confusion and transparent communication and ensure that each member is kept in the loop, with online workspace.

Streamline Your Work-Be organized and informed on work that needs to be completed, by assigning tasks ,so that you reach project deadlines and goals more efficiently.

ZOHO Online Document Management

• Access Anytime Anywhere->Take your documents with you and access them anytime, anywhere or go mobile with apps for the iPhone and Android.

• Create and Edit Docs Online->Create word documents, spread sheets and presentations online. Manage document content with smart formatting, editing and real-time collaboration features.

Various Applications

Zoho Planner :-An online planner with a calendar, to-do lists, pages, and e-mail reminders for collaboration with other users.

Zoho Wiki :-Zoho Wiki is a tool that allows the user to create his/her own wiki with its own pages and sub-pages, pictures and multi-media snippets.

Zoho Writer ::-Zoho Writer supports simultaneous collaboration between multiple users. It supports common formats, including Microsoft Word (DOC), Office Open XML (DOCX), OpenDocument text (ODT), OpenOffice.org XML text (SXW), HTML, RTF, JPEG, GIF and PNG files. It can support embedded media from hosting sites, such as Flickr, Zooomr, Youtube, and Vimeo. Zoho Writer was one of the earliest online word processors to support both online and offline editing by using Google Gears.

Zoho Invoice :-Zoho Invoice is the invoicing solution from Zoho's range of business applications. It enables users to create, send and manage invoices., track expenses, receive online payments and generate reports.

Other Applications•Zoho BugTracker :- An online bug tracking application in the suite. It is designed to help quality assurance and programmers keep track of reported software bugs in their work.

•Zoho Show :- An online presentation program that allows users to create or import Microsoft PowerPoint, Open Document Presentations or OpenOffice.org XML presentations. It also allows users to share & collaborate on presentations and make remote presentations to clients. 

•Zoho Reports :- An online business intelligence and reporting application in the suite. It can "create charts, pivots, summary and other wide-range of reports through powerful drag & drop interface".

•Zoho People :-On-Demand HRIS & Applicant Tracking System.

ZOHO AchievementsTill Date, ZOHO has launched 25+ online applications - from CRM to Mail, Office Suite, Project Management, Invoicing, Web conferencing and more.

Zoho has received numerous awards, including an InfoWorld 2009 "Product of the Year" award, a 2008 PC World "25 Most Innovative Products Award" and a 2007 TechCrunch "Best Enterprise Start-up’’.

Thank You

BY-NETRA DEEPAM SIDDHARTH