Zoho plans to launch 20 apps for iOS, Android devices

Zoho Corporation, an online software solutions provider with its development centre in Chennai, will be rolling out over 20 applications, including customer management and invoice, for iOS (iPhone operating system) and Android-based devices, according to Raju Vegesna, chief evangelist for Zoho.

“Imagine an application that allows you to capture the image of a business card, grab the information and send it to your CRM (customer relationship management) system? These are some of features of the applications that we are currently working on, which will be launched within this year,” he told reporters here on Monday.

The 16-year-old company, formerly known as AdventNet Inc, currently offers over 10 mobile applications, including document management and spreadsheet presentation.

Stating that mobility was the big thing that Zoho was currently betting big on, Vegesna said that the company was hiring one professional a day and around 80 per cent of its new hires were now on the mobility side, developing applications for iPhone and iPad.

Presently, the company employs around 1,600 globally, of which 1,500 work out of its Chennai centre.

On the offers made by big names like Salesforce.com to acquire Zoho, Vegesna said “we are not for sale”.

The company, in fact, is looking at acquiring good product-based companies, mostly in India, he said. Zoho had earlier acquired Applibase and SwisSQL.

“We plan to expand based on the market dynamics and with more feet on the ground. We are looking at acquiring companies that bring in talent,” he said, while refusing to comment further.

The $150-million (approximately Rs 830 crore) company, which currently garners nearly 55 per cent of its revenues from the US and less than five per cent from the domestic market, is now focusing on providing solutions to small and medium businesses (SMBs) in the country.

According to a survey released by Zinnov Management Consulting titled ‘Indian SMB ICT adoption insights’, SMBs in India will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 15 per cent by 2015, contributing $15 billion or one-third of the country’s IT spend.

The study also noted that India has around 50 million SMBs, of which 10 million are technology-ready.

This addressable market opportunity for SMBs will increase to 11 million by 2015.

With 500,000 users at present, Zoho plans to end this calendar with a 2.5-million user base in India, Vegesna said, adding that the company’s sales in India were expected to grow at a faster pace and contributed 10 per cent to its revenues by the end of this year.