Zoho to hire 4,000 people in 3-4 years, bets on SMEs

Cloud services firm Zoho plans to double its headcount to 8,000 people over the next 3-4 years as it introduces new solutions and expands focus on small and medium businesses (SMBs).
The company, which currently has some 4,000 people on its payroll, has development centres in Chennai and Tenkasi (Tamil Nadu) which work on products like customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise e-mail solutions.
"We are looking at a headcount of 8,000 in the next 3-4 years. We are looking at entering newer segments like payroll management. All our solutions are built in India and that is how it will continue to be," Zoho Chief Operating Officer Manikandan Vembu told PTI.

While he declined to disclose the revenue numbers, Vembu said about 45 per cent of the company's topline comes from the US while India accounts for 7-8 per cent.
The company has already invested about Rs 450 crore in its facility in Chennai and drawn up a total investment plan of Rs 3,000 crore to be spent over the next five years.
"We are adding capacity for about 8,000 people. This will include addition of about 500 people at Tenkasi," he said.

Besides, the company will strengthen its sales and marketing operations globally.
About the Indian market, Vembu said the company has about 8,000 paying customers for its CRM solution in India. "We have seen a strong demand from across verticals. Our partners are now working on developing industry-specific features based on our platform to cater to requirements of their clients," he said.

Zoho today launched Zoho Developer programme, which will equip independent software vendors (ISVs) and application developers with tools and resources to create extensions and build custom applications.
"With Zoho Marketplace and Zoho Developer, Zoho evolves from a product suite into a platform. At nearly two million, India has the second-highest number of software developers in the world. We have created a platform for them where they can not only create solutions, but also sell them to Zoho's vast global user base," Vembu said.