Zoho attributes local revenue and customer growth to partners

Cloud software vendor Zoho has grown its local customers by 19 per cent and revenue by 18 per cent, attributing the growth in no small part to its local partner network.

The vendor revealed these figures at its annual Zoholics conference in Sydney on 11 November, where it renewed its commitment to local channel partners, which include resellers, distributors, implementation partners, platform partners, systems integrators and independent software vendors (ISV).

In Australia, partners play an instrumental role in the country, collectively providing services such as data migration, third-party integrations and custom applications, explained Vijay Sundaram, chief strategy officer at Zoho.

“We’re enjoying strong and sustainable growth here, both in terms of our customers and revenue, and the channel is one of the driving forces behind that,” Sundaram told ARN. “In the last three years alone, our partner network has grown by 131 per cent.

“Not just in Australia, but globally, the channel has evolved from an important to an absolutely critical part of our business.”

This was in contrast with its position in 2012 when the channel accounted for 13 per cent of total revenue globally.

“Now, it’s closer to one-third,” said Sundaram.

“Building strategic alliances with partners who have existing networks and expertise is an essential part of our business strategy here.”

Sundaram also claimed Zoho’s channel approach is on both the product and the industry.

“There is no one-size-fits all answer,” he said. “We identify the partners who will help us not only reach our target audience, but who are trusted by our target audiences.”

“For a long time, the channel has been a competitive advantage for Zoho.”

The only changes Zoho sees for its channel program will be to “enhance that advantage”, Sundaram claimed.

“We work very closely with our partners and any change to our program would only be in consultation with them,” he said. “We see no reason why the growth in our channel network, both globally and locally, cannot continue.”

With the channel playing a key part of Zoho’s future the vendor will continue to look for local expert partners who can help increase sales, expand market reach and improve customer satisfaction.

“We’ve been bootstrapped since day one. That guides the partners we work with, too. We don’t want to sell software to an end user to generate a sale as quickly as possible. “We want to carefully understand the customer’s unique needs.”

According to Sundaram, the vendor doesn’t “just grant partner status and walk away”, as it regularly educates, equips and engages with its partners.

“We provide extensive training and certifications, offer self-service tutorials, host webinars, provide access to dedicated partner presale and product support teams, demo accounts and early access to new products and features,” he said.

The software vendor formally launched in Australia in 2019, when it opened a branch in Byron Bay, NSW, to provide local support for its-then network of 20 partners and 90,000 local users.

Zoho Australia has since closed the Byron Bay office and moved to an office in Adelaide, South Australia at the start of this year.

Rakesh Prabhakar, head of Zoho Australia and New Zealand, told ARN that moving to Adelaide instead of traditional hubs like Sydney or Melbourne aligns with its “transnational localism strategy”.

“It enables us to better support the burgeoning local business and innovation sector both in Adelaide and nationwide,” he said. “We’re committed to hiring local talent, strengthening our partner networks.”

However, Australia is still considered a “new market” for the vendor when compared to countries like India and the US, where it has been building software for 25 years.

The country has been one of Zoho’s top 10 markets for the last decade, and that momentum has only increased in the last two or three years, building on that is very important to the vendor.