What is Zoho One?

From apps to operating system

Launched in 2017, Zoho One raised many eyebrows in the industry when it was unveiled. At that time, SaaS companies were very much focused on individual products rather than all-in-one solutions.

“Zoho was one of the first companies to market with this approach for the Cloud,” explains Lucy Beck. “You can run your entire business using Zoho One, from inventory and warehouse management through to accounting, HR and customer relations. This is a game-changer. The potential is huge.”

Zoho One brings together many of Zoho’s popular products in one, easy-to-use package, including:

Analytics – for business intelligence and dashboards
Books – full financial management. A great replacement for Xero/Quickbooks/Sage
Cliq – instant messaging, BOTS similar to Slack
CRM – customer and supplier data management
Desk – customer service management
Inventory – stock and warehouse management
People – human resource management
Projects – project management and activity reporting
Recruit – applicant tracking and onboarding
Social – social media management and scheduling
Survey – survey tool that integrates into many other applications

and many more.

“More than 40,000 Zoho customers from around the world are now using Zoho One,” explains Lucy. “Many start with Zoho CRM or finance management and then progress to Zoho One when they see the huge potential for their business,” she adds.

In fact, Zoho One can potentially replace more than 700 disparate business applications – including Quickbooks, MS Office and Mailchimp.

“Looking at Zoho One’s product menu is like going into a sweetie shop where you’re overwhelmed by choice,” explains Lucy. “That’s why, at A2Z Cloud, we work closely with customers to look at how Zoho One can be most effectively deployed within the business.”

One of the biggest barriers to growth for many businesses is a lack of systems integration – essentially systems not talking to each other. This is a thing of the past with Zoho One. You can connect your sales, marketing, customer support and operations – so your business functions can operate as a unified whole. This reduces the need for complex integrations and costly workarounds.

Reaping the rewards from Zoho One

Switching to Zoho One allows you to replace a patchwork of costly legacy systems, reducing the manual input and data duplication and streamlining business operations.
You can increase productivity across all business functions by:

• increasing lead conversions and sales revenue
• streamlining business processes and reducing manual work
• improving and automating your workflows
• strengthening team working through closer collaboration
• providing a better customer experience with a more seamless journey, from first contact to first order
• speeding up reporting, analysis and planning
• providing cross-functional insights for smarter decision-making

“Zoho One enables you to turbocharge your business productivity,” says Lucy Beck. “We’ve seen this with our own customers who’ve adopted Zoho One – such as training provider Learning People and Newcross Healthcare.

“Of course, technology alone cannot drive this change,” reflects Lucy. “The important thing is how your people use the technology and adapt to new, simpler ways of working. But Zoho One makes this whole process easy.”

Research has shown that many customers will use 6-10 apps when they first adopt Zoho One. But, over the course of the first year, this increases to an average of 10-14 apps and many mature customers use 20 or more.

Reliable and scalable

Reliability and scalability are key factors in Zoho One’s popularity – Zoho products are built with an eye to the future. The improved security, from having a unified system, is another key selling point. Administrators have instant oversight and control of user permissions and access rights across their business functions. Single sign-on also means that employees don’t have to waste time logging in and out of different programs.

“Zoho One users can access the apps from anywhere, at any time,” explains Lucy. “This has increasingly become a priority for businesses since the pandemic – with the shift towards hybrid working.”

The apps can be fully customised and extended to suit user needs. Zoho One also has an extensive range of external integrations.

“Zoho’s platform is structured in a very clever way,” says Lucy. “This means that our developers can deploy Zoho’s apps creatively to meet our customers’ particular needs.

“If you’re using Zoho CRM and Projects but you want to connect these with a specialist app, we can build the code to connect the two systems. There is so much to Zoho and our team at A2Z Cloud has that in-depth knowledge to help customers get the very best out if it,” she adds.

So, what sort of businesses will benefit from Zoho One?

“Zoho One is suitable for all kinds of businesses – from start-ups through to large multinationals,” explains Lucy.

“We’re getting lots of interest in Zoho One. Typically, customers like to test out one or two Zoho products first. Then, when they realise the potential, they often move to Zoho One as it is so comprehensive.”

As an example, training provider Learning People rolled out Zoho One across their operations in the UK and New Zealand – with the support of A2Z Cloud. The team from Learning People were attracted by the simplicity, adaptability and affordability of Zoho’s products. Zoho One is now at the heart of business operations – helping the team manage the whole student journey from first contact through to course completion.

Game-changing software, at an affordable cost

Zoho offers simple, transparent and affordable pricing for Zoho One. There are two options – you can either buy one license for £30 per employee per month. Alternatively, there is a flexible option priced at £75 per user, which gives you any number of licenses per month.

“Zoho One offers exceptional value when you consider what you’re getting for your money,” explains Lucy. “You don’t have to negotiate a contract and there are no hidden costs or extras.”

Of course, investing in new business management systems always comes at a cost – and one that must be carefully weighed up against the potential return on investment.

“When we’re first approached by a customer, I always start by asking them what outcome they’re looking for,” says Lucy. “Many are using Salesforce but they’re maybe only using a small proportion of its features but spending a fortune. Zoho offers many of the same features but at a fraction of the cost.

“It’s still an investment but, when you factor in the cost savings from using a unified system, customers can see the long-term benefits.”

The future of Zoho One

“Zoho is constantly extending the product range within Zoho One,” explains Lucy. “It is also improving the integration and functionality of the existing products. Some products, such as the CRM, are already competing head-to-head with products such as Salesforce and Mailchimp. But other products, such as Bookings, still have some way to go to beat products such as Calendly.”

“However, Zoho’s products are developing at a phenomenal rate so this is changing all the time. Zoho reinvests at least 50% of its profits in research and development – which is a staggering amount,” says Lucy. “This demonstrates just how committed Zoho is to pushing the boundaries and creating world-leading products at a fantastic price for customers. We’re really excited to see what the future holds.”