Sridhar Vembu, Co-Founder and CEO of software powerhouse Zoho unveiled a series of upgrades to the 'Zoho Cliq' communication and collaboration platform on October 9. Vembu asserted that Salesforce's communication tool, Slack, falls short of expectations in terms of AI integration capabilities, motivating Zoho to fortify its position in the market. He made these announcements during the Zoholics user conference event held in Bengaluru.
According to Vembu, the competitive landscape in this sector is primarily dominated by three major players. However, he cast doubt on Slack's viability, pointing out that Salesforce had made insufficient strides in integrating cutting-edge AI capabilities. Zoom, on the other hand, is just beginning to enhance its chat functionalities.
Zoho Cliq, introduced in 2017, is a team communication software designed for businesses, offering features such as instant messaging, and audio and video calls. It directly competes with Slack and Zoom in this rapidly evolving space. Notably, Zoho has reported a notable trend of users migrating from Slack and Zoom to Zoho Cliq, with a 30 percent increase in user migration.
The platform has seen robust growth, particularly in the Indian market, with a remarkable 150 percent increase in revenue in 2023 compared to the previous year. It has expanded fourfold since 2020.
Zoho revealed that Zoho Cliq is one of the most frequently used apps in its Zoho One suite. The company anticipates a growing Indian collaboration market, estimating it to reach a significant value of $275.5 million by 2028.
Zoho Cliq offers a range of plans, with the unlimited plan starting at just Rs 36 per user per month. The newly introduced features are set to become available from November 2023 as part of its enterprise edition, offered at Rs 200 per user per month.
One distinctive feature of Zoho Cliq is its customizable interface, which can be adjusted to various languages, including Hindi, Tamil, and Kannada. Vembu underlined the platform's commitment to promoting Indian languages and working alongside the government on this initiative.
Zoom, which experienced a surge in demand during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic when remote work became widespread, is now reportedly facing a slowdown. In February of this year, Zoom took measures to reduce costs by cutting its staff by 15 percent.
Zoho's announcements also encompass new features like 'Cliq Rooms,' an app designed for Android TVs that enables users to schedule meetings and connect to TV audio and video. Additionally, Zoho has introduced AI capabilities, including the capacity to create meeting summaries using Zoho's AI assistant, Zia. The AI can also generate action items as tasks within Zoho projects and set follow-up reminders and meetings in Cliq.
Despite a global economic downturn and subdued demand for software products in September, Zoho has continued to experience growth in India. The company attributes this growth to its diversified product portfolio, with top products including Zoho One, Zoho CX Suite, Zoho People, Zoho Books, and Zoho Workplace. The partner network for Zoho has seen a 30% year-on-year increase.
In September, Zoho surpassed 100 million users across more than 55 business applications. In the fiscal year 2022, Zoho crossed the milestone of $1 billion in annual recurring revenue, with a 43 percent year-on-year increase in net profit, reaching Rs 2,700 crore.
Vembu expressed optimism regarding India's potential as a major market for Zoho. He believes that India has the potential to become the second-largest market within 2-4 years and the largest market within a decade, positioning India as a crucial player in Zoho's growth trajectory.
