Zoho is the Google Workspace alternative of choice for African technology companies

When Nigerian edtech startup Flexisaf decided to cut costs earlier this year, it realized it needed to reduce its technology spending.

One of the company's biggest costs was what it paid Google to use Workspace, a collection of Google products such as Gmail, Drive, Calendar, Meet, and Docs. Flexisaf had been using Google Workspace since 2010, but now that he has 100 employees, it had become too expensive for the small business.

In March, FlexiSaf found a solution to its problem with Zoho, an Indian company that offers products similar to Google's at a fraction of the price. Flexisaf has begun the process of migrating him to Zoho, which, once completed, will save the company about eight million naira ($6,960) annually, said Saad, Flexisaf's human resources and talent manager. Mr. Chef told his Rest of World.

Shehu said the approach we've taken is to introduce email and conferencing tools first, and then accelerate adoption of other features in the coming months.

Zoho, a little-known rival to Google and Microsoft in the enterprise software space, is increasing its presence in Africa as an affordable alternative to the global giants. The company is tapping into the market by hiring local staff, introducing local currency payment options and even sponsoring cricket tournaments. But despite its early success, African technology experts say Zoho needs to step up its branding and engage with the local tech community to seriously compete with larger rivals in the future. It states that there is.

Prabal Singh, vice president of marketing and customer experience at Zoho, told Rest of World that African countries have a huge opportunity for digital transformation. Many companies are adopting digital for the first time or are on the path to leveraging technology to make their business more efficient, he said. Rest of World spoke to seven startups from Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa who have ditched Google for Zohos products over the past year or so.

Zoho was founded in India in 1996, but only started its local operations in Africa in 2019, with one salesperson in South Africa and one in Nigeria. The company currently has about 60 employees across the continent, Andrew Bourne, Zohos' regional manager for Africa, told Rest of World. Zoho sells work management tools comparable to Gmail and Google Drive, as well as software for customer relationship management, human resources, accounting, and more.

Zoho has over 100 million users worldwide. The company's customers include e-commerce giant Amazon, major car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Indian airline SpiceJet, and food delivery platform Zomato. Zohos' advantage over larger rivals is that it doesn't run ads or sell customer data to third parties, Singh said.

In 2023, the Zohos user base in Nigeria grew by 50% year-on-year, and revenue from South Africa grew by 73%, Born said. The company declined to say how many users it has in Africa or how much revenue it generates from the continent. A Zoho spokesperson told Rest of World that the company's customers include Kenyan lifestyle app Pesapal, South African fintech Payfast, and event ticketing portal Quicket. Combined annual revenue for both companies exceeded $1 billion.

But despite its initial success, Zoho is not doing what Google is doing in Africa, according to Prosper Otemui, a Nigerian software engineer and co-founder of ForLoop, an African nonprofit developer community. They say they lack support for the local developer ecosystem. They still don't have enough goodwill, Otemui said. [Google] Build an ecosystem of tools and support, [and] Users will likely hesitate before exiting. [it]Just like people want to pay for Apple products to stay within the tool ecosystem.

In 2021, Zoho began allowing African companies to pay for its software in local currencies. Kehinde Ogundare, country director for Nigeria, told Rest of World that the decision allows customers and potential customers to avoid regulatory hurdles on dollar spending, a key part of Zohos' success in Africa. He said that was the reason. As we started setting local currency pricing and building a local support team, we saw increased adoption of Zoho technology in Nigeria.

In contrast, businesses in Africa can only pay for Google Workspace in dollars and euros, as confirmed by Rest of World.

As long as there is a naira equivalent for anything sold in dollars, Zoho will win, Adewale Yusuf, co-founder and CEO of edtech startup AltSchool Africa, told Rest of World. They have a great product and pricing, and all they need to do is build trust and do some strong marketing to blow away the big players once and for all. Yusuf, who co-founded three startups, said his company currently uses at least one Zoho product.

Google and Microsoft did not respond to inquiries from other regions about offering localized solutions in Africa, including adding payment options in local currencies.

Zoho is also aggressively setting prices in Africa. Zoho One, which comes bundled with over 45 products, is priced at just $6.70 per user in Nigeria, while it costs $30 in other parts of the world.

Users in Africa use social media to share feedback about Zoho products. X/@pyjama_ceo

Neto Ikpeme, founder and CEO of Nigerian health tech startup Wellahealth, told Rest of World that cost is the biggest driver for me. When Ikpeme started his company in 2016, he chose Zoho over Google. I know it's hard enough to access dollars. If you can, you might want to set aside that money for other services you can't pay for locally, he said. But low pricing alone may not be enough for Zoho to dethrone larger rivals. Users told other countries that the company's products were unsophisticated.

Zoho hasn't done any design upgrades in a while, so it's starting to get a little outdated. We also need better mobile apps, says Vijay Anand, an Indian angel investor and founder of a startup using Zoho. When Anand tested Zohos' new Slack-like service Cliq, he was disappointed by the lack of emojis and his GIFs. He said that's the only thing that makes the team happy.

ForLoops Otemuyi said Zoho lacks a developer community in Africa that can support its products. There's no strong community to tap into when you run into problems, he said. Google has this talent in abundance across the continent when it comes to developers, startups, and IT professionals in general.

Zoho is partnering with the local business community, incubators, accelerators and venture capital firms to address this challenge, Veerakumar Natarajan, the company's East Africa regional manager, told Rest of World. In Kenya and South Africa, for example, Natarajan said they are partnering with startup incubator hubs such as J-Hub Africa and Silulo Foundation, respectively.

According to Singh, Google is much larger than us in terms of scale. But our portfolio, spanning over 55 apps, is the most prolific in the industry. [research and development]. He said some customers may use Zoho exclusively, while others may use it in conjunction with Google's products to meet different needs. Singh said each type is needed to build a village.

Sources 1/ https://Google.com/ 2/ https://restofworld.org/2024/zoho-google-workspace-alternative-africa/ The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article

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