“Businesses are hurting. They already face tremendous pressure on revenue and cash flows. Not knowing when things will get back to normal is even worse," said Sridhar Vembu, Zoho co-founder and CEO. “Every bit of help we, and other companies, can offer to keep these small businesses afloat will go a long way, not just financially but emotionally as well. We are in this together, and contributions from every business help our community get through this pandemic."
Zoho is a 24-year-old, bootstrapped, privately held company with more than 50 million users located in over 180 countries. Since the beginning, Zoho has owed its existence to its small business customers. While Zoho now has grown significantly upmarket, serving mid-market and enterprise customers in addition to small businesses, the company believes that for the broader economy to stay healthy, SMBs must first stay healthy and viable. ESAP is intended to lighten the financial burden put upon our small business customers during this chaotic and difficult period.
“Certain industries have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, and we strongly encourage our customers in these industries to please apply for this Small Business Emergency Subscription Assistance Program,” continued Vembu. “While we want to provide relief for as many small business customers as possible, we will prioritize those who are most in need and hope that others who are adapting to market conditions will help us by allowing program availability to those struggling to stay afloat.”
Earlier this month, Zoho launched Remotely, a virtual productivity platform of 11 collaboration applications, provided to businesses of all sizes around the world for free, so that companies could effectively make the transition to remote work. Since its release 2 weeks ago, more than 5,000 new companies are running on the platform, and that number is increasing every day. We have seen an average of 500% growth in usage of our collaboration apps and 1,000% growth in daily new users of Zoho Meeting.
“Our business has been extremely affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. We were on the leading edge of the impact,” said Anders Boulanger, Founder and CEO of The Infotainers, a Canada-based event entertainment company. “We work delivering custom presentations in our clients' trade show booths, and one by one trade shows have been canceled leaving us with little to no income for the next 4 months or more. Last week, we were forced to lay off one of our employees. At the moment, we are taking extreme cost-cutting measures and many of our month-to-month subscriptions are on the chopping block. We would definitely consider our business a 'Zoho Shop'. We will touch at least 2 or 3 Zoho applications on any single work day, so they are mission critical to our business' long-term success. It means a lot to us that Zoho is reaching out and supporting their loyal customers. Having 3 months of complimentary services means that we can survive that much longer and we can put off laying off another employee. Every little bit helps when it comes to finding savings and this gesture goes a long way!”
Between this global program and the no-cost availability of Zoho Remotely, a full virtual collaboration platform, Zoho is committed to helping as many businesses as possible. We are encouraging other companies in a position to help businesses survive to join us in supporting the small business ecosystem.
Please see a video announcement of the Small Business Emergency Subscription Assistance Program from our CEO Sridhar Vembu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dmqScydb64 For more information and to apply for the Small Business Emergency Assistance Subscription Program, please visit www.zoho.com/ESAP.
Additional Customer Statements
“The heartbeat of a well-established business is its CRM. Hotels for Hope is built with Zoho CRM and Desk at its core. The fundamentals of our business, much like other companies, has not changed during these trying times; however, market conditions are causing businesses much strain. Having Zoho as an aligned partner was good for business months ago—and now, more than ever, is imperative. Zoho's ability to provide Hotels for Hope, and other SMBs, relief has a major impact since cash is needed for other core expenses, including payroll,” said Neil Goldman, Founder and CEO at Hotels for Hope, a Zoho One customer out of Texas that brokers hotel inventory for corporate events and travel, donating $2 per room night to nonprofits improving children's lives worldwide.
“There really isn't a part of our business that hasn't been effected by COVID-19. Our wedding invitation side has sustained losses due to cancellations and postponements. Our retail side is closed to keep customers and ourselves healthy. Our wholesale side has faced similar cancellations and delays as other small businesses that carry our greeting cards have closed and fear they may never reopen. As we currently have very few ways to bring in income, breaks from vendors are super helpful. Having Zoho extend a few free months to us not only helps us manage our expenses, but boosts morale and helps us feel supported,” said Violet Warner at Violet Press, a Zoho One customer and solopreneur out of Colorado.
“Holding America's biggest business networking and educational events for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and start-ups, I truly appreciate how Zoho has been so incredibly helpful to my business and numerous others during these trying times. Small businesses have been heavily hit across the world as a result of the impact of the Coronavirus, and Zoho's Emergency Subscription Assistance Program will help owners feel supported and stay focused during this crisis,” said Zachary Lezberg, CEO and Producer for Zoho One customer Small Business Expo.
About Zoho
With 45+ apps in nearly every major business category, including sales, marketing, customer support, accounting and back office operations, and an array of productivity and collaboration tools, Zoho Corporation is one of the world's most prolific software companies.
Zoho is privately held and profitable with more than 8,000 employees. Zoho is headquartered in Austin, Texas with international headquarters in Chennai, India. Additional offices are in the United States, India, Japan, China, Singapore, Mexico, Australia, the Netherlands, and the United Arab Emirates.
Zoho respects user privacy and does not have an ad-revenue model in any part of its business, including its free products. More than 50 million users around the world, across hundreds of thousands of companies, rely on Zoho every day to run their businesses, including Zoho itself. For more information, please visit www.zoho.com.