Zoho

2017. Zoho offers free online office for 25 users



Zoho is a world champion in creating SaaS services for small businesses. The Indian developers have already created so many services that customers are spoiled for choice. To make their lives easier and more enjoyable, they have created an office suite of nine of the most popular applications – Zoho Workplace. It includes Zoho Mail, Zoho Writer text editor, Zoho Sheet spreadsheets, Zoho Show presentation editor (with Zoho ShowTime for interactive presentations), Zoho Docs cloud storage, Zoho Sites website builder, Zoho Chat internal messenger, and Zoho Social corporate social network. And the best part is that all of this is free for 25 users. Moreover, if you invite other companies to the service, you can get an additional 25 licenses for free.


2013. Zoho Docs integrated with Dropbox



Last year, guys from Zoho decided not to create their own file synchronization service, but to use the ready-made Google Drive. Now Dropbox has joined the party. Documents stored in Zoho Docs can now be synced with a Dropbox account and vice versa. You can select individual files and folders for syncing. In addition, documents stored in Dropbox can be opened and edited in Zoho online editors. As a reminder, Zoho Docs is an online file storage service in the Zoho online office – something like Google Drive or SkyDrive, but without the ability to sync files between devices.


2009. Zoho isn't afraid of Google, it's using it



Less than a month after Google launched the Google Apps OpenID authentication system, Zoho has already adopted it and now allows users to log into their services using their corporate email address (managed by Google Apps). It might seem counterintuitive to offer companies that already subscribe to Google Apps the opportunity to use Zoho's alternative services. But Zoho has a broader vision. Zoho's thought leader, Raji Vegesna, explains that Zoho excels not only in quality but also in quantity. While the public often perceives Zoho Suite and Google Apps as competitors in the same niche, in reality, they only have four apps with overlapping functionality. Meanwhile, the total number of Zoho Suite apps already numbers nearly 20, and the company makes its money not from email or online editors, but from its CRM and project management system (which Google Apps doesn't have and doesn't even plan to offer). Interestingly, Zoho, an evangelist for open internet technologies, hasn't yet implemented OpenID authentication, but they quickly implemented Google's alternative system.


2009. Zoho integrates with Google Apps



Zoho has cloned Google Gadgets—web app widgets that allow you to display data from these apps almost anywhere: on a social network profile (such as Facebook), in other web apps and corporate portals that support the OpenSocial standard, or simply on any website. Most interestingly, Zoho Gadgets can now be easily embedded in iGoogle and GMail—Zoho's competing services. With shared authorization, users can now freely choose the best of Google and Zoho apps to create their virtual office. For example, you can use Google mail and calendar, plus tasks and document editors from Zoho. Currently, gadgets are available for six Zoho apps: Zoho Docs, Zoho Mail, Zoho Calendar, Zoho Tasks, Zoho Contacts, and Zoho Planner. For some reason, Zoho Gadgets currently can't be embedded into Google Sites, but this issue will likely be resolved soon.


2007. Zoho Unveils Office Suite for iPhone



Because Zoho is a young company - it responds quickly to emerging market opportunities. They were the first to take action and develop an office suite, iZoho, for the super-popular iPhone, which itself will only go on sale today. Currently, iPhone-compatible versions of the word processor (Zoho Writer), spreadsheets (Zoho Sheet), and presentation service (Zoho Show) are available.