How End-to-end Automation Benefits Small Business

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What does end-to-end automation of your business mean? Find out in this AMA (ask me anything) with Kiran Kumar Shinde of Zoho One Concierge.

Kiran interacts regularly with businesses and consults with them on ways to digitize and automate workflows and make the most of business software solutions that Zoho has to offer.

Member can read Kiran’s answers now in the BizSugar Mastermind Community.

If you are not already a member, first join the BizSugar Mastermind Community by clicking the button below.

Once you’re a member, click the button below to go directly to this event in our Mastermind Community Forum.

Come read all the excellent questions and answers given during this AMA to find out how to make your content more visual and compelling to grow your small business.

What is Zoho One?

With Zoho One, you receive 40+ business and productivity applications that integrate easily together for one low price.

Did you know you’re using Zoho One right now?

Our BizSugar Mastermind Community uses Zoho One. The main site is built on Zoho Sites and the Mastermind Community runs on Zoho’s project management solution Zoho Connect.

What is Zoho Concierge?

The Concierge service for Zoho One is a free service that businesses can avail of with Zoho. The Concierge team understands the requirements of businesses and suggest Workflow Automation and solutions using the Zoho One bundle.

Who is Kiran Kumar Shinde

Kiran Kumar Shinde is the Senior Manager Strategy Architect with the Zoho One Concierge team.

The Case for a Tightly Integrated Platform

When small or medium businesses get started with their digitization, they usually start with a single standalone application. It could be a business email service or a website builder.

But as they begin to scale their operations, more software is added to address different processes such as:

CRM for sales
Support Desk for customer care
Project management
Bookkeeping

For business owners or CIOs, a lot hinges on picking the right set of software and engineering a solution that improves productivity. To do that while keeping the budget in check is nothing short of a tightrope walk.

The business software ecosystem on the cloud today presents a complex picture. There are many vendors offering attractive single product solutions.

But making different software from different vendors work in cohesion is not only costly but also requires substantial resource allocation to see whether the integrations are consistently working well.

Disadvantages of Software Spaghetti Solutions

Companies that run on these sort of software spaghetti solutions often suffer.

Departments within the organization end up working in silos. It is also challenging to gather actionable intelligence across departments.

The Software Spaghetti systems are also progressively difficult to maintain.

Different vendors have different billing cycles and where usage-based pricing is in force, businesses have no option but to ration usage of such software.

In recent years, there has been an emergence of tightly integrated platforms that promise to address these concerns. Zoho has led the charge with its pioneering Zoho One suite, a collection of over 45 business software applications.

Worry about Your Business, Not Your Technology

Small businesses need a reliable technology partner that will come up with solutions that allow them to scale.

The ideal solutions are those that tax the client’s technology team, which in small or medium businesses, could often be just one person or a small team at the most.

Zoho One offers over 45 software addressing almost every aspect of the business – from sales to marketing to support to bookkeeping to HR management and so on.

Advantages of Integrated Technology

The tightly interlinked bouquet of software comes with inherent advantages.

Businesses get a single dashboard view covering their entire gamut of operation.

The integrations are easier and Zoho has put in place an infrastructure to ensure smooth onboarding.

Zoho Corporation has been crafting business software for more than two decades now and has more than 45 million users across 180 countries.

From solopreneurs to small businesses to big enterprises – Zoho’s team of engineers and support staff know what are the key pain points any business could face and have carefully engineered suitable solutions.

Zoho One works on the premise that any business must worry only about its core business and not spend too much time and resources in keeping their technology platform running.

Who Makes the Ideal Technology Partner?

Reliability and safety are two key aspects to keep in mind while looking for a technology partner.

Take two metrics into account. First, figure out if the uptime guaranteed by the cloud software service provider is in the region of 98 to 99 percent.

Second, peruse through the company’s track record in ensuring that there have not been any major security breaches.

Software business cycles often take many years to mature. Software has to go through multiple release cycles and iterations to work in a way that is in tune with the market requirements.

In the case of Zoho, the company has a solid track record of building award-winning business software and its core applications have been around for several years now.

It is also privately-held and is “insular from stock market crashes and financial bubbles” as claimed by its CEO Sridhar Vembu.

Two years of Zoho One

Zoho launched Zoho One in 2017. It just a matter of two years, they have 15,000+ companies that run their business on the Zoho One platform.

The forty-five plus software applications in the bouquet can effectively replace over 400 standalone software apps and come with a ready-made integration.

All of which is possible at a jaw-dropping low pricing of US $ 30 a month. Here’s your chance to get all your questions answered about which Zoho Apps could most benefit your business.

You are welcome to read Kiran’s answers now in the BizSugar Mastermind Community.