Zoho is helping small businesses through hard times created by COVID-19 by letting customers use their apps for free. The Small Business Emergency Subscription Assistance Program (ESAP) is geared to 20,000 Zoho clients with 25 employees or less.
Zoho Small Business Emergency Subscription Assistance Program
ESAP waves the cost of all the applications they use for as long as three months.
Sridhar Vembu, Zoho co-founder and CEO, explained the thinking behind the move.
Tremendous Pressure
“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,” he said in a release. “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”.
ESAP is a welcome helping hand for small businesses battling the virus.
“There really isn’t a part of our business that hasn’t been effected by COVID-19,” said Violet Warner at Violet Press, a Zoho One customer and solopreneur out of Colorado in a company handout. “Having Zoho extend a few free months to us not only helps us manage our expenses, but boosts morale and helps us feel supported.”
Reaching Out
Anders Boulanger, Founder and CEO of The Infotainers, a Canada-based event entertainment company, also acknowledged the gesture in the same source.
“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.”
Remote Work
This announcement comes less than a month after the company released free Remotely software after they were forced to cancel their Zoholics summit. The 11-app suite has been provided to businesses worldwide. Remotely is specifically designed to help businesses transition into remote work.
In just two weeks it has attracted more than 5,000 new companies.
Sandra Lo, Zoho Corporate PR, provided background to Small Business Trends on how this blends into the current push toward telecommuting.
“We knew we had much more than just a web conferencing tool to offer new remote workers and others needing engaged and productive virtual teams,” she writes. “We had the full platform to keep teams working, talking and solving problems together across any location.”
Zoho Tools
The company had already asked employees to work remotely. They were already using the tools that became Zoho Remotely.
“Within 3 days, an idea became reality,” Lo writes. “We pulled 11 apps together and made it free to all businesses as the need for social distancing became more apparent.”
Zoho has more than apps in almost every business category. These include tools for customer support, marketing and sales as well as back-office operations and accounting. They also carry a wide selection of collaboration and productivity tools. The company has over 8,000 employees and is headquartered in Austin Texas and Chennai, India. They have over 50 million users across the globe.
Image: zoho.com