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Small Business Trends Hosts a Zoholics 2024 Roundtable #zoholics24 #zoholicsUS
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Mar 24, 2025
Join our panel (Brent Leary, Ramon Ray, Anita Campbell, John Lawson, Ivana Taylor) for an engaging roundtable discussion as we explore the groundbreaking announcements from Zoholics 2024. Our panel of experts delves into Zoho's latest initiatives, including the introduction of "CRM for Everyone," a revolutionary step towards making CRM tools accessible to all businesses. We also discuss Zoho's significant enhancements to its developer platform, providing end-to-end, pro-code services to empower developers worldwide. Additionally, we examine how Zoho's integrated security-solutions stack is setting new standards in data protection and privacy for global organizations. Don’t miss this insightful conversation on the future of business technology with Zoho's cutting-edge solutions. #Zoholics24 #ZohoCRM #TechInnovation #DataProtection #PrivacySolutions #ProCodeServices #BusinessTech #TechRoundtable #DeveloperPlatform #ZohoDevelopers #TechDiscussion #SecuritySolutions #TechAnnouncements #FutureOfBusiness #DigitalTransformation #zoho #ZoholicsUS #CRM
View Video Transcript
0:01
hey this is Brent lry live from Austin
0:04
where are we live yeah we're we're all
0:05
live here live from Austin Texas zoh
0:08
holic
0:09
2024 it's hot out there but it's nice
0:11
and cool in here and I'm surrounded by
0:14
the SMB folks the people let's see
0:17
Ramone Ray down at Ramone Ray publisher
0:20
of zone of genius.com good to be here
0:22
thanks Brent of course Anita Campbell
0:24
right next to me here Anita Campbell
0:27
founder of small business Trends great
0:29
to be here
0:30
even a Taylor and I always say your name
0:32
right I just want you to know that and
0:34
thank you for that even a Taylor
0:35
publisher of DIY markers.com and I'll do
0:38
your official intro if you're you're
0:41
okay with that he is the cold one the
0:42
Bold one John cold R Lawson yeah John
0:45
Lawson CEO colder ice media so we're all
0:49
here taking a little bit of a break to
0:52
kind of maybe share some of our thoughts
0:54
of the morning activities here at zoh
0:56
holic we went through the keynote had a
0:58
special triy for analysts and media lots
1:00
of things that we could talk about I'm
1:01
going to go right to the very I think
1:03
the biggie uh CRM for everyone I whoever
1:08
wants to you know throw some thoughts
1:10
out there about what they think about
1:11
CRM for everyone that announcement I'll
1:13
jump in this is Ramone listen I think
1:14
that CRM for everyone for those who
1:16
don't know our core small business
1:17
audience this does not mean CRM for
1:20
everyone your mama your papa your daddy
1:22
your aunt your uncle and niece and
1:23
nephew does not mean that in the context
1:26
of this announcement I think the
1:27
challenge that Zoho uncovered is at for
1:29
the larger corpor operations that sales
1:31
and marketing team historically have CRM
1:33
what do you do about engineering what do
1:34
you do about people in other parts of
1:35
the department and so Zoho saw a need to
1:38
say Hey listen we can enable you to have
1:39
your CRM stack and other people in that
1:42
department other people in your office
1:43
and your team can Leverage The Power of
1:45
CRM as well so I think this shows
1:47
everybody that Zoho again is intuitive
1:49
Zoho is looking Zoho is always seeking
1:50
to expand second thing I'll add before I
1:52
be quiet I know you want me to be quiet
1:53
now but I'll be quiet after one more
1:54
thing is that Zoho is not just extending
1:56
product line but they're going deep and
1:58
adding value to their existing products
2:00
back to you Brent no back to whoever
2:02
wants to take that up and talk about it
2:04
so I'll I'll add to that on the depth
2:06
part of things you know in the past
2:09
we've seen a lot of announcements from
2:11
Zoho about uh you know this new app or
2:14
that new app and it's raised a challenge
2:17
for small businesses in particular
2:19
because you haven't been able to um
2:22
sometimes effectively integrate one app
2:25
to the next uh has been very challenging
2:28
for small businesses and by going deeper
2:31
and building out more of those
2:34
Integrations and connections as they go
2:36
deeper what we're seeing is that the
2:40
promise of all these apps is now
2:43
becoming a reality I mean we're starting
2:46
to see that yes you can go in and
2:48
without having to hire an outside
2:50
developer to do
2:52
Integrations you're going to be able to
2:54
use this more broadly across your
2:57
departments different departments going
2:59
to be able to use it they're going to be
3:01
able to do more things with it it will
3:03
connect automatically with other
3:06
applications and that's going to be
3:09
great and I'll just go adding on to that
3:12
right down in the row from a marketing
3:15
perspective what Zoho has done is
3:16
something that no other platform has
3:18
done and that is uh put the customer at
3:22
the center of the
3:23
CRM you know if anyone's worked in sales
3:27
we all know that salespeople don't like
3:30
using crms they don't I don't think they
3:32
do they feel like it takes them away
3:35
from serving the customer that it just
3:37
Wast a lot of time entering data doing
3:39
this doing that and I think this speaks
3:41
to Anita's point but the real story that
3:43
came through for me was in one of the
3:45
presentations and actually this was the
3:47
presentation that came to the entire uh
3:49
zoholics audience they talked about how
3:53
when we use apps to order food online it
3:58
is a fully integrated exper experience
4:00
and I think that's what stood out to me
4:04
as a small business owner regardless of
4:06
whether you have a team of one or a team
4:10
that has departments what the Zoho for
4:13
everyone has done is really put the most
4:15
important
4:17
person to our business at the center and
4:20
I really love that it's all you John
4:23
yeah I mean I I think one of the things
4:25
like Anita said just watching them bring
4:28
out different uh components all the time
4:33
and now being able to see all of those
4:36
become interactive
4:38
and giv us a way to get from one to the
4:42
other to the other and have that shared
4:45
experience internally is going to help
4:48
with uh saving time and ultimately
4:51
saving money so I have I'm pretty
4:54
excited about those things yeah I I
4:56
would just say I've been going to a lot
4:58
of events over the last two decad CRM
5:01
events this is the first time I actually
5:03
heard a vendor say that they're creating
5:05
CRM for the customer not for the end
5:08
user not for management for the customer
5:10
so I'm so glad that you picked that up
5:12
because immediately what I went thing to
5:14
me because that you know we talk about
5:16
disruption a whole lot and there's so
5:18
many tools and platforms to choose from
5:20
that I've really been on the soapbox of
5:23
choosing a platform not just that meets
5:25
your Cost needs but that as Anita said
5:27
that integrates uh as Ramone said that
5:30
that helps you work with your team and
5:33
of course as I like to say that you can
5:36
afford yes so this really does that can
5:40
we talk a little bit about uh I've gone
5:42
to a lot of these events and I haven't
5:44
heard uh the level of discussion around
5:47
privacy about not and security of course
5:50
but privacy and about kind of
5:52
responsible use for data and making the
5:54
broad statement of your data is not our
5:57
business model maybe somebody could talk
5:59
a little bit yeah I want to talk that
6:00
that was the big takeaway for me when he
6:03
said that you know privacy is a
6:06
fundamental human right and having that
6:10
perspective of privacy being such and
6:13
saying that we do not sell your you know
6:18
data that's not part of our business
6:20
model I mean that is um brilliant it's
6:24
also at the same time very forward
6:27
thinking when you look at where are
6:29
today it's not as it's like okay we get
6:32
it but they've been talking about that
6:35
ever since I came and it just seemed so
6:39
nebulous at first but now it's so
6:42
overarching especially when we're
6:44
putting together all of these tools into
6:46
AI you know privacy is definitely an
6:49
issue now you know what I just want to
6:51
add to something that you said because
6:53
you know there's a whole statement that
6:55
we say and that is if it's free or if
6:58
it's cheap you are the
7:00
product and I think that that is the
7:02
biggest reason why they keep talking
7:04
about how important privacy is and the
7:07
fact that they're a private company for
7:08
a reason because another fundamental
7:10
belief is that software should be of ser
7:14
of service not just as a service and
7:18
that that's what I was excited to hear
7:20
because you think that maybe they're
7:22
justifying their
7:23
price by um you know selling your data
7:28
which that is not the case and I
7:29
appreciate them constantly saying
7:32
that anybody else on that one okay
7:36
little bit about no code loow code Pro
7:38
code I
7:39
mean I've heard a lot of it some of the
7:42
things I've gone through I know from
7:43
small business Trends you guys have been
7:45
using creator for a while you've been
7:46
creating things yes what maybe you could
7:48
talk a little about your thoughts on
7:50
what they talk about around those three
7:52
things yes so uh one of the uh Flagship
7:56
products of Zoho is Creator uh I think
7:59
was one of the early ones and it was one
8:01
of the ones we jumped on because we
8:03
needed a custom solution to run certain
8:07
processes inside our business and I
8:10
looked at various off-the-shelf products
8:13
and none of them actually really met
8:15
what we needed so we found Zoho Creator
8:20
and at first I was the one who messed
8:22
around with it and I'm not a coder by
8:24
any I sh I heard otherwise but okay I
8:28
know just enough to
8:29
I've heard otherwise too I just want I
8:31
don't want interrupt it here but I've
8:32
heard otherwise too C she can go
8:34
gangster with code trust me no I I'm I'm
8:37
very U I commit malale practice with
8:39
code but let me tell you this you know
8:42
this category of apps called Low code
8:46
means that you don't actually have to be
8:48
a coder to use it you you get a a um a
8:52
set you know of um building blocks and
8:55
you can create something using those
8:58
building blocks without having to
9:00
understand that underneath this is this
9:02
special code called delage that um Zoho
9:05
has now if you know that special code
9:08
you can do a lot more with it okay and
9:11
you can really customize it but what we
9:13
heard here was a lot of talk about
9:16
procode which is kind of relatively new
9:20
term I think at least uh among sort of
9:24
the general population you know what
9:27
it's saying is there there are products
9:30
that require no coding ability so no
9:33
code there are some that require low
9:36
code you just have to know a little bit
9:37
and maybe you can train yourself to use
9:39
those and then you have this whole set
9:42
for pro code and what that means is Zoho
9:46
is now providing developers with more of
9:49
the tools that they need to get highly
9:52
customized do very specific types of
9:56
customization for their their clients
9:59
and I think that's like another level
10:02
that we're seeing with Zoho when we
10:04
heard that you know Zoho is a a product
10:08
Suite of unique depth and breadth that
10:12
was one of the things we heard this is
10:14
very true now you know it's really
10:15
there's something for everyone no matter
10:17
what your level
10:20
is all right AI uh everywhere you go
10:24
everywhere you look you can't escape it
10:27
um but what about the the way that Zoho
10:29
was approaching it in terms of you don't
10:31
you don't hear them really talk about AI
10:33
just to be talking about AI you'd hear
10:35
it as a part of all the things that
10:37
they're they're putting out there
10:38
through their apps and through their
10:39
platforms why you give your thoughts on
10:42
how you think their approach to AI is
10:44
compared to maybe what you've heard
10:45
before yeah I think the thing is that uh
10:49
I don't know there's this thought is
10:51
like AI a platform or is it an
10:55
application and uh the real answer is
10:59
it's both right and what we're seeing
11:02
now it's like okay we're in this AI era
11:06
right but we were talking earlier me and
11:07
Brent and I was telling them about this
11:09
is like you know if you remember what it
11:11
was like to uh when we went through the
11:15
mobile era where everything was mobile
11:18
and we're a mobile first company and
11:20
start thinking mobile first and that
11:22
happened to last maybe what two years
11:25
maybe three years and then mobile became
11:27
table stakes and a AI is very quickly
11:31
becoming table Stakes so this year
11:33
everybody's talking about AI this AI
11:36
that but I guarantee you next year it's
11:39
or at least maybe give it a year and a
11:41
half I mean that's going to be table
11:43
Stakes we have to everything is going to
11:45
have an AI component and John you can
11:47
see in that whole announcement that even
11:49
uh Raju as he was speaking about even
11:51
though I think there was a press release
11:52
and other things today it's in the
11:53
headline but he was even lessening it
11:55
down meaning echoing what you're saying
11:56
that type of he was saying let's calm
11:58
down everybody it's gonna be infused in
12:00
everything we're doing we're not gonna
12:02
say so I think that's interesting one on
12:03
that and then two though I think it is
12:05
again going back to Zoho and what
12:06
they're doing for small businesses and
12:08
larger companies in general is just
12:09
infusing it in the product you don't
12:11
have to think about it it's the second
12:12
quote that Raju said that people
12:13
customers shouldn't have to know they're
12:14
using uh AI it shouldn't be like hey
12:17
Brent did you use water today I mean we
12:19
don't even think about it right we we
12:20
flush the toilet brush our teeth even
12:21
though those things in combination don't
12:22
sound good but still we use water so
12:24
much we don't think about it so I think
12:26
AI is like that John very astutely I
12:28
think that the big thing that you know
12:30
we're using it but for the small
12:32
businesses out there those we reach you
12:34
don't have to code it and hire teams and
12:36
all that the brands you use they're
12:38
going to be quickly infusing it into
12:40
your day-to-day activities and that's
12:41
for most of us good enough for what we
12:43
need to do just like the coder here who
12:45
doesn't code Anita is good enough for
12:47
what she needs to do back to you
12:48
Brent back to me BR like a newscast
12:52
here it's kind of cool it's okay with me
12:55
um you know what are the things that
12:56
schrider talked about and and I think
12:58
we've I think we've all
12:59
been around Zoho long enough to kind of
13:01
see this happening you know their
13:03
commitment their commitment to community
13:05
to the communities that they operate in
13:07
and I had a recent conversation with
13:09
vjay who's their Chief strategy officer
13:11
and he he mentioned something that just
13:13
really stuck with me around like why
13:15
they go to certain communities versus
13:17
where everybody goes where the hot
13:19
places and he says you know what's
13:20
important for you know our customers are
13:22
there they've got you know hundred
13:24
million users they got millions of
13:26
customers and a lot of them are in not
13:28
in the Metro areas they're operating in
13:31
you know where a lot of the small
13:32
business operate kind of on Main Street
13:35
and he said you know it's not not enough
13:36
just to be connected to those
13:38
communities it's important for us to be
13:40
rooted in those communities and that's
13:42
why they go to places like Mallen and
13:44
their you know setting up operations in
13:46
those aspects what how important is that
13:48
to to them being able to stay connected
13:51
and committed to small business being
13:53
able to actually go and operate not just
13:56
hey we're there but I mean literally set
13:58
up and become a part of the community
14:01
I'm I'm going to jump in here because I
14:03
was the one who mentioned about who Zoho
14:04
is putting first so this is an
14:06
underlying theme that I've noticed in
14:08
this entire uh first day of
14:12
zoholics is that the real question you
14:15
have to ask is who does everyone else
14:17
put first and who does Zoho put first so
14:20
we already talked about them putting the
14:21
customer first they put the Community
14:23
First and they put their employees first
14:26
now they're not doing this because they
14:28
are trending and cool even though these
14:31
are all management principles that we
14:32
learned back in the 90s but have not
14:36
implemented I think one of the important
14:38
things that Shar talked about was that
14:41
we don't just do this because it's the
14:43
right thing to do we do this because it
14:45
makes us we don't uh we don't have to
14:47
lay off people so we're a secure
14:50
employer and it makes us money so one of
14:53
one of the things that I learned many
14:55
many years ago through the data is that
14:58
doing the right thing and being
14:59
profitable are not mutually exclusive
15:02
principles yeah absolutely um mean one
15:04
of the things I'm looking at my notes
15:06
right because he said he was committed
15:08
to uh you know uh combating rural privac
15:14
uh
15:15
privacy poverty right and I mean and and
15:20
there were three principles that he
15:21
actually laid out he's like that's one
15:24
of the reasons why we stay private we
15:26
stay profitable and we stay out of debt
15:30
yes and those I mean that just literally
15:34
I wanted to jump out of my seat and be
15:36
like yeah you have just done that I
15:38
should have just did that I mean but
15:39
it's just it would have been amazing
15:41
well I don't think I don't think
15:43
everybody understands that because
15:45
another thing he mentioned was that uh
15:48
the the kind of Mo of corporations are
15:52
to get great valuation for that year and
15:55
then exit and make it somebody else's
15:57
problem there's so much wisdom in what
16:00
he was talking about that uh it really
16:03
made me sit back you know and and
16:06
just contemplate what it's like to have
16:10
your business have a social
16:13
responsibility embedded in the whole you
16:16
know thing and it was just it was that
16:17
was really important anything that makes
16:20
you sit back and not say anything I'm
16:22
all for just putting that up what an
16:25
what do you think about all this well I
16:26
mean you know you see the commitment in
16:28
in the way um Shar vmu actually went to
16:33
India into a very small village and is
16:37
supporting that Village I mean you know
16:40
so they don't just talk the talk I mean
16:42
they're they're living it on every
16:45
different level and he's a great example
16:48
of that um but you've seen that all the
16:50
way along you know from their their
16:53
different um uh you know um offices
16:57
they've had in various parts of the
16:58
world well I know you visited India um
17:01
with Zoho uh what a year or two ago yeah
17:05
and uh you know and that had to be
17:06
pretty Illuminating it was I I've been
17:10
uh working with Zoho since about
17:14
2005 and until I went to India I thought
17:17
I really knew a lot about him I found
17:19
out I didn't know nearly as much as I
17:22
thought I did until I was there and saw
17:24
them operating in their headquarters
17:27
home headquarters and and how what
17:29
they're doing with the local folks and
17:32
the organizations and communities over
17:33
there it gave me a whole new perspective
17:35
and a whole new appreciation for what
17:38
they do all right uh so we're I guess
17:40
we're coming up to the end here so why
17:41
don't I ask each to just go down the
17:43
line and ask you just uh your last
17:46
thoughts about what you've seen so far
17:47
at the event so Mr Lawson yeah I I'm
17:50
feeling uh a kinship with the uh
17:54
leadership in terms of the direction
17:57
that they are championing for
18:01
corporations it's cool and I'm going to
18:05
spin off of that in saying I think you
18:08
asked us you know about their commitment
18:10
to small business and I'm going to say
18:14
that the way they operate their business
18:16
the way they work through their software
18:18
and who they put at the center of their
18:21
development such as their employees such
18:23
as the customers you know they really do
18:26
walk the talk and they really really do
18:29
understand because of what all the
18:31
things that have been covered here today
18:33
about um the real challenges that small
18:36
businesses have and how to overcome them
18:37
and help
18:39
them yeah I'll just build off of that
18:41
and that you know many companies they
18:44
might start in the small business Arena
18:46
and then they get some success and
18:48
before you know it they're moving
18:49
Upstream right and they're moving up
18:51
Market oh they're going to go after
18:53
bigger and bigger companies and then
18:56
before you know it you know the small
18:58
business piece starts getting less and
19:00
less attention and you know they're
19:02
they're really all totally focused on
19:05
Enterprise and that's something I don't
19:07
feel at all I think um there's been a
19:10
tremendous Balancing Act here where you
19:13
know really there's there is emphasis on
19:16
going up market and getting to the
19:19
Enterprise Market because you know
19:21
bigger and bigger customers are using
19:23
Zoho but at the same time what we see is
19:27
that commitment and you see it all the
19:29
way in terms of um you know the product
19:31
set that it's they they have products
19:34
that are designed specifically for small
19:36
businesses not just a scaled down
19:38
Enterprise version they have pricing
19:41
that is small business friendly and
19:43
they're keeping that pricing so you see
19:45
it all across the way and that's one of
19:48
the things that really hits home to me
19:51
is that con commitment really
19:54
continues I think uh we probably are all
19:57
in agreement with that last sment in
19:59
particular so there's more of the
20:02
conference to go we need to get back to
20:04
it so thanks for checking this out we
20:07
we'll maybe have some other thoughts
20:09
after we see what else is in store so
20:11
holic but we will see you later thank
20:14
you thanks
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