Can SMEs upscale to full digitization with a monthly subscription payment?

If you are a new company or SME wanting to connect with others in open working spaces at any time and have adequate useful data and tools for your business, then the way you make decisions probably largely depends on how much importance you give to cloud and web-based software that helps increase productivity, is reliable, user-friendly and ensures privacy, has fewer technical issues, and is available on demand for a monthly subscription fee – and that includes hotline support services.

Indian software developer Zoho believes it can respond to the needs of all small businesses  with its ‘Zoho One’ platform. This comprises more than over 45 integrated applications covering sales & marketing, finance & accounting, HR, IT & Help desk, email networking and customized reporting & forecasting via cloud web-based software. Zoho has more than 23 years of experience across 180 countries, with current active users estimated at over 45 million of which the largest numbers can be found in  Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand.

Its latest popular applications such as Zoho Creator, Zoho Connect, Zoho Orchestry are being offered on a  free trial basis for up to one month and have received a good response from enterprises as the trial gives adequate time to users to test and discover what other additional features will fit their requirements.  Zoho also offers a very reasonable US$30 per user per month subscription fee, thus saving capital investment in computerized systems and database storage.

Thailand’s internet economy has continued to rise rapidly and is estimated to be valued at  $16 billion in 2019,  a 167-per-cent growth over 2015, due mainly to its easier accessibility and diverse infrastructure and the growth of such tech-related businesses as e-commerce businesses, online travel booking, and ride hailing services.   Zoho’s key findings from recent research show that Thai SMEs account for 42 per cent of GDP and 79 per cent of employment respectively  but that these businesses remain under-equipped with digitized skills. The research also indicated that the following  8 technological trends are driving the internet economy and will continue to do so in the near future, reaching $50 billion by 2025.

1 Digitalised economy

2 Cloud and Cloud native

3 Sharing economy

4 Citizen developers

5 Automation

6 AI

7 Employee productivity

8 Integrated SaaS Applications

Zoho identifies itself as a one-stop integrated cloud software to run businesses at reasonable prices and with the flexibility to localize. It is currently developing Thai-language versions of  its applications and these are tentatively scheduled to launch in 2020.