Whenever we talk about the technological pioneers of our times, we generally think about Elon Musk, Bill Gates, or possibly Steve Jobs and Wozniak. As Indians, we take pride in the development that our country has made in the last 50 years. But we are a bit short on giving proper recognition to people who are the Indian pioneers of software as a service (SaaS) based products that are proving revolutionary in the technological space on an international level. I’m not talking about Infosys or Mr. Murthy. I am talking about Zoho Corporation. Zoho started in 1996 as a starter. And today it stands. In the face of the world, as one of the biggest SaaS-based companies. Zoho Corporation is an Indian multinational company that specializes in technological products. The company makes web-based tools for businesses and is famous for the online office suite known as Zoho. The multinational company was started as a startup by Mr. Srishar Vembu and Tony Thomas back in 1996. Today, Zoho holds the status of the biggest Internet technology company in India and has its headquarters in Chennai, Tamil Nadu; And holds the global headquarters in Pleasanton, California.
The Vembu thought process.
Mr. Sridhar Vembu is an alumnus of Princeton University. A billionaire, and the 59th richest Indian according to Forbes. His net worth stands at $2.5 billion as of 2020. And he was awarded the fourth highest Indian civilian award, Padmashree, in 2021. Mr. Vembu’s philosophy It’s quite clear regarding the business. He is neither answerable to the investors nor the shareholders, but only to the customers. This thought process made Zoho the bootstrapped company and a Profitable Unicorn software company. According to many business gurus, the quirkiness and the independent vision of Mr. Sridhar Vembu have resulted in this massive success of the company, which wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. Currently, the entrepreneur has completely moved to India and resides in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Mr. Vembu is so futuristic that he has proposed the idea of remote working and completing the vision that people do not have to move to get the software to them but to bring technology to the people where they already reside.
A rooted personality.
Not only the thought process, but Mr. Vembu’s personality is very much rooted in his origins. His four-sightedness has brought him to the roots from where he began. He believes that a company must be people-centric, not work-centric, and that is why all the big founders of Freshworks, Chargebee, or Facilio were into Zoho Space and grooved from the space to be what they are today. His vision has taken him where he is today and the core vision remains the same. To produce products out of India for the global market. He says that with enhanced knowledge, the sophistication of his product has been better and more suited to the global benchmarks and markets.
Experience and prediction.
Mr. Vembu’s vision was always the same. He wanted the company to be able to invest in unusual ideas with remote collaboration and with an innovative approach. The prediction part arrived when his vision saw that people who reside in urban IT hubs do not have very healthy living structures. This resulted in understanding the need for remote work and the possibilities that this factor can generate. The rural initiative that Zoho has undertaken aims to revolutionize the workspace by promoting remote work and more productivity. Mr. Vembu believes that work should be healthy and organized, not overburdened. He himself starts at 4:30 in the morning, goes out for a walk and swim, and gets ready to work from 9. With the utmost efficiency framework, he wraps up his work at 6:00 every day and sleeps at 9. His vision dates decades into the future. And that is why millions of users of Zoho, rely on the software to run their day-to-day business tasks, including sales, marketing, customer support, accounting, back-office, and whatnot. The array of productivity and collaboration tools has resulted from the massive success of Zoho. And Mr. Vembu is the man behind all this. With the vision, he had intended initially.
This is how success looks. The implementation of the vision; With the correct mission, results in a massive success that outrages the world.