Zoho - Affordable software for individuals, small & medium business
I just came across Zoho today, and they have assembled an impressive list of Web 2.0 apps, most of which appear to be free or low-cost. The first application that I have used is Zoho Projects, which is a free project management tool that seems pretty decent (you sure can't beat the price). I was able to create a project plan for a demo platform that I'm working on in less than five minutes--try *that* in MS Project! Curiously, Zoho Projects does not appear in the list of Zoho apps--perhaps it's in beta and they're limiting access to people who come across it (like me).
Upon further investigation, I discovered that Zoho is actually a product of AdventNet, whom I worked with quite a bit as an industry analyst. AdventNet has quite a collection of enterprise management, security, database, software testing, and now collaboration/CRM (Zoho suite) products--they have been very busy! AdventNet got their start years ago by creating an SNMP toolkit that is embedded in many systems management products today.
I plan to try out the other online Zoho tools, which include an office suite (replete with a word processor, spreadsheet, collaboration software (email client, calendar, etc), chat client, presenter, planner, and even a CRM tool--quite an impressive list. Virtually all of them are 100% free with the exception of Zoho Virtual Office (the Outlook-like app), which is free for up to 10 users, and Zoho CRM, which is free for up to 3 users. I have not been able to find pricing for Zoho Project, but my guess is that it is free for up to a certain number of users.
In addition to the office tools, Zoho also includes a set of management tools, including a Website monitoring service (100% free!), a survey tool, and a tool for evaluating candidates--the latter is free for up to 25 candidates. Incredible.
This is by far the most complete set of apps that I've found in one place--rivaling what Google is trying to assemble with Writely, et al. Kudos to the AdventNet team for creating all of these apps, and for making most of them completely free!
1 comment:
Thanks for the big thumbs up on Zoho, Mark! Nice knowing that you have been associated with us for long :-)
Zoho Projects got released in Beta just a week back. And it is now on the Zoho home page. For now we allow only one project, paid versions allowing more projects is coming up soon. Like with AdventNet's other products, all the Zoho apps will continue to have their personal free editions.
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