Exclusive: Zoho eyes long-term ANZ growth with privacy-first push

Zoho is focusing on Australia and New Zealand as a key driver of its global growth.

The software company's Chief Strategy Officer, Vijay Sundaram, said the region has become one of Zoho's top ten global markets and is critical to its long-term plans.

Speaking to TechDay, following the release of the company's latest results, he pointed to a 20 per cent year-on-year increase in ANZ, describing it as "very impressive numbers".

He attributed the surge to a shift in how businesses deal with uncertainty.

"People have learned to live with uncertainty," he said. "You've had disruption, uncertainty and economic slowdown, three things at the same time. Decisions got postponed until people realised it's not going to change. I still have to run a business. I still need to buy technology."

According to Sundaram, the shift is being felt globally, with growth returning after several sluggish years. But he said Zoho's own strategy of moving upmarket has also been a factor. "Our heritage has been small customers, and now we're getting more to larger customers. So with fewer of them, you have higher growth," he explained.

Despite its current momentum, Sundaram cautioned that building in the ANZ market is a long game.

"It's a market that has fewer industries that dominate the economy – insurance, financials, manufacturing, mining, construction – and they've been around for a long time," he said. "So you have to come in with a displacement strategy, and that always takes time. What you need is doggedness and patience, and I hope we have both."

He pointed to Zoho's growing local team as evidence of that commitment. "Even though the Australian economy last quarter grew 1.2 per cent flat, we're adding salespeople. So we have invested in it for the long term," he said. "If you've got the right products and the patience, then it's going to work out."

Sundaram positioned innovation as central to Zoho's approach, particularly in Australia. "What we are trying to do in this market is keep underscoring the notion of being an innovator," he said.

"That means you keep coming up with new stuff every year. You add new capabilities to existing products, and you tailor products to particular industries."

The company recently launched Zoho Solo, Zoho for Non-Profits, and Zoho Touch Point. While Sundaram left the detailed product strategies to his managers, he said the releases reflect Zoho's intent to be seen as "not just another player, but an innovator".

Australia's economy is shaped by small enterprises, making it a natural fit for Zoho's roots. "Australia is an economy of small businesses," Sundaram said.

"Even tiny businesses, solopreneurs and micro businesses run quite impressive operations. What makes that happen is technology."

He explained that Zoho focuses on nurturing these segments early, rather than chasing quick revenue. "Some of these people might turn out to be winners in the future, and they learnt about your product now," he said. "So it's important for us to seed the market at the beginning."

That approach is showing results. Customers in ANZ now use an average of 23 Zoho apps, up from 18 a year ago. "They see greater value, right? They see it solves bigger problems for their business," Sundaram said. "We make it easy by putting products into suites. You might start with three or four, and then you discover more."

Zoho's network of nearly 400 channel partners is another driver of growth. Sundaram said the company has deliberately placed them "front and centre" at local events. "Even our own sales team doesn't have a forum here, but the partners do," he said. "That's the importance we give to that business."

He emphasised the need for industry-specific solutions. "Solutions here have to be specific to an industry," he explained.

"Zoho has a lot of stuff that can be put together for almost any industry, but somebody has to put it together. That's one of the primary roles for our partners."

Privacy has become a defining feature of Zoho's brand. "We've never made $1 of revenue on advertising, which means we left a lot of money on the table. And we're okay with that," Sundaram said.

He contrasted Zoho's freemium model with rivals. "You think it's free, but you're the product," he said. "We will never gather data on customers and sell it. That was a tenet from day one."

The company has extended this principle globally, rolling out GDPR protections to all markets, not just Europe. It has even built its own browser to demonstrate its stance.

"Why in 2025 would you have a browser? Because we build a browser that's the best and strongest in privacy," Sundaram said.

For Sundaram, Zoho's private ownership is key to its ability to invest in long-term strategies. "Public markets tend to make companies short sighted," he said.

"This is a private company. You're free from that. Nobody tells you that you can't think of what you're going to do in the next four or five years."

He added that this freedom allows Zoho to take risks. "You can experiment more, and you can deal with experiments that don't work. Otherwise, you develop a corporate culture adverse to failures. Now you can develop a corporate culture that actually says failure is part of how we grow."

Looking ahead, Sundaram said Zoho's focus will remain on serving customers, expanding its teams, and building its ecosystem of partners. "Stay at it, serve what the market needs, and keep building our teams," he said. "That's how we scale."

And with a nod to former Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh, who joined the event as a guest speaker, Sundaram reflected on the importance of learning from mistakes.

"People always think about what you learn from success," he said. "Sometimes you learn more from failure."