Zoho Adds More Apps to Google Apps Marketplace
by Bill Ives
Zoho is making a big play in the Google Apps market; Zoho Creator, Zoho Discussions, Zoho Meeting, Zoho Reports, Zoho Wiki are now Integrated with Google Apps. Raju Vegesna, Zoho evangelist notes. “While Google is a competitor, they are also often a collaborator we work with wherever it can benefit our users. Going forward, Zoho and Google users can look forward to even more Zoho applications making their way to the Google Apps Marketplace as well as integration enhancements for the apps already there.” I think this is happening more in the software market as a general trend. The SharePoint market is another example.
Zoho Creator for Google Apps lets users quickly create database-driven web applications. Casual users who are not programmers can create their own business and situated apps using simple drag and drop operations. These are generally small, situation-specific applications often needed immediately, on the fly that cannot wait for IT to step in.
Zoho Discussions for Google Apps lets users make decisions from discussions. Members of public and private communities can share ideas, report problems and ask questions from a single point, letting organizations bring people together and reach decisions easily.
Zoho Meeting for Google Apps lets users host web meetings to connect with team members, clients and partners from anywhere. In addition to one-on-one meetings, users can have multiple participants in a meeting. Zoho Meeting for Google Apps can also be used for desktop sharing and providing remote support.
Zoho Reports for Google Apps is an online reporting and business intelligence service that helps users get new insights on their business data. Reports and dashboards can be easily created without professional help.
Zoho Wiki for Google Apps lets users create online workspaces for content sharing within a group. Users can create personal, public and private team wikis for collaborating with project teams, clients and partners anywhere on a virtual basis.
This is a nice collection of tools. Prior to this recent move Zoho has also integrated CRM, Projects, Invoice, Books, Recruit and Zoho Creator Helpdesk with Google Apps Marketplace. I am now using Zoho CRM and find it useful.
