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November 30, 2006

The Real Office Live: Zoho Bridges Online And Offline Office Apps

Natali Del Conte

55 comments »

Zoho, the online Office suite company, will launch a Microsoft Office plugin today that will allow users to save documents directly to their Zoho account from Microsoft Office and Excel.

The company is also announcing open APIs and a partnership with Desktopize to create virtual folders that allow users to save files to their Zoho account directly from their desktop.

Raju Vegesna, who calls himself the evangelist of Zoho, discussed the news with us last night and said that the company is essentially beating Microsoft to what it should have already done with Office Live, which is bridge the gap between offline and online office applications.

“Office Live has no web-based spreadsheet or word processor,” Vegesna said. “So I can send you the plugin so you can just put in your Zoho account details and you can use it as if you’re using the Office itself.”

zoho.jpg
The new plugin will enable users to save and collaborate from Word or Excel (but not PowerPoint yet - that is in the works), as well as open existing Zoho documents in Word or Excel.

Vegesna said that Zoho did not have to work closely with Microsoft to build the plugin because Microsoft “documentation is fairly open.” It is compatible with Office 2000, 2003, and 2007.

Desktopize Icons and Shortcuts.jpgSaving documents to two places is a hassle so the plugin, as well as the “desktop icons” will allow users to avoid visiting the Zoho site quite as often.

“People are asking for this,” Vegesna said. “Currently they have to go to Zoho.com, login, and upload documents. We have them doing this an average of five times per day. This will let them go straight to Zoho without having to go to Zoho.com, upload, etc.”

Zoho’s decision to open APIs was so that other developers could integrate Zoho into their applications, such as storage Web sites like Omnidrive or Box.net.

When Zoho last spoke with TechCrunch, the company had approximately 100,000 users. Vegesna estimates that the number is closer to 150,000 now.

  • Sphere It

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 30th, 2006 at 7:30 am and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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Comments

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  1. Denver Wang

    November 30th, 2006 at 7:40 am

    Zoho is cool, but the technology is not the driven power, the most important thing is how to apply it and how to promote it in the market.

  2. NeoTechie

    November 30th, 2006 at 8:00 am

    Integrating stand-alone application into web application will lead to ease of accessibility. However it will take some time to catch on. I think 15k will eventually surpass 25k in the coming months.

    How well is this web app keeping up with Google’s version?
    Can it catch up or keep up???

  3. wayne lambright

    November 30th, 2006 at 8:03 am

    (Unsolicited feedback For the zoho team), every time I see your logo, I don’t think, here is an innovative company that I can trust with all my documents. NOPE… when I see the ZOHO logo blocks I think they sell toys for children, not software that I can trust to run my business around. My suggestion: Drop the (toys r us) look.

  4. Sean

    November 30th, 2006 at 8:08 am

    I agree with Wayne above me … drop the childish-toy-sales look … it’ll increase your client base 100 fold i’m sure.

    Good call Wayne.

  5. Mani

    November 30th, 2006 at 8:13 am

    Thanks Wayne for your suggestion. We will take your feedback seriously & see what we can do. This never occured to us & thanks for sharing your thought.

  6. Michael Arrington

    November 30th, 2006 at 8:36 am

    You know, I actually agree wiht Wayne’s comment on the logo, too, although I hadn’t thought of it before.

  7. Jevon

    November 30th, 2006 at 8:36 am

    I can’t imagine your logo would test very will with your expected markets, imho, but it is definitly recognizable.

  8. Denver Wang

    November 30th, 2006 at 8:38 am

    when I see the ZOHO logo blocks I think they sell toys for children, not software that I can trust to run my business around. My suggestion: Drop the (toys r us) look.

    Yes Wayne, The logo of zoho make me think about lego….but I do think there are some meanful thing inside their current logo, how about let them to explain it. may be they thing the block means their products could work together just like block toy?

  9. Elliot

    November 30th, 2006 at 9:01 am

    One of our jobs is to advise our clients on how they can benefit from using online tools to collaborate and share information. We always test products to see what the best option is for our clients and recently tested a few online spreadsheets. We initially went for Zoho because it had an impressive feature set but we became immediatley frustrated by how slow it was. After a short while we tested Google Spreadsheets and it blew Zoho out of the water. It’s a shame that others are unable to keep up with the mighty Google but when all is said and done, people want the best. We haven’t gone back to Zoho since so i’d be interested to hear whether anyone else has experienced this or if anyone has done anything about it.

  10. Raju Vegesna

    November 30th, 2006 at 9:27 am

    Elliot, Did you try Zoho Sheet lately? We did a major upgrade recently (http://blogs.zoho.com/general/major-server-upgrade-over-in-zohosheet/) which was primarily to improve the performance.

  11. Amar

    November 30th, 2006 at 9:30 am

    Does this new plug-in work with MS Office 2007?

  12. Amar

    November 30th, 2006 at 9:34 am

    Wouldn’t you say Google’s logo is childish/Toys-R-Us type, as well? At the end of the day, rich product features, performance, usability is all that matters. I disagree that logo has anything to do with increase market share.

    There are numerous examples of companies spending millions on getting their logo right and there being not a single penny difference made in the market share/revenue.

    I feel Zoho should keep their logo as it is. As someone else said before here, the logo is definitely recognizable.

  13. Elliot

    November 30th, 2006 at 9:39 am

    Hi Raju. We tried it prior to the upgrade. Haven’t used it lately but will try to soon.

    Great to know that companies are responsive to customers’ comments though.

  14. Peter

    November 30th, 2006 at 9:43 am

    well, the building blocks icon isn’t all that bad I don’t think.. depends how u look at it, with a toysrus look or a ’smart’ company :)

    As far as the plugin, its nice and very simplified, but I personally don’t have any use for Zoho because every computer I see has internet access and office. Good plugin though it should help u guys a lot.

  15. mounir

    November 30th, 2006 at 10:41 am

    this is a really great plugin. as for the logo, i would have to agree that it is time for an update

  16. Chris

    November 30th, 2006 at 10:47 am

    I have to agree with the comments about the Zoho logo. It was pointed out that the logo is “definitely recognizable”, but in my opinion it is only recognizable to a relatively tiny fraction of the population.

    I say this, because where I live (Washington, DC), I have yet to meet someone who has heard of the term “web 2.0,” including several friends who build servers for a living. Many people have gmail accounts, but I am the only one I know who has used the the google docs and spreadsheets- and by the standard of my peers I am considered tech savvy, because I once taught myself some basic InDesign.

    I have been reading Techcrunch (and similar blogs) with fascination for only 3-4 months now, and feel like I’m ahead of the curve here on the east coast. One inevitably sees the world through the filter of one’s career - and the tech world is no exception, i.e. in DC we have government, in SF they have tech. I live in a city full of fairly sophisticated, smart young people, but I’d wager money that almost none have heard of Zoho.

    My point is, that this plugin provides a perfect segue for Zoho to rebrand itself to something sharper - ideally something that affiliates it with MS Office (within legal limits, of course) - as it grows in brand recognition, attaching itself in both substance AND form to something as universal as MS Office could prove to be a very smart move.

  17. Frank Cefalu

    November 30th, 2006 at 10:48 am

    The logo of Google is marketing a totally different product and was established for a totally different purpose. Google has no logos for its sub-applications, only for its Search Engine. I think the blocks are fine, but can use a good fine tuning. They are a little bland.

    @Amar, the screenshot above is OF MS 2007.

  18. Ranjith

    November 30th, 2006 at 10:49 am

    Yes the Plug-in works in MS Office 2007 also. The menus get added to the Tab “Add-ins”.

    The excel screen shot in the blog is from MS Office 2007.

  19. Chris

    November 30th, 2006 at 11:19 am

    Sorry - to clarify my point - I live in a fairly urbane city where gmail tends to be used by a certain, relatively younger demographic (say, teens to 30s) - there are still tons of people stick to hotmail, aol, or yahoo for their email. Of the people I know with gmail, NONE have used google docs and spreadsheets, brand or no brand.

    If the average computer user doesn’t even care to tinker with google docs and spreadsheets, I guarantee they haven’t heard of Zoho. If Zoho changed their logo, no one would miss it - for now. But this plug-in offers Zoho a chance to grow much quicker, and that growth be even greater with a rebranding. As word spreads about Zoho, people might be quicker to pick it up if it didn’t look like an ad for children’s blocks.

    People fear change with software - most people don’t have the patience to switch from Windows to OS X, let alone something as innovative as Office 2.0. Marketing is one thing that could help expedite that transition.

  20. Online Apps

    November 30th, 2006 at 11:23 am

    Can you guys PLEASE do something for OpenOffice.org? It’s easier than MS Office, free, open-source, and cross-platform. Some of us hate MS Office.

  21. Raju Vegesna

    November 30th, 2006 at 11:33 am

    You can easily guess that Open Office plugin will be up next.

    Yes, OpenOffice plugin is coming.

    Raju

  22. Stan

    November 30th, 2006 at 11:44 am

    Speaking of the Google and Zoho logo…

    The Google logo has all the colors that a MS Windows logo has and I don’t think that’s a coincidence. I can’t recall where, but I remember reading that the Windows logo was designed with the help of psychologists because as we know certain colors, evoke certain emotions and certain subconscious feelings, for instance red=aggressive=we work for you aggressively and tirelessly, blue=friendship=we are your friends in business, etc and so I think that Google was wise in using the same colors because they communicate the same subconisous message.

    I’m not sure if Zoho did this on purpose, but they also have basically the same colors as Google and Windows, which is good. On the other hand, the Zoho blocks are not aligned perfectly and jump on each other and unless I’m missing a specific point (such as it is done on purpose to make us think about it and subconsciously remember the Zoho logo) this gives visitors a subconscious feeling of your company and products being unorganized and not working in harmony.

    I think everybody would agree with me that if the blocks were aligned perfectly it would have a better psychological effect. It is very important to evaluate and think of what exactly do you want your logo to say about your company and what it currently says? Remember, the first impression rule is just as important for a company as it is for a person. When we meet new people our first impression is based upon what we see and feel and the same is true about your company and believe me, the logo is a big part of that. If we can make a great first impression with our company, we are in a great position to gain a new customer if not we are in a great position to lose him, simple as that.

    As a professional web designer all I can say is never underestimate the psychological effect of the logo and the message it communicates, it is enormous.

  23. Jason M. Lemkin

    November 30th, 2006 at 12:21 pm

    The pace of innovation at Zoho is really amazing.

  24. Zaine Ridling

    November 30th, 2006 at 1:26 pm

    Zoho Writer is definitely the fastest of the online processors and while its export options are nice, they’re not very accurate. Still, I love the speed and interface of the program so far. Any chance of developing a plug-in for OpenOffice?

    Kudos to the Zoho team for leading the way.

  25. Bjorn

    November 30th, 2006 at 2:25 pm

    I actually think the pastel color theme on the Zoho sites is a worse visual design decision than the logo itself. All I think of when I see it is “baby’s room.” Not good for a business app site.

    I also agree that the Office plugin is a great development.

  26. bob

    November 30th, 2006 at 4:59 pm

    Very nice new enhancements, I congratulate you Raju. Really outstanding.

    It is a horse race between Zoho and Google to see who can dominate the online office suite market. Whenever I think Google is unstoppable, Zoho comes out with more killer features that leave Google in the dust. All I can say is the programmers at Zoho are some of the best and most motivated.

    Thanks for all of your hard work at Zoho…. And I do agree, new logo would be worth its weight in gold.

  27. David Mackey

    November 30th, 2006 at 8:14 pm

    Zoho is pretty cool, though I don’t think they are a company in and of themselves, they are part of AdventNet - mainly known for their network administration tools - e.g. OpManager and ServiceDesk.

  28. Richard

    December 1st, 2006 at 7:23 am

    I’m glad someone brought up OpenOffice already. Even though the number of OOo users may be marginal, for the sake of openness and interoperability, a plugin for OpenOffice would be, if not a dire necessity for Zoho, at least a great sign for the OpenSource community.

    And it would make me use Zoho instead of Google Docs.

  29. Ioannus de Verani

    December 1st, 2006 at 8:26 am

    Zoho’s new desktop integration is awesome! Check out the following: Zoho Moving in on the Desktop.

  30. Li

    December 1st, 2006 at 5:02 pm

    Zoho is great! Now I am using zoho to replace clipmarks/stickkit as the tool I needed to write down any random thought I have while surfing or reading online.. wonderful!

    The only shortcoming is no online storage. so I am using xdrive.com 5G free space from aol and box.net 1G free to upload my files.

    The reason I need online storage is I can upload any other files such as pdf/xls to it so make zoho really my ONLINE work space!

    Another wished feature is I can add web links so I can record any site I need to visit later since I am going to setup zoho as my startup page…

    wonderful zoho..

  31. Patrick

    February 22nd, 2007 at 1:46 pm

    I installed the plugin for Excel and I think is a very good tool.

    Something that I can’t do yet and I think could be a good addition is to be able to open and edit the shared spreadsheets like you can do on the Web version.
    Please let me know if this is possible to do.

    Thank you for this great product.

  32. stress

    March 9th, 2007 at 7:15 pm

    zoho is great

  33. depressione

    March 9th, 2007 at 7:16 pm

    Zoho Writer is definitely the fastest of the online processors and while its export options are nice, they’re not very accurate.

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