Zoho Reports, the web-based productivity suite’s business and data intelligence tool, is ripping off the beta tag and officially launching today with a new pricing model and set of features. Zoho Reports, which was formerly known as Zoho DB, provides developers and database administrators with better ways to manage, digest and understand their data. It’s similar in theory to Microsoft Access but that the application is online.
Zoho Reports can upload data from a variety of sources including Excel and HTML files. And Zoho Reports works with hosted and behind-the-firewall business applications and databases from Oracle, Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL and MS Access databases. Users can interact with Reports via a drag and drop interface, with the application featuring in-depth collaborative tools that let users develop reports together and share reports with each other. Zoho also promises security of all reports.
New functionality includes a dashboard view that lets users collate similar reports and view them all on a single page. Users can also embed the gadget version of Zoho Reports in their iGoogle home page, giving them ready access to their reports and dashboards from their iGoogle page.
Zoho has also established a pricing model for Reports, which will offer a free basic edition with pricing plans starting at $15 per month (for 250,000 rows and 2 users). Launched in 2007, Zoho Reports is a compelling BI tool not only because it is web based but because it provides a plethora of features that many other applications don’t provide.
I feel like I’m starting to sound like a broken record but Zoho has implemented an intelligent strategy to continue to launch new products and add-ons to its existing offerings.Zoho knows that it will have to fight an uphill battle to keep users from flocking to Google Apps and soon Microsoft’s Web-based version of Microsoft 2010. Most recently, the startup launched a deeper integration with Google Docs; rolled out Zoho Discussions, a online forum tool for businesses; and debuted Zoho Recruit. Over the past two years, Zoho has added support for Sharepoint, mobile, Google and Yahoo IDs and group sharing.
It looks like the startup’s strategy may be paying off—Zoho has reached over 2 million users in just 4 years and is even catching the attention of its competition.