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00:00My name is Haider Nizam, and I head the Zoho's Middle East and Africa operation.
00:06At Zoho, we provide a 50 plus application catering to all the departments in an organization.
00:11You take a business, you have a sales department, you have a customer support department, marketing
00:16department, you have finance, accounting department, you have HR department.
00:20So at Zoho, we provide software so that each department can use the software and optimize
00:25their operations.
00:26Our sales department can use our Zoho CRM, our support department can use our Zoho desk,
00:31our HR department can use Zoho people.
00:34So we have 50 plus products that cater to all the departments, and all these products
00:39put together, we call it a Zoho One Bundle, which is a flagship product bundle for us
00:44in this region, Middle East and Africa region.
00:51Zoho's Middle East and Africa is doing extremely good for us, and this is the fastest growing
00:55region for us globally.
00:57We had 10x growth in the last six years, our CAGR of close to 40%.
01:04And among the Middle East and Africa countries, UAE is the front runner.
01:07We had 15x growth in the last six years.
01:10So that says that we are doing extremely good in this market, and thanks to our strategic
01:14partnerships, what we have done in this market, and we have invested more than 46 million
01:20AED as part of our strategic partnerships, like the partnership what we did with Dubai
01:25Economic and Tourism, DET, to Dubai Culture, IBZA, Medan, right, I can give an example
01:30of the Dubai Economic and Tourism.
01:32As part of that partnership, what we did is, we have given credits of 1800 US Dollars to
01:38every business who set up business in Dubai.
01:40So when you set up a business, you get a trade license from Dubai Economic and Tourism.
01:44As part of the trade license, you also get free credits, which the government is pushing.
01:48We are the only sole vendor featured in the trade license, Dubai trade license.
01:52So those partnerships are really working out really well for us, and as part of those
01:56partnerships, we have onboarded more than 7000 paying customers who are using Zoho as
02:02part of the strategic partnerships.
02:03So those kind of partnerships have helped us to accelerate our presence in this local
02:08market, and this is doing extremely good.
02:10Now Zoho is doing extremely good in this Middle East and America region.
02:13I think strategic partnership is a very important piece in all our execution.
02:23Why?
02:24Because, you know, directly we are benefiting the businesses to go completely digital by
02:28providing an affordable software.
02:30Second thing is, we are aligning with the government philosophy and intent, they want
02:34to, the way they want to operate their businesses, right.
02:37So the UAE government, especially Dubai government, want the businesses to go completely paperless.
02:43So we are aligning with that, you know, strategy, and also we are helping businesses to access
02:48to 50 plus products at a very affordable pricing.
02:51So it's a win-win-win situation for the government, for the business, and for Zoho.
02:59A very good question.
03:01So if you really look at AI, everyone knows that AI is going to accelerate the whole productivity,
03:06right.
03:07AI is the first benefit of AI is improving the productivity, right.
03:12So AI cannot improve the productivity of an organization which is on paper and pen, right.
03:18So AI has to really operate on data, a very cleaner data, right, a process which is very
03:25cleaner in an organization.
03:26So the first step is completely going digital, having a very, you know, very proven or very
03:34refined process in an organization, and AI is a topping on top of it, which can give
03:39a very leapfrog effect where it can really completely accelerate 2x or 3x productivity
03:44in a way you want to operate.
03:45So the first good step to leverage AI to really have a digital transformed business, and then
03:51put an AI topping on top of it to really get the benefit of AI.
03:55So that's why now it's very important for organizations to go completely digital.
03:58All along Zoho has been operating as a vendor for SMBs, you know, be it the strategic partnerships,
04:09what we do.
04:10Predominantly they are SMBs.
04:12But now we are seeing a transformation in terms of a lot of mid-sized companies and
04:16large customers adopting Zoho.
04:18Sheriff DG to Jensha Mall to, you know, Carrefour to Lulu are becoming our customers.
04:23So these organizations are trying, now believing that Zoho can solve their complex problem,
04:29and they want to adopt Zoho products and also leverage Zoho's AI ability in terms of transforming
04:35the digital journey.
04:36So that is what we want to really accelerate in coming years, and we want to get to more
04:41and more mid-sized and large enterprises.
04:44So that's our strategy, what we are taking, especially in the UAE market.