Zoho & ManageEngine open Sydney office for ANZ push

India-headquartered Saas providers Zoho and ManageEngine have opened a new office in Sydney, as part of aggressive expansion plans within the Australian enterprise market.

"Everywhere there is doom and gloom about AI taking away jobs; we wanted to come and set up an office here and put out a statement that we are expanding and we see AI as a lever to grow," Zoho's ANZ Country Head, Rakesh Prabhakar, told TechDay at the event on 25 March.

Zoho and ManageEngine – two distinct verticals operating under the same company – have both been operating in Australia for several years, but the addition of a Sydney office aims to offer both brands greater connectivity with corporate and government decision makers in ANZ's largest city.   

"Right now, we've got about 11 people, but we expect that to increase… we are looking to roughly double the team in the next year or so," said Vinayak Sreedhar, ManageEngine's Country Head (ANZ).

Cutting the ribbon to officially open the Parramatta office was Indian Consul General Dr Janakiraman Sarvesvaran, alongside senior figures from both brands. He noted that in discussions 12 months ago, Zoho had no plans for an office in Sydney, but this week's launch demonstrated the speed of market change and uptake of the company's product offering.

Zoho's Australian paradox

First launched in Australia in 2010, Zoho currently has 50 unique CRM products in the market, catering to different verticals. Australian customers include healthcare, construction and government (particularly local government).

Zoho has seen significant local uptake of its CRM products by SMBs – in stark contrast to overseas markets, where enterprises dominate its user base.

"Here, we are one of the world's best kept secrets in terms of business software," said Prabhakar. 

Given the company's reach at enterprise levels in other markets, including North America, Europe and Asia, he said Zoho's offering is already tested at scale, making larger Australian firms "our growth focus".

Prabhakar estimated the company's software is used by around 150 million individuals globally, including "tens of thousands" in Australia. 

Local first for ManageEngine

While Zoho first established a local presence in Australia with the launch of its Adelaide office in 2023, the Sydney office marks the first physical presence for ManageEngine in Australia, despite operating in the country since 2022.

ManageEngine specialises in supporting business IT operations. While its products are largely agnostic, Sreedhar said a number of sectors at the mid to enterprise level feature prominently among its Australian customer base.

"If you look at our core customer base today within Australia, I'd say local councils, NFPs, education, manufacturing, mining… all these are large customer bases for us. We service the MSP market as well," he told TechDay.

"We own the entire tech stack that we offer to our clients, and we're able to pass on that value, coupled with the business problems that we solve." 

The company currently has 60 products with contextual AI woven throughout, enabling, among other features, customisable security access controls.

The future of Saas

Many listed Saas vendors have seen their share price come under sustained pressure in recent months, both in Australia and overseas, as investors question their continued revenues and viability at the hands of AI. The situation has seen the coining of the 'Saaspocalypse' phrase.

However, Zoho's Prabhakar suggested that buzzwords fail to reflect that "change is constant" and overlook the practical applications of AI and software coming together.

"You utter the magic letters 'AI', and immediately you get a lot of funding. There is the actual productivity gains and a lot of fluff – we need to separate these two. We are not trying to do everything … rather, we are trying to see a few workflows that will add immense value for our customers on day one," he said.

"Will we see a lot of generic software going away and being replaced with bespoke, fit-for-purpose software? Most likely. Previously, you couldn't take such risks because it was too expensive to build and to test and to market; now, because of AI, the time taken to build, the cost to build, the time taken to test, the time take to support, all of this comes down. 

"So, you should be able to have multiple bespoke solutions catering to the market. There will be a lot of verticalisation, a lot of specialisation, but Saas will still be there."

Skills development

Zoho has taken a somewhat unique approach to building its now 20,000-strong global workforce, with its Zoho Schools of Learning in India training young school leavers in areas such as software engineering, advanced mathematics and English communication skills. 

Graduates of the two-year program are offered guaranteed employment, with the in-house academy now accounting for between 10 and 15 per cent of Zoho's total workforce.

"We frequently hear news that there is a skills shortage, a talent shortage. I believe firms like us should be more responsible for baring some of this as well. If you want a Sass salesperson, what we can probably find easily in Australia at this point in time is somebody with a lot of sales experience. We need to take them on, and we need to train them in Saas," said Prabhakar.

"The biggest investment is time; it's not the monetary value or the effort… I think the real success is when your average person does phenomenal stuff, and you enable them. Most tech firms should be able to do this."