Getting Started

For small businesses constantly juggling communication across tools, documents, and meetings, Zoho’s newest product aims to simplify how teams work together. The company has launched Vani — an intelligent visual collaboration platform that turns brainstorming, planning, and execution into one seamless, shared experience. Vani introduces a visual-first workspace designed to replace the patchwork of apps that small businesses often rely on for project management, whiteboarding, and communication. Instead of hopping between spreadsheets, slides, and chat threads, teams can collaborate on what Zoho calls an “infinite canvas” — a digital space where ideas, data, and discussio…

Zoho Corporation has unveiled a game-changing solution for larger businesses aiming to streamline their financial operations and enhance budget management. The newly launched Zoho Spend integrates essential functions such as payroll, accounts payable (AP) automation, corporate travel, employee expenses, and procurement into a single, user-friendly platform. This innovative offering is poised to transform how finance leaders manage company expenditures as they scale. Zoho Spend addresses a critical gap in spend management by consolidating various financial processes that are often managed through disparate systems. According to the company, many organizations struggle wit…

Small business owners relying on Zoho One to run daily operations will soon see tighter security, smoother app management, and more unified workflows across their software stack. Zoho Corporation announced a wave of enhancements to its all-in-one business platform, strengthening its native integrations and introducing tools designed to reduce complexity for growing teams. For many small businesses, maintaining a cohesive tech stack is an ongoing challenge. Disconnected apps create security risks, slow down processes, and force owners to manage multiple logins, data sources, and support channels. Zoho’s latest updates focus on removing those friction points by delivering …

Project managers, rejoice! Zoho just introduced an application to usher in a bright new future for what you do. On March 11, 2025, Zoho revealed its new unified AI-driven project management platform Projects Plus. “Zoho Projects Plus is basically a collaboration of hybrid project management,” explained Zoho senior evangelist Aarthi Elizabeth. “One is your traditional projects and the other is your agile methodologies.” “It then brings in data analytics as well,” Elizabeth added. For many businesses, this constitutes a game changer. Think about the possibilities. Zoho’s current Projects software sees greatest use amongst businesses in construction, manufacturing, bank…

Artificial intelligence may be the future of work, but for many small businesses, adopting it has been easier said than done. Zoho is looking to change that with new, no-cost AI upgrades built directly into its Collaboration, Customer Experience, and Human Resources software. These updates mark another step in Zoho’s broader strategy to make “agentic” AI — software that acts autonomously to complete tasks — accessible to organizations of all sizes. The company says the enhancements are designed to eliminate major barriers that have slowed AI adoption, such as high costs, fragmented tools, and a steep learning curve. For small business owners, the updates could mean a pr…

Small businesses continue to grapple with the challenge of managing scattered apps, disconnected workflows, and rising software costs. Zoho is betting it can solve that problem at scale. The company announced a major update to Zoho One—its unified business operating system—and the changes focus heavily on reducing friction, centralizing information, and making collaboration more intuitive for teams that can’t afford complexity. For small business owners already juggling multiple responsibilities, these updates aim to streamline operations by bringing apps, data, and communication into a single, customizable workspace. Zoho frames the enhancements as a way to help organiz…

Scan, edit and share receipts and other business documents and free yourself from piles of paper. Zoho Scanner enables this and more. The company recently upgraded the software formerly called Zoho Doc Scanner with some truly remarkable features. Consider switching to Zoho Scanner now as Microsoft Lens closes down shunting customers to Microsoft 365 Copilot. But first, look at what Zoho’s scanning option offers. “It’s a smarter way to scan and share your documents, receipts or whatever it may be and it also provides a way where the scanned documents are available across all your devices,” says Ashok Ramamoorthy, Director of Product Management for Zoho Scanner. Use Z…

Artificial intelligence has long promised to streamline business operations, but many small businesses have found the reality to be complicated, expensive, or out of reach. Zoho Corporation wants to change that. The company announced a broad rollout of new agentic AI tools—embedded directly into its Collaboration, Customer Experience, and Human Resources apps—to help businesses save time, reduce repetitive work, and improve decision-making. Perhaps most notably, these upgrades come at no extra cost, a move that could make advanced AI more accessible to small and midsize companies struggling to adopt it. Zoho’s announcement centers on simplifying AI adoption through autom…

Small business owners navigating growth often face a tough choice: stick with simple tools that don’t scale or adopt complex enterprise systems designed for companies ten times their size. Zoho’s latest announcement signals a potential sweet spot for scaling businesses that need robust financial capabilities—without the burden of heavyweight enterprise software. This week, Zoho Corporation unveiled a new Enterprise Edition of Zoho Billing, expanding its Finance and Operations platform to serve larger and more complex organizations. But the move has real implications for mid-sized and growing small businesses looking to streamline billing, adopt modern pricing models, and…

Zoho Corporation has launched Projects Plus, a new AI-powered project management platform designed to enhance efficiency and collaboration for mid-sized and enterprise organizations. The platform integrates four key Zoho applications—Projects, WorkDrive, Analytics, and Sprints—allowing businesses to leverage data-driven insights, streamline workflows, and facilitate collaboration in real-time. The introduction of Projects Plus follows a year of substantial growth for Zoho Projects, which saw a 20% year-over-year revenue increase in 2024. Additionally, the company reported a threefold rise in user migration from third-party project management tools, with 55% of new users …

At Zoho’s SMZ 2025 event, collaboration was the word of the day — but Zoho is giving that idea a whole new meaning with Vani, its intelligent visual collaboration platform. I sat down with Aarthi Elizabeth Anbu, Product Marketing Manager at Zoho, to learn how Vani reimagines teamwork for small businesses that juggle multiple tools, tasks, and time zones. Where Knowledge Begins When asked about the name, Aarthi smiled. “There is an Indian goddess called Saraswati, who is the goddess of knowledge and learning,” she explained. “So Vani is another name for her. Because this is where knowledge begins, where brainstorming starts, so that’s why Vani.” That origin fits the plat…

Zoom, a leader in video communications, has announced its acquisition of BrightHire, a powerful interview intelligence platform designed to revolutionize the hiring process. This strategic move underscores Zoom’s commitment to enhancing user experience and making hiring decisions more effective for small business owners. As Zoom consolidates BrightHire’s capabilities, small businesses stand to gain from improved interview techniques and refined decision-making, areas critical to sustaining competitive advantage. The acquisition is timely; each year, countless hiring conversations occur on Zoom, making it a hub for recruiting. BrightHire’s technology complements this by p…

Small businesses are constantly navigating the evolving landscape of remote and hybrid work. Zoom’s recent announcement of new features for Zoom Spaces promises to enhance how companies manage their work environments. With AI-driven upgrades such as photo check-in for Visitor Management and an AI Companion for Zoom Rooms, small businesses can now leverage cutting-edge technology to improve collaboration and productivity. Jeff Smith, Zoom’s head of Product for Workplace AI, Meetings, and Spaces, emphasized the transformative potential of these innovations. “The future of office work is being revolutionized. Zoom Spaces transform how we think about collaboration by creatin…

Zoom is stepping up to the plate for small business owners by acquiring Bonsai, a platform dedicated to streamlining operations for freelancers and solopreneurs. This move not only broadens Zoom’s suite of AI-first workplace tools but also aims to simplify the process of managing client interactions—from initial contact to final payment. In a press release, Zoom emphasized their excitement about integrating Bonsai’s functionalities into their existing services. This acquisition combines the strengths of Zoom’s collaborative tools—like Meetings, Webinars, Team Chat, and the Zoom AI Companion—with Bonsai’s project management, proposal generation, time tracking, and invoici…

Zoom has officially launched Zoom Tasks, a new AI-powered task management product built directly into Zoom Workplace. This release marks a significant addition to Zoom’s AI-first open work platform, enabling users to track, manage, and complete tasks through its AI Companion assistant. Zoom Tasks is now generally available, allowing users to consolidate to-dos from meetings, Zoom Team Chat, emails, and more into a single streamlined interface. According to Zoom, the new tool enables users to manage tasks more efficiently by leveraging agentic AI capabilities that can surface, organize, and prompt task completion. AI-Driven Task Management Built on Zoom AI Companion’s fe…

Zoom Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM) has announced the release of Zoom Workplace for Frontline, a mobile-first solution designed to enhance communication and work management for frontline workers. The product is now available to all frontline employees and managers with paid Zoom accounts, targeting industries such as retail, manufacturing, healthcare, and emergency services. The company stated that the new platform aims to help workers “get more done, do better work, and strengthen relationships” by integrating intelligent tools and streamlining daily operational tasks. “Our mission of delivering an AI-first open work platform isn’t just limited to knowledge workers;…

Zoom has announced a significant expansion of its AI Companion platform, introducing new agentic AI skills and custom agent capabilities that span across Zoom Meetings, Zoom Phone, Zoom Team Chat, Zoom Docs, and Zoom Contact Center. The announcement, made March 17 during a company event in Orlando, highlights more than 45 innovations aimed at boosting productivity, simplifying workflows, and strengthening relationships through enhanced AI functionality. “AI Companion is evolving from a personal assistant to being truly agentic, which signals a major leap forward in how AI can enhance productivity and collaboration at work,” said Smita Hashim, chief product officer at Zoo…