If you’re looking for something other than Microsoft Office or don’t trust Google with your information, you may think you don’t have many choices. These two are indeed the most popular office suites, and they are suitable for a reason. They are easy to use, and everyone is familiar with how they work. Other companies will have to work hard to compete with these oversized office suites.
But there is another office suite that might be just as good. It’s called Zoho. You may have heard about it before. It often shows up when you search for ‘Office alternatives,’ but is it any good? Can you really stop using Microsoft Office or G-Suite and use Zoho?
Does Zoho give you more tools and make things easier than these popular office suites? The answer is ‘maybe.’ It really depends on what you are looking for and the type of business you have. Like other office suites, it may not be perfect for everyone. However, if Zoho aligns with your company’s needs and you can utilize its apps, it might be worth considering.
Why Zoho Might Be Good for You
Zoho offers a spectrum of tools to assist you in getting work done. They have so many that they split them into suites. One of these suites provides everything you need for a customer service desk in one convenient location. It includes the things you expect in a customer service suite, such as a business email, an app maker, a project tracker, and a help desk. Let’s take a look at some of these tools:
Zoho Email
Zoho’s email works just like other email programs. They claim to have 99.99% uptime and encryption to safeguard your emails. That’s a big deal and will make sure your messages are sent and received securely. You can also get your own business email address to look professional.
The email app is easy to use, just like Gmail or Outlook. You can even keep your emails for up to one year so that you won’t lose important messages.
Zoho Creator
Zoho Creator enables you to create your own apps. It offers pre-made apps for tasks such as order management and logistics. But you can also build your own apps. It helps you use the data you already have to automate tasks or track things like your website traffic. Zoho says it’s one of the best tools for low-level coding. But you can try it out and see if it works for your business.
Zoho Projects
If you need help managing your time, Zoho Projects is an excellent option for managing your time effectively. It makes Gantt charts to help plan and schedule your tasks. It also enables you to track tasks and automatically gives reminders about what needs to be done. You can log the time you work with built-in timesheets to stay on top of your schedule.
Zoho Desk
Zoho Desk helps you manage customer conversations. It brings together email, social media, phone calls, and messages from your website into one app. It even has an AI helper named Zia that tells you which support tickets are the most urgent.
Zoho for Teamwork
Zoho also makes it easy to work together with your team. With Zoho Meeting, you can hold online meetings. It has all the features you need, including screen sharing, recording meetings, and allowing people to download meeting videos. It’s just like using other online meeting programs.
For chatting with your team, Zoho Cliq is an excellent option. You can have group chats, search for old conversations, and even have voice or video calls. It also helps you automate your work with bots, so everyone stays on the same page.
Zoho Assist helps you connect to customers’ devices to remotely assist them in fixing problems. This feature is helpful if you sell digital products or software.
Zoho for Office Tasks
Zoho is not just for talking to customers or managing projects. It’s a complete office suite. You can use Zoho Writer to make documents, Zoho Sheets to create spreadsheets, and Zoho Docs to store and share files. Zoho Wiki even lets you create documents to help your team.
Is Zoho Too Much for You?
Zoho offers many great tools, but it may be too comprehensive if you only use basic office programs. It could feel overwhelming. The pricing for Zoho is monthly, and it can get expensive. The All-in-One plan costs $35 per employee per month; however, every employee in your company must have a license at this price.
If you need everything Zoho offers, it’s a powerful tool. You can even use it on mobile devices, allowing you to work from anywhere.
Final Thoughts: Should You Use Zoho?
Zoho offers a range of valuable tools that can assist with various tasks. It might not be perfect for everyone, but it’s worth considering if you need help with customer service, project management, and office tasks all in one place. It’s especially great if you want to manage everything from one app.
