Dinesh Varadharajan

Zoho's Commitment to 'Made in India, Made for the World' Ethos: A Strategic Masterstroke 🚀 Zoho co-founder Sridhar Vembu has reiterated the company's deep commitment to developing all its products in Chennai, with all Indian customer data hosted locally in data centers across Mumbai, Delhi, and Chennai. This approach not only showcases the company's dedication to technological self-reliance but also highlights its ability to control performance, security, and long-term costs. The company's decision to avoid dependence on Big Tech infrastructure like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud, and instead run on its own proprietary hardware and software frameworks, is a powerful statement on digital sovereignty and sustainable business building. This vertical integration gives Zoho unparalleled control over its operations, creating a competitive moat that is difficult for competitors to replicate. In an era where most SaaS giants rely on rented cloud infrastructure, Zoho's move serves as a potent example of how deep engineering and long-term vision can create a global tech powerhouse that owns its entire value chain, from code to data center. This approach challenges the prevailing narrative that scaling requires reliance on hyperscalers and sets a new standard for the Indian ecosystem. Key Takeaways: 🔹 Zoho develops all its products in Chennai 🔹 Indian customer data is hosted locally in data centers across Mumbai, Delhi, and Chennai 🔹 The company avoids dependence on Big Tech infrastructure 🔹 Zoho's approach showcases technological self-reliance and digital sovereignty #MadeInIndia #DigitalSovereignty #TechnologicalSelfReliance #SustainableBusiness #IndianEcosystem #Zoho #StartupFox Reference: [https://lnkd.in/gpsiu9Kt] 🔄 Share 👍 React 🌐 Visit www.aravind-r.com #AravindRaghunathan

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#GenAI, #AgenticAI & the Future of Learning – #Rathinam x Salesforce RATHINAM TECHNICAL CAMPUS, COIMBATORE Dharani Navaneethan Had an absolute banger of a conversation with Santhosh rebello from Salesforce! From job trends to student empowerment, we covered it all - and trust me, the future looks super exciting. One thing that stood out: People who know their way around GenAI and Agentic AI are in for a serious edge. The demand is growing fast , and around 1.3 million jobs could be created by 2030 in this space alone. But what really had us hooked was Agent force - It’s not just another student program.It’s a whole vibe where students get to: * Dive into the Salesforce ecosystem * Build tech + leadership skills * Connect with global communities * Basically, become mini powerhouses before they even graduate We also jammed on ways to team up with Salesforce and make learning a lot more real, relevant, and industry-ready. And guess what? Agent force is all set to launch at Rathinam soon! Big things coming. Let’s get our students future-proof and force-ready. #AgentForce #SalesforceAtRathinam #LetTheForceBegin #RealWorldLearning #CareerKickstart #TrailblazersInMaking #TechMeetsCampus #CollegelifeWithAForce

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Left Zoho after 18 years to build his 1000 CR company. 1. Born with a passion for technology, Prabhu Ramachandran completed his bachelor's degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the well-known University of Madras. After that, he took an unusual step. 👇🏻 2. Rather than joining an MNC, he joined an early-stage startup, AdventNet, as their product manager. His bet paid off massively as AdventNet became one of the largest software companies in India and was subsequently renamed Zoho. He worked there for 18 years and became the director of their biggest product, WebNMS. 🙌 3. Everything was going great; however, he noticed something in 2017. Commercial buildings operated siloed systems for everything from HVAC and security to maintenance logs. These systems rarely communicated with each other, leading to reactive, inefficient, and costly operations. He wanted to do something. 🤔 4. He found the answer in IoT and AI solutions for enterprises. He wanted to build a unified, cloud-based platform. After 18 years, he left his job and started a company in Chennai with three Zoho colleagues. In May 2017, Facilio was born. 🚀 5. They began developing an extensive IoT-powered CMMS (computerised maintenance management system) to manage facilities and establish a predictable model of overall sustainability across their portfolio. As it started working with 12 customers, it raised 11 CR from Accel in 2018. 💰 6. Within the same year, Facilio scaled to manage over 20 million sq. feet of space across 150 commercial buildings globally. As it started operations in the Middle East and the US, it raised 45 CR led by Tiger Global in December 2018. 💸 7. But Facilio had challenges. Changing the traditional mindset of building owners, who often rely on legacy systems and manual processes, was challenging, and competing with established players like Johnson Controls and Honeywell made it even more difficult. The sales cycles ran into months, and Prabhu had to find an answer. 🤔 8. He began developing predictive models to integrate vendor workflows and energy analytics in real-time. It significantly helped reduce operational costs, increase asset value, and assist clients in meeting their sustainability goals. By 2019, Facilio had secured marquee customers, including Investa and Brookfield Growth. ✅ 9. Even COVID-19 could not stop them as it launched a "REbuild" toolkit with features for hygiene management, visitor management, and indoor air quality monitoring for building owners. By February 2022, it managed over 10,000 buildings worth over 100 million sq. ft across 12 countries. It raised 260 CR led by Dragoneer. 📈 10. Today, Facilio collaborates with over 25,000 clients, 50+ Global partners, and 250+ employees across six offices worldwide. Some of its clients include notable names such as Siemens, DHL and Cushman & Wakefield. ➡️Who would have thought that a product manager in Tamil Nadu would build a global company worth 1000 CR?

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✨ Reverse Zoho Integration is now live on Xflow Until now, ITES exporters had to juggle between Xflow and Zoho Books: ➡️ Upload an invoice in Xflow ➡️ Wait for the payout to settle ➡️ Download the FIRA ➡️ Switch to Zoho Books, manually locate the invoice, and create a payment record That friction is gone. With our new reverse integration, users can: 🔗 Connect their Zoho Books account 📥 Import invoices directly into Xflow without switching platforms ✅ Once the payout is settled, Xflow automatically updates Zoho Books with the payment record This is more than just another way to upload invoices, it’s about closing the loop. Users’ books are updated without them lifting a finger. And this is just the start of our convenience layer for ITES. With this release, we are one step closer to making finance ops truly seamless for Indian exporters. Congratulations to the team for simplifying the first build to move fast, the true power comes with auto-sync. Onwards 🚀

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In a bold and inspiring statement, Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has thrown down the gauntlet to Microsoft, declaring that Zoho is the only company in the world capable of matching Microsoft’s breadth and depth of products. 💪🚀 Vembu confidently claimed that Zoho now delivers a far superior experience across multiple software categories — from productivity to cloud services — urging businesses worldwide to compare Microsoft’s tools with Zoho’s integrated ecosystem. 💼✨ Not stopping there, he announced massive plans to expand R&D in cloud infrastructure, artificial intelligence, and next-gen applications, signaling Zoho’s determination to innovate faster and compete harder on the global stage. 🌐🔥 From a small-town startup to a global powerhouse, Zoho’s rise is redefining what Indian innovation can achieve. 🇮🇳💫

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Tamil Nadu has emerged as the top-ranked Indian state for business environment as per the Economist Intelligence: EIU. TamilNadu’s strong performance in #EoDB rankings is a result of continuous efforts to simplify and transform the way businesses operate in the State. Tamil Nadu Single Window Portal (#TNSWP) has already streamlined investor facilitation with 200+ services across 30+ departments in a faceless, paperless, and contactless format and more upgrades are underway. With #BizBuddy digital grievance redressal system, investor concerns and approval queries are beingresolved swiftly, delivering a truly time-bound grievance redressal . Through deregulation and ongoing process simplification, #TamilNadu is making approvals faster, smarter, and more transparent, ensuring businesses can focus on growth. Stay tuned! Dr. TRB Rajaa|Darez A.|Zachariah K.|Shreyas S|Beula Magesh|Sibi Sangamesh Mahalingam #BullishonTN #InvestinTN #JobsforTN #ProductNationTN

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