Zoho is going 'Vertical' with Industry-specific versions

You may know Zoho as a collection of Apps that integrate together, but now they are offering vertical applications for the needs of specific industries, and those industry-specific applications may be, or soon be, available to meet the needs of your clients. 

Most industries have different needs and requirements than other industries. For example, there is a big difference between being in an 'automotive' related business and being a 'healthcare' provider; or being in the 'restaurant' business and being in 'financial services or banking'. Each of these has a 'unique flavor' so to speak, the things that set them apart from other businesses down the street, and the things that, quite frankly, are the source of appeal to those that work in each of them. Most bankers don't want to be restaurant owners, and most automotive shop owners don't want to be healthcare providers. 

The struggle comes when any of the people working in these various industries are forced to use 'the same tools' as everyone else when what they need is something specific to their requirements. Just think of trying to use a POS that some restaurant owner built to manage automotive repairs or trying to use a commercial sales-oriented CRM to track the patients undergoing outpatient physical therapy. 

And, while large providers like a hospital network might be able to afford some hugely expensive ERP that has been built for healthcare, most 'medical equipment' vendors cannot. Nor can most mom-n-pop hamburger stands afford a POS system designed to support a restaurant chain of 2000 stores.

Even with options of 'plug this App into this App' as Zoho offers, the need to acquire all the Apps you only need 'a little bit of' to work with 'a little bit of another one' can be too costly for some smaller businesses. Further, you still may not have been able to accomplish all your requirements.

But with more than twenty years of experience in dealing with all types of businesses, and building all those Apps, Zoho has designed several industry-specific versions to meet the unique needs of a group of industries including Automotive, Business & Financial Services, Education, Healthcare, Real Estate, Restaurants, and Retail.

Automotive - Zoho for Automotive is designed to meet the unique needs of the industry to track sales, service, warranties, dealer operations, spare parts, add-ons, customers, vehicles and transactions. Zoho's dedicated dealer management solution, AutoDMS, is geared to meetings the needs of dealers whether they operate a single dealership, a dozen dealerships, or a hundred dealership. 

Banking & Financial Services - Banks, lenders, insurers and other financial institutions face strict compliance requirements and have the needs for analytics and decision-making tools to keep them within regulatory requirements. Zoho for BFSI is designed to help these entities simplify, streamline and keep themselves on track. The new ZohoLOS (loan origination system) takes the complexity out of managing loans from application through closing. 

Education - Purpose-built solutions for schools, colleges, technical schools and even universities that's designed to meet the administrative, financial and academic uniqueness of this 'vertical.' Zoho has built what they are calling 'Classes' that is an AI-powered student engagement platform that serves to connect productivity Apps students need to successfully perform in today's academic environment, no matter what level of academia they are at. Zoho's 'Campus' platform is designed for educational institutions and serves as the connector to bring the tools institutions need together in one centralized application. 

Healthcare - A solution designed to work in companion with a health care providers EHR, EMR, or HIMS tools in order to connect everything from Appointments to Billings, from Patient Records to Clinician management. Zoho's MedScribe is the AI-native clinical documentation solution designed to support institutional defined clinical workflows. 

Real Estate - Zoho's new Real Estate solution has been designed to work the way property sales actually work, from leads to property sale closing. It also incorporates workflows for real estate brokers, and builders who sell direct. 

Restaurants - Whether sell burgers, fish-n-chips, pizza, vege-burgers, or Wagyu steaks, you know you have needs, especially in the sales and point-of-delivery areas that differ from a Brick-n-mortar store or an eCommerce retailer. You've got to have a point-of-sale system that can manage omni-channel orders, deal with dine-in, table service, menu and kitchen operations, catering, events, delivery, inventory, expiration tracking, waste costs and more. Zoho's new 'POS for Restaurants' is that kind of solution.

Retail - Zoho for Retail offers point-of-sale, inventory, payments, eCommerce, marketing, and more to meet the needs of your retail operations no matter how you do business. Zoho's new 'RetailQ' is a purpose-built CRM for retailers designed to track customer habits and preferences, run loyalty programs, create product-target campaigns to your customers, and offer personalized experiences that can set your retail business apart from your competitors. 

Each of these verticals is purpose built for the industry they serve and deeply integrated with Zoho's suite of Apps so that the data is shared without issue, that feature truly feel 'as one', and Ai-powered workflows can be configured and operate across the entire scope of the work each industry does. Not all of these applications are currently available in all locations around the globe, and some are not presently available in the United States, but that doesn't mean they soon won't be. 

I suggest you visit with your Zoho Representative or Partner to inquire as to the specific industry versions that are, or soon will be, available to support your clients. Additional industry-specific versions are also in the pipeline, or so my 'sources' tell me.  

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