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For its nearly 25 years of existence, Zoho Corp. has been a trusted brand name when it comes to enterprise software solutions for startups and SMEs. The India-based company offers a comprehensive suite of business-centric online tools and applications capable of catering to your pretty much every operational need.

If you’re running a startup, or for that matter, any business that could use a suite of quality, cloud-based, and non-legacy software solutions, here is a list of six essential Zoho apps that definitely fit the bill. Especially now that Zoho offers an awesome perk through StartUp Bahrain, for startups in Bahrain over here for wallet credit that’s worth $1800.

Each of these apps costs you the proverbial penny while giving you the freedom to work from anywhere using only a web browser and an active internet connection.

6 handy Zoho apps all Bahraini startups should seriously consider

StartUp Bahrain recently had a one-on-one conversation with Mr. Ali Shabdar at Zoho, to get a feel of which Zoho apps the company considers as an ideal fit for the specific needs of the average Bahraini startup. Here’s what he recommended: 

1# Zoho Cliq

Zoho Cliq is a team communication app that lets you chat with your team members, as well as other teams within your organization. At a time when work-from-home is on the way to become a new norm across industries (we aren’t complaining), Cliq gives you the perfect chance to stay in touch with your colleagues and partners round-the-clock as and when needed. 

It comes loaded with features such as group collaboration, searchable conversations, one-tap connect, scheduled tasks, and of course, state-of-the-art data security.

#2 Zoho Showtime

No, not for streaming tv shows and movies. Showtime is a must-have app for any startup that frequently organizes and participates in virtual events, workshops, and training sessions, among other things. 

Zoho itself has conducted 100+ training sessions and webinars since the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown. 

#3 Zoho SalesIQ

Zoho SalesIQ is the combination of three separate tools that enables you to live chat with customers and prospects while simultaneously allowing you to track leads and receive actionable analytics. 

With an easy-to-use interface, SalesIQ lets you keep a close watch on how visitors are interacting with your website and make improvisations as and when needed. 

You can use it to offer 24×7 live chat support and custom-build chatbots. The analytics natively offered on the app lets you segment prospects based on their level of interest on your products and handpick sales-ready leads. 

#4 Zoho Desk

As the name suggests, Zoho Desk is a help desk software that allows you to focus on your customers, address their grievances, and collect valuable feedback. Zoho prides this app as the industry’s first context-aware help desk platform.

It is multi-channel, meaning customers have the freedom to choose their preferred channel of communication (email or live chat, for example). It also enables you to integrate all sub-brands and departments as and when needed to offer a unified customer support team.

Additionally, you can also use the app to track the productivity and performance of individual support agents for quality control.

#5 Zoho Campaigns

Zoho Campaign claims to be the only email marketing tool your marketing department will ever require. It lets you create, send, and track multiple email campaigns to build and nurture a strong customer base.

The built-in email templates are attractive while the backend editors and automation tools are feature-rich and easy to use.

#6 Zoho Social

With social media campaigns and brand management becoming an essential need for virtually any business out there, Zoho Social can be a valuable addition to your marketing/PR departments.

The key features offered by Zoho Social include:

  • Easy and flexible scheduling with built-in “best-time predictions”.
  • A content calendar that lets you plan ahead and streamline your social media roadmap.
  • A monitoring dashboard that fetches you real-time updates on customer engagement.
  • Reliable and actionable analytics that lets you figure out what’s working and what’s not before implementing necessary improvisations.

Those are the top 6 recommended Zoho products, but they offer a lot more than that. Here are some other popular Zoho products that you might be interested in:

  • Zoho One: An all-in-one platform that gives startups with 45+ applications to run their entire business.
  • Zoho workplace: A team collaboration and communication app that has been the backbone for the virtual workplaces of a growing number of GCC businesses.
  • Zoho CRM: An end-to-end fully customizable CRM that enables your startup to manage sales pipelines. 
  • Zoho Books: A feature-loaded VAT-compliant accounting software particularly popular in Saudi Arabia.
  • Zoho Bigin: A simpler CRM solution better suited for small- and micro-businesses. 
  • Zoho Projects: An all-in-one project management tool with clear timelines, tasks, and automation.

Zoho’s special offer for startups in Bahrain

Just in case you’re out of the loop, Zoho Corp. recently entered a strategic partnership with StartUp Bahrain, under which the company is helping early-stage Bahraini startups to set up and scale their operations.

Zoho will be offering the previously mentioned qualified startups $1,800 in wallet credit which they can use while purchasing more than 45 Zoho apps. You can check out the perk over here.

If you have any queries about the Zoho apps covered in this article or the company’s wallet credit for early-stage startups, feel free to reach out to StartUp Bahrain using any of our social media channels over at Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn!