Zoho ramps up global assistance efforts with new Vertical Relief Plan

Targeted programmes introduced to aid organisations across education, non-profit & government, and retail industries

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Zoho office in Chennai, India. Credit: Zoho

Zoho has ramped up its global effort to assist businesses and organisations affected by COVID-19 across three verticals – education, non-profit and government, and retail. 

At an earlier stage of the crisis, Zoho introduced several initiatives to assist the broader business community. It waived application fees for small businesses and unveiled virtual collaboration platform Zoho Remotely, which now is being actively used by 15,000 global businesses. 

Since then, many industries have been disproportionately hurt as a result of the pandemic, including education, retail and non-profit organisations.  

The company’s new Vertical Relief Plan (VRP) includes targeted programmes and tools to aid organisations severely impacted by the pandemic.

Key features of Zoho’s VRP include:

Non-profit and government

• The Zoho Creator COVID-19 App Programme helps non-profits, government bodies, and communities to execute their mission more efficiently with the help of apps. Organisations can place a request, and Zoho will build web and mobile apps for free using Zoho Creator.
• For government agencies and departments around the world that are working on COVID-19 relief initiatives, Zoho is currently offering free software licenses of Zoho Desk. This offering is intended to support federal and local government bodies globally in their efforts to combat the pandemic
• To aid organisations reliant on social media, Zoho Social is opening up its advanced edition for free for six months. It is also honouring extension requests from users as well as providing educational guidance and tool improvements to aid users working remotely.
• For non-profits working to provide relief during the pandemic, Zoho Checkout is available for free, enabling them to collect online donations easily. 

Education

• Zoho Classes, available for early access, is a new mobile application that enables educational and training institutes to serve their students online. This platform replaces the need for educators to deploy multiple, disintegrated apps including video content delivery, classroom communication apps, assignment management tools, as well as video-lesson and project-creation applications, and instead build the class on one platform.
• Zoho ShowTime facilitates virtual collaborative learning and interactive events. It is a complementary tool to Zoho Classes aimed at more individualised and interactive learning environments including classroom breakouts or professional training. One-click access to ShowTime within Zoho Classes will be available in the coming weeks.

Retail 

• Retail storefronts, shuttered due to the crisis, can build out an online presence using the Zoho Commerce Starter Plan for free, up to 60 days. 
• For existing Zoho Commerce customers, the company is raising the transaction fee threshold to £2,400 in sales for the Starter Plan and to £6,400 for the Pro Plan for the next 3 months to assist with tougher economic conditions. 
• Businesses providing essential services, such as retail or pharmaceuticals, can quickly set up their online presence by availing free training and rapid onboarding of Zoho Inventory, Zoho’s order management software, set up specially for them. 

“We are so grateful to all the workers who are helping us weather this storm,” said Sridhar Vembu, Zoho co-founder and CEO. “Beyond those on the front lines, there are workers in industries who are struggling, who are persevering, who are inventing new paths forward. The Vertical Relief Plan is a way to support those people, whether they be teachers, government workers, or retailers, who are entirely committed to helping others and returning the world to solid ground.”

Zoho has created numerous additional resources, including a live COVID-19 impact dashboard, financial planning and recovery advice, a remote working help centre, and virtual user groups, to assist businesses during this time. For a comprehensive list of programmes, visit: www.zoho.com/covid19

TechCentral Reporters

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