The Zoho Guy: Meet the OG Zohofluencer in town

As first and honest attempts go, this is me, Subash Manikandan, the new Zohofluencer opening up to you, as The Zoho Guy, and showing you who I am, and what I’m here for. 

From struggling to understand Deluge (Zoho’s coding language) to becoming a proud Zoho partner and advocate, this blog is where I share the highs, lows, and everything in between of my unexpected but incredibly rewarding partnership with Zoho.

Regardless of where you’re in your journey – a business owner, an employee, or a student, give it a read and you’ll certainly resonate with my story big time. Ready? Let’s go!

No, I didn’t start working with Zoho Corp, and become an advocate for the product overnight. It’s far from the truth. Just when I got out of college as a complete IT rookie, I was completely clueless and didn’t know which path I was about to take. Like every other IT graduate, I had two choices – to join a behemoth MNC and be just another face in the crowd or to join a startup and hustle my way out. 

In a complete twist of fate, a Zoho partner company came to our campus on a hiring spree, and I decided to give it a shot. What could I lose, right? But, little did I know I’d get picked up right away, trained in Zoho, and hit the ground running, even as a newbie. In the company I was in, we had to figure out every form, every button, and every line of code by ourselves. I dove headfirst into Deluge (Zoho’s coding language), scrambled my way out, and got a mighty strong grip. But what I loved most about the process was how intuitive and flexible the tool was to learn and use as a developer and for businesses. 

My growing eagerness for the product quickly led me to higher roles, and I grew into working in customer-facing and solution architect roles where I understood business problems and turned them into Zoho solutions directly. This way I got the front seat to see how the Zoho suite made life easy for business owners across the world. I understood that if I mastered this one tool, there was no telling the impact I could make on the world.

That’s how I started. 

I worked my way up, worked with some of the largest Zoho user companies in the world, cracked unsolvable problems they had, and landed as a proud Zoho partner myself. I’ve been on all ends of the spectrum concerning Zoho – a partner, champion, developer, business analyst, and user, for more than 6 years now, and THAT makes me THE ZOHO GUY.

It’s no exaggeration that my day starts and ends with Zoho. I use it to check in to my office, monitor my team’s attendance, manage our projects, solve problems for our clients, develop phenomenal processes for them, and then some. After my workday concludes, I put on my Batman outfit, and start building the business ideas I have. I give it form, shape, and soul using the Zoho suite. 

To bring what you envision into reality, you’ll need an intuitive tool that flows with your creativity, and I’m blown away by Zoho’s capabilities. As a business owner, I can do anything I need to experiment if my processes work, and if they don’t, I can go in again tomorrow and fix it. Being a bootstrapped startup, and a self-made man, I rely on affordable tools to invest in my dream, and that’s what makes building both arenas of my life using Zoho a sensible choice.

Be it a top MNC with crores of records to be processed and super complex processes configured into CRM every day, or a startup building from the ground with barebones business operations, I work with all types of businesses to make day-to-day operations simple, error-free, cost less and leverage untapped opportunities. 

When it comes to being a Zoho partner, it’s all about the people. The connections I have and the relationships I build are what make this work meaningful. Be it my in-house team, the connections I have in real life, on LinkedIn, in my very own business community, and everywhere else, we’re constantly brainstorming, problem-solving, and figuring out how to help businesses unlock their potential with Zoho’s tools.

And then, there are those I’m still striving to help. Those businesses that haven’t yet realized just how much Zoho can do for them. I’m talking about the ones who might still be stuck with outdated systems or who aren’t sure if Zoho can solve their problems. I’m always excited to connect with these businesses and show them how Zoho can completely transform the way they operate. Helping them overcome their doubts and see their growth potential is one of the most rewarding parts of my journey.