How Zoho is embracing the Apple ecosystem to drive innovation in workflows

With its vast offerings in business software products that are used worldwide, Zoho’s integration of Apple’s technology is offering insights into how tech companies can use high-quality tools to ignite innovation. 

Recounting the company’s first encounter with Apple, Dandapani said, “I am proud to say I am the first user of the Bondi Blue iMac inside Zoho.”  According to him, this initial exposure revealed that Apple products were not just good to look at, but also powerful tools for development and design.Dandapani while speaking to indianexpress.com elaborated on the integration of Apple products into Zoho, and how it affected change in the organisation. 

Widespread adoption and productivity boost

The Zoho executive said that the widespread adoption of Apple within Zoho was backed by a strategic vision. He said the decision was also partly in response to feedback suggesting that although Zoho’s software worked well, it could benefit even more with improved design. 

The Zoho executive said that the integrating Apple products into Zoho’s work environment brought some tangible benefits to the organisation. He went on to highlight the increased productivity and seamless collaboration enabled by the Apple ecosystem. 

Zoho team members collaborate using MacBooks, showcasing the seamless integration of Apple’s ecosystem into Zoho’s work environment. (Image: Apple)

Zoho firmly believes that the tools they use, shape the environment they build. The company provides Macs as a choice to over 16,000 of its employees enhancing productivity and talent retention. At present, 65 per cent of staff choose Macs, and the support requests are 50 per cent less compared to PCs saving IT resources.  “We don’t track productivity by the number of hours spent or lines of code written, but by the smiles on faces, the reduced glances at watches, and the less frequent drumming on tables while waiting for something to happen. We see that happen every day,” he explained.

Apple Silicon fuels innovation

During the conversation, Dandapani revealed that one of the key advantages of the integration has been in the domain of software development. He said that with the introduction of Apple Silicon, Zoho’s developers are experiencing remarkable improvements in speed and performance. “Developers see up to 2x faster compile speeds with Apple silicon,” he said, adding that this reduction in compile times is having a profound impact on the development process enabling more rapid iterations and testing.

Talking about the speed boost, Dandapani said, “One thing that developers hate is compile time. When you hit compile or build, and all the dependencies are loaded, initiating a multi-threaded process, it breaks the flow.” By reducing these interruptions significantly, Apple silicon is enabling developers at Zoho to maintain their focus and productivity. 

Dandapani shared that the benefits of Apple integration extended beyond development, as the company found that its design team also benefited from the high-quality displays and colour accuracy of Apple products. “Even today, the Mac monitor reflects the correct colour gradient to the truest extent,” he said, emphasising how it is crucial for designers who seek visual perfection.

Zoho employees engage in productive discussions, using the power of Apple technology for enhanced workflow efficiency. (Image: Apple)

Even though Zoho has embraced Apple products internally, Dandapani said that the company continues to develop software for a diverse user base.  “We are heavy users of Apple. As the numbers show, the majority of us use Apple devices… but that doesn’t mean we do not produce for a world outside Apple. In fact, the majority of our users are non-Apple users.”

On Zoho Schools

Dandapani revealed that Zoho’s commitment to quality tools extends to its educational initiatives as well. Zoho Schools of Learning by the company is an alternative to conventional college education. “Initially, we aimed to provide every student with an iPad after seeing the remarkable transformation Apple for Education can bring. An iPad can become a second brain for a student, enabling note-taking, remote work, browsing, split-window functionality, sketching on an infinite canvas, switching to a Mac, file transfers, and interaction via FaceTime and messages,” he said. 

While cost considerations prevented the school from providing every student with an iPad, the school offers MacBook Pros and shared iPads in classrooms. Dandapani, who recognises the transformative power of these devices, foresees a future where each student has access to a tablet.