At a recent Zoho users’ conference, I observed a fascinating case study involving one of our customers—a rapidly growing B2B SaaS company targeting a 9-figure ARR goal. Initially, they planned to transition from Zoho CRM to Salesforce.com as their growth trajectory intensified. However, a strategic shift has led them to rethink their tech stack decision, and they opted to stay with Zoho CRM, augmented by ayeQ for Revenue Operations (RevOps).
Entering B2B Rapid Growth
In 2021, the B2B company brought on a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) to spearhead their revenue growth. They implemented ayeQ, a strategic RevOps platform, to provide the necessary process, planning, and analytics for disciplined, high-velocity growth. By integrating ayeQ with Zoho CRM and HubSpot marketing automation, they leveraged Zoho as their transactional system while ayeQ delivered comprehensive planning and business intelligence, compensating for Zoho’s limited reporting and analytics capabilities.
Why Not Salesforce.com?
Initially, the advanced sales functionality offered by Salesforce.com, such as CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote), seemed like a compelling reason to migrate. Given Salesforce.com’s entrenched position as the gold standard for enterprise B2B sales, it seemed almost inevitable that our customer would transition to it. ayeQ’s customer base, heavily inclined towards Salesforce.com and HubSpot, reinforced this expectation.
However, Zoho’s evolution played a pivotal role in changing the narrative. Historically focused on small businesses, Zoho has broadened its portfolio to encompass a wide range of applications including financial, marketing, service, and operational tools. Though initially lighter in functionality, Zoho has been steadily advancing its offerings.
Key Factors for Staying with Zoho
During our discussions with Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu, we gained confidence in Zoho’s commitment to maturing as a company and expanding its reach into the B2B enterprise space. By the end of the conference, our customer decided to remain with Zoho. Here’s why:
- Complexity: Salesforce.com’s complexity has grown alongside its capabilities, making administration, configuration, and navigation increasingly cumbersome.
- Cost: Zoho’s fees are a fraction of Salesforce.com’s, with significantly lower costs for support and consulting.
- Functionality: Zoho’s expansive portfolio, now exceeding 50 applications, includes CPQ and advanced features for automation, configuration, and integration—addressing many of our customer’s needs.
- ayeQ: ayeQ’s strategic RevOps capabilities seamlessly integrate with Zoho, filling gaps and enhancing Zoho’s capabilities as a growth platform.
Embracing Zoho with ayeQ
For B2B SaaS companies, Zoho can indeed serve as a viable CRM option. While Zoho may not offer built-in strategic RevOps capabilities, that’s where ayeQ excels. ayeQ provides the essential planning, modeling, and optimization needed for robust RevOps.
Understanding Zoho’s Limitations
It’s important to recognize the limitations of Zoho:
- No RevOps modeling or target-setting capabilities
- Lack of strategic tracking of RevOps velocity metrics from lead to revenue
- Limited reporting functionality and cross-object analysis
- Inadequate marketing performance and ROI insights
- Restricted trend and change analysis
While Zoho may have its limitations compared to Salesforce.com, or even HubSpot, it’s crucial to understand that all CRM and marketing automation systems benefit from a strategic RevOps platform like ayeQ. Such a platform guides the development of a disciplined approach that ensures control, accuracy, alignment, and optimization.
The Takeaway
For companies that have utilized Zoho as a cost-effective solution during their early stages of growth, there’s promising news: you don’t have to endure a complex and costly migration to another system. In the B2B SaaS market, this flexibility is a significant advantage. With ayeQ enhancing Zoho CRM, you can continue scaling efficiently while maintaining a comprehensive RevOps framework.
