Zoho evangelist, Raju Vegesna, in my interview today, says that Google's announcement to purchase Postini is "good news" for Zoho, an indication that Google is not focused not on the small office/ home office ("soho"), but has its sites set on the enterprise. According to Vegesna, soho users are not interested in complex security and compliance, such as the Postini solutions; rather, they are interested in flexibility and well-integrated applications.
On the other hand, Zoho's got its toe wedged firmly into the small office/home office with approximately 300,000 users. Postini only has 35,000, so what does that make zoho worth, I asked Raju, some multiple of $625 million? He chuckled. But seriously, Zoho's growth curve is accelerating by a multiple nearly as high, due partly to levels of acceptance among students (30-40% of its base) and global users (50%). I quote my partner, Jerry Bowles, as claiming that "cheap is the new expensive," and if that is so, then Zoho's model of being free to individuals would make it the newest, cheapest way for doctors, law firms, and other micro-enterprises to obtain very sophisticated, hosted technology that they would only have dreamt about before Zoho.
Zoho has also relied almost entirely on word-of-mouth, or viral, marketing to grow its business. They've been working for years with bloggers, who are privy to early betas, and who give Zoho tons of insight, as well as help with each new product launch. We're just starting to use it ourselves with an SMTodayMedia launch, and our jury is still out, but we are glad to have Raju in our group to help us as we grow our own business, perhaps out of their target market....