Coming home to create a revolution, again

Last month, the company, with its international headquarters in Chennai, launched Zoho Desk, a CRM software that was built in rural Tamil Nadu – in Tenkasi. The business leader talks about what keeps him ticking and the need for giving back to one’s homeland.

Zoho University, our in-house University is a very big part of Zoho. About 35 graduates from this team helped build Zoho Desk. We have trained almost 60 engineers from Tenkasi. Overall, in the company there are more than 600 staff from the Zoho University. We keep an open mind and know that most skills are learnt on the job. So we don’t really ask what do you know now while hiring? But it’s about how willing are you to learn new things? You must have a passion for what you do. It is all that matters. 

In this current world, where all possible information is available at your fingertips, you can take up any course. You can tap the entire world’s knowledge base at this point in time. Internet has changed things. But our formal education system has not yet caught up with it. We still believe in going to a classroom, sitting through a lecture and taking a test in order to learn. Learning and education is important, but the way it is delivered is slated for a profound change. The teachers have not grown up on the Internet, but the kids have. When they become teachers themselves, they can embrace new ways of learning. 

We might be big on software, but if you look at our telly commercials you will see the passion of those working in the company. People working in Zoho – creative artistes and designers came together to create those ads. And that’s how the products are made too. The same team built both the American and the Indian ads. The storyboards, aesthetics are all born here. In India, people are more appreciative of comic scenarios. In the US, it’s a different approach. There is a meaning to your home, land and your people. We tend to think sometimes that in a globalised world, we are devoid of identity. But that’s not true. Human beings need purpose and identity. So it’s important to be rooted to one’s soil. 

I read and do some yoga. I am a huge fan of books on science and love science fiction novels, movies and TV shows like Star Trek.

With our size, we can’t micro-manage things. You have to empower other people to do it. It’s just the principle of any organisation that wants to function well. Somebody sitting at the top can assume he controls everything, but he doesn’t. You have to inspire people to take up responsibility. Take this product itself, I am involved only in an advisory role, on aspects of technology and product issues. Almost all the major decisions are taken by the core team — tech choices, users at whom the product is focused, thrust of the product, hiring and resource building. I give them complete autonomy – without which you cannot build world-class products. I offer a substantial framework for people to come up with their own solutions. I think about broader issues and focus on my own tech interests. It helps both the team and myself to have such a decentralised setup. 

There’s a great quote from O’Reilly, the publisher. It says, think of money as the fuel for your car. It’s important for the car to run. But life is not a tour of petrol bunks. You are focused on going somewhere, meeting some friends and doing something with your life. The petrol is just a means to an end. The same way, money is just fuel. You should not be obsessed with it. And if you do, you forget to live.