SUBANG JAYA (Jan 27): Chennai headquartered Zoho Corporation has launched its Malaysian office to further support its long-standing collaboration with Malaysian partners like Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd in supporting the nation’s startup ecosystem and its digital transformation journey. 

Zoho’s Subang Jaya office houses the ManageEngine and Zoho divisions, which handle IT management solutions and business work applications, respectively.

Last year, Zoho partnered with Cradle Fund to provide the Zoho for Startups programme via the MYStartup Single Window platform. Under the initiative, Zoho will provide more than RM30 million worth of software to support 3,000 startups, giving them access to an integrated and scalable suite of business solutions.

ManageEngine chief executive officer Rajesh Ganesan said Zoho’s early experience in Malaysia in 2005 underscored the importance of building strong relationships with local companies and government agencies, with reinvestment into local infrastructure forming a core aspect of ManageEngine’s operations.

“We want to contribute more to the Malaysian ecosystem. Whether it is supporting start-ups or staying close to our customers. So many people from across the world supported [Zoho], and we believe this is our time to give back,” said Rajesh. 

He added that the new office will be a true localised company, focused on hiring and utilising local talent.

Zoho general manager and vice-president Gibu Mathew said Malaysia was chosen as the country of choice for ManageEngine due to its unique talent.

“Malaysia has the talent. Its people are unique in ways that offer a lot of advantages, like linguistic capabilities and cultural assimilation with the broader world ecosystem today. Malaysia has that strong underpinning that is important for this office,” said Gibu.

By establishing an office in Malaysia, Zoho will have access to this potential talent pool, servicing clients in the region as well as providing a more personalised service for local start-ups.

“[Many tech companies] talk about only increasing investment in AI, but we realised delivering a personal touch is equally important. So besides increasing investment in AI, we are also increasing our physical events [like the ManageEngine UserConf] to meet with customers,” said Rajesh.

This also includes hiring local customer support teams, and not replacing support jobs with AI.