If you’ve never heard of Zoho, you’re in luck. We’re about to introduce you to one of the most powerful tools for small and medium-sized businesses.

But before we talk about the value of their products, we want to introduce the company, because Zoho’s corporate philosophy gives both partners and customers a lot to like—and to root for.

Ethical Capitalism

Founded more than two decades ago in 1996, Zoho has pursued slow, steady, sustainable growth over short-term profit-taking. They’re a private company, which means they don’t have to answer to the stock market. They also haven’t taken any venture capital, which means they don’t have greedy investors to repay.

Unlike many of their competitors, Zoho has also refused to join the ecosystem of surveillance capitalism. Their software is funded by subscriptions, not advertisers, which means Zoho’s only means of staying in business is to provide their customers with a product worth the price.

Zoho keeps their costs low. Whereas a company like Salesforce spends the majority of its income on sales and marketing—and on the $1.1 billion Salesforce Tower, the fanciest and most expensive building in downtown San Francisco—Zoho spends most of its revenue on its products and people.

Given the disparity, it’s no surprise that you’ve probably heard of Salesforce but may not have heard of Zoho.

Don’t get us wrong. Salesforce makes a great product. (We support it!) But there’s no getting around the fact that it’s expensive. If Salesforce were a car, it would be a Ferrari or Maybach. We hear they’re great cars, but we’ve never driven either, and we certainly wouldn’t bankrupt ourselves to get one.

The fact is, most businesses don’t need Salesforce. It’s great if you can afford it, but almost everything that makes it a great tool can be had for a fraction of the cost with Zoho CRM and the integrated suite of Zoho applications.

A Veritable Smorgasbord of Apps

One of Zoho’s strengths is also one of its weaknesses: the sheer number of applications! There were over 40 at last count, and while a few of the newer ones aren’t quite ready for prime time, the core suite is a rock-solid platform on which to build your sales organization—or indeed you whole company.

Zoho has top-quality apps to replace almost anything you are using. Not only does Zoho CRM replace Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics, it integrates with Zoho Books, which replaces Quickbooks, and Zoho Desk, which replaces Zendesk. Zoho Workdrive replaces Google Drive. Zoho Cliq replaces Slack. Zoho Campaigns replaces Mailchimp. Zoho Writer, Sheet, and Show replace Google Docs. Zoho Sign replaces DocuSign. Zoho Vault replaces LastPass. And on and on.

There are app bundles for nearly every business function: Sales & Marketing, Finance & Accounting, IT, and HR. And if licensed as part of Zoho ONE, which Zoho bills as “the operating system for business,” you can get all of that for a fraction of what you are paying today.

As with anything, precise circumstances will vary, and it’s important to talk to your IT professional before deciding if Zoho is right for your business. But the Zoho suite should definitely be included as part of any comprehensive review, especially if you are currently paying for Salesforce, or if you want to upgrade from Hubspot.

And don’t worry. You’re sure to have questions. Caret Growth Strategies has the answers.