Chennai: Zoho, a homegrown software company, is reinventing itself once again – this time with artificial intelligence at the heart of its next phase of growth.
As the Chennai-headquartered software major marks three decades, it has launched Zia Chat, an AI-powered conversational interface designed to bring together information, data and workflows from across business applications.
Speaking exclusively to NDTV’s Sam Daniel, Zoho co-founder and Chief Scientist Sridhar Vembu said the most gratifying part of the company’s 30-year journey has been its ability to reinvent itself.
“We are relevant even after 30 years,” Vembu said, stressing that technology companies have to continually reinvent themselves.
Vembu described Zia Chat as an important part of that effort. The platform brings together unstructured knowledge – such as information contained in documents and conversations – with structured data stored in databases.
Zia Chat is designed to bring Zoho applications and third-party services together through a single interface. Vembu said users can fluidly move between a conversation and actual projects and workflows, making AI part of everyday business operations.
He also stressed the importance of security, privacy and compliance in the deployment of AI for businesses.
ERP Push From Rural Tamil Nadu
Zoho is also expanding its enterprise resource planning offerings, with ERP solutions developed from its rural facility in Kumbakonam.
Vembu said ERP development took considerable time because of its complexity and the many interconnected components involved.
“We have been working on ERP for eight years,” he said, adding that Zoho has been tailoring its solutions for specific industries.
The company is now seeing traction for its ERP offerings in India and overseas. Vembu said the market has huge potential and could prove lucrative as businesses increasingly seek integrated software solutions.
Zoho has also expanded into industry-specific software, launching vertical applications aimed at sectors including retail, automotive, financial services, healthcare, education, real estate and restaurants.
‘No One Is Putting A Gun’
Vembu also offered a pointed response to calls from some AI leaders for a slowdown in the development of increasingly powerful AI models.
Asked about calls for caution from companies including OpenAI and Anthropic, Vembu said those companies were free to slow down their own development.
“OpenAI and Anthropic can slow down themselves. No one is putting a gun,” he told NDTV.
He compared companies calling for an AI slowdown while continuing to launch new models to “a brilliant student asking others not to study while he or she would secretly study.”
Vembu said the focus should instead be on investing in research and development and mastering AI, which he described as a critical technology.
He also expects the cost of running AI systems to fall as large language models become more efficient and effective.
AI And Professional Responsibility
Vembu said he uses AI heavily but continues to write his own content and take responsibility for it.
He believes this question of responsibility will become increasingly important as AI becomes more deeply integrated into professional work.
“Engineers ought to take responsibility,” he said, arguing that retaining that responsibility requires expertise.
He drew a parallel with medicine, saying doctors can use AI as a tool while remaining responsible for decisions involving patients.
Vembu expects pure traditional software engineering roles to become less lucrative, while professionals combining software skills with domain expertise could become increasingly valuable.
India’s Growing Opportunity
Vembu also spoke about India’s changing technology landscape and the need to develop talent beyond the major urban centres.
He pointed to a demographic shift in Tamil Nadu, saying the state’s birth rate is beginning to mirror trends seen in East Asia. This, he suggested, could eventually mean that Tamil Nadu may have to attract talent from elsewhere.
At the same time, he stressed that rural areas have considerable untapped talent.
“Raw talent exists in rural areas. We need to believe, invest in them and nurture them to create world-class capability,” he said.
Vembu said talent is built by attempting ambitious projects and gaining experience through challenging work.
Having spent years in the United States, he said he now finds the environment in India much more conducive to building technology companies. He pointed to the growth of deep-tech startups as one indication of the changing ecosystem.
He also said concerns among H-1B visa holders and students in the US were creating a different environment for Indian technology professionals.
For young Indians, Vembu’s advice is to gain experience, survey opportunities and develop ideas that could eventually become businesses.
