Abandon all predictions and focus on a month-to month approach: Zoho's Sridhar Vembu on Israel-Palestine conflict

"These developments suggest that we might be heading into something much worse. The situation includes complex geopolitics and isn't a matter of just two countries."

Sridhar Vembu, CEO of Zoho,a global software company cautions that the current Israel-Palestine conflict is creating instability in the technology industry. In an exclusive interaction with the media, Vembu raised concerns that the Middle East crisis would make the already precarious global IT landscape even more unstable.

Vembu said, "Now, as of today, I believe we should abandon all predictions and focus on a month-to month approach, given the serious concerns regarding what's happening with Israel-Palestine conflict. These developments suggest that we might be heading into something much worse. The situation includes complex geopolitics and isn't a matter of just two countries."

In order to expand its reach, Zoho had been making strides in the Middle East region and had formed partnerships there. The CEO's confidence was restrained, nevertheless, by Israel's current political climate. Vembu expressed great concern about the current circumstances and their possible effects, specifically in light of Zoho's prognosis on the state of the world economy.

The economy started to sluggish down before the Middle East issue, observed Sridhar Vembu. Until the Middle East situation is handled, no one can predict what the future holds for the technology sector. Since September, Zoho, has seen a severe slowdown in all of its product lines and geographic markets.

With the Middle East ranking as the second fastest-growing region after India, which saw a tremendous growth in sales in 2022, the Vembu-led company has seen impressive success in that area. The instability brought on by the ongoing conflict and its possible effects on the company's operations and the global economy were highlighted by the CEO's remarks, though.

He further noted that based on his close watch on the developments of the situation, " I wouldn't make any business predictions; Since Middle-East is a very huge market for Zoho, close second after India, at this point everything seems to be conditional. There's a lot happening, and it's quite significant in the grand scheme of things and we must wait till the situation settles down."

While speaking at a press conference in Bengaluru, Vembu stated that customer acquisitions and renewals slowed down in all of Zoho's products and regions. He cited a decline in new client acquisition growth of between 10% and 15% as evidence of the impact of the unstable economic environment.

"We must invest in developing India's power capacities throughout this crisis. A second battle in the Middle East is currently raging in addition to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. The price of oil will be affected in the upcoming days." Vembu added.

Despite the difficulties facing the world, Zoho is encouraged by its rapid expansion in the Indian market. Compared to the 22% global growth during the same year, the company reported an exceptional 37% growth in revenues for 2022. It is important to note, nevertheless, that the Indian market now accounts for barely more than 10% of Zoho's overall sales. Nevertheless, Sridhar Vembu thinks there will be big changes soon.

In addition, Zoho revealed updates to its Zoho Cliq platform for communication and collaboration on Monday. Cliq Rooms, a smart conference room solution, also made its debut.