Zoho Corporation, has launched their Small Business Emergency Subscription Assistance Programme (ESAP) to help customers worldwide weather the global crisis. For up to 20 000 qualified paying customers with 25 employees or less, Zoho have waivered the cost of every single application they currently use, for up to three months.

"Certain industries have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, and we strongly encourage our customers in these industries to please apply for this Small Business Emergency Subscription Assistance Programme," Business Development Manager, Africa, Zoho Corp, Andrew Bourne said. "While we want to provide relief for as many small business customers as possible, we will prioritise those who are most in need and hope that others who are adapting to market conditions, will help us by allowing programme availability to those struggling to stay afloat."

Earlier this month, Zoho, a global company that offers the most comprehensive suite of business software applications in the industry, launched Remotely, a virtual productivity platform of 11 collaboration applications, which was provided to businesses of all sizes around the world for free, so that companies could effectively make the transition to remote work. Since its release two weeks ago, more than 5 000 new companies are running on the platform. Zoho has seen an average of 500% growth in usage of its collaboration apps and 1 000% growth in daily new users of Zoho Meeting.

"Businesses are hurting. They already face tremendous pressure on revenue and cash flows. Not knowing when things will get back to normal makes the situation even worse," said Bourne. "Every bit of help we, and other companies, can offer to keep these small businesses afloat will go a long way, not just financially but emotionally as well. We are in this together, and contributions from every business will help our community get through this pandemic."

Zoho is a 24-year-old, bootstrapped, privately held company with more than 50-million users located in over 180 countries. Since the beginning, Zoho has owed its existence to its small business customers. While Zoho now has grown significantly upmarket, serving mid-market and enterprise customers in addition to small businesses, the company believes that for the broader economy to stay healthy, small to medium sized businesses must stay healthy and viable. ESAP is intended to lighten the financial burden put upon our small business customers during this chaotic and difficult period.

Between this global programme and the no-cost availability of Zoho Remotely, a full virtual collaboration platform, Zoho is committed to helping as many businesses as possible. Zoho is encouraging other companies to join it in supporting the small business ecosystem.