Zoho launches HR app for smaller companies

Venture Beat — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:12:06 -0400

Zoho, a company that claims to offer a wider range of productivity and business applications than anyone, has launched a new human resources application called Zoho People. Unlike most HR apps, Zoho People is aimed at a relatively small companies, says Zoho evangelist Raju Vegesna — in other words, companies with that have more than 50 employees but aren’t too much larger than Zoho, which has a staff of around 200.

That smaller-company focus is most evident in Zoho People’s pricing. The app, now in testing mode, will probably cost around $50 per month for HR staff to use, and around $4 per month for other users, so a smaller company can pay well under $1,000 per month. In contrast,Vegesna says competitors like WorkDay and Sage Software often charge in the tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Zoho People’s offerings including the creation of an organizational chart, automated hiring processes, automated expense reporting and automated task assignment. None of this is particularly innovative, butVegesna says Zoho People’s other big selling point is its customization. By embedding the company’s application maker Zoho Creator into Zoho People, every form in the application can be altered or customized. You can watch a video demo here.

The Pleasanton, Calif.-based company’s other offerings include Zoho Writer (our coverage), Zoho CRM and Zoho Meetings. Zoho’s parent company Adventnet, is completely self-funded.