Why Camarès Chose Zoho One—Seven Years Ago
And Why That Decision Looks Even Smarter Today
Seven years ago, Camarès made a deliberate choice that set the foundation for how we deliver technology to our clients today: we became a Zoho One partner.
At the time, Zoho One was not the obvious choice for many consultancies. Larger enterprise platforms dominated conversations, and newer SaaS point solutions were multiplying rapidly. But Camarès has never chosen technology based on hype, brand gravity, or short-term trends.
We chose Zoho One because it met exceptionally high standards—standards that have since been validated by years of public, measurable outcomes.
This post explains what those standards were, and how Zoho’s trajectory since then proves we were prescient.
Our Standard #1: Unmatched Value at a Rational Price
Seven years ago, Camarès believed something many businesses now take for granted:
software value should scale with the customer—not punish them for growing.
Zoho One’s pricing model was radical then and remains so today:
- One flat, per-employee price
- Access to an entire operating system of business applications
- No artificial “enterprise tax” for basic functionality
Proof Point
Zoho One still offers 45+ deeply integrated applications at a fraction of the cost of assembling equivalent functionality from standalone vendors. This pricing philosophy is consistently cited by analysts and customers as one of Zoho’s strongest differentiators—and it has not eroded as the platform scaled.
That consistency is rare in SaaS.d
Our Standard #2: Relentless, Meaningful Product Updates
We didn’t just want software that worked—we wanted a vendor with the discipline to improve it continuously without destabilizing customers.
Zoho’s development model stood out:
- Weekly and monthly product updates
- Incremental enhancements rather than disruptive rewrites
- Long-term backward compatibility
Proof Point
Zoho publicly publishes detailed release notes across its product suite and has maintained a cadence of thousands of enhancements per year—without abandoning core products or forcing customers into costly migrations.
This steady evolution is now widely recognized as a competitive advantage, especially compared to vendors who grow through acquisition and struggle with platform cohesion.
Our Standard #3: A Massive, Global Installed Base
Seven years ago, Camarès viewed installed base not as a vanity metric, but as a signal of survivability and feedback velocity.
Zoho already had millions of users worldwide—and was profitable, private, and self-funded.
Proof Point
Today, Zoho publicly reports:
- 100+ million users globally
- Customers across every major industry
- A presence in over 180 countries
This scale validates what we saw early: a platform shaped by real-world operational needs, not just Silicon Valley assumptions.
Our Standard #4: A True Horizontal Platform—Not a Patchwork
Perhaps most importantly, Camarès needed a platform that could adapt to how businesses actually operate, not force them into rigid workflows.
Zoho One was—and remains—a horizontal operating system:
- CRM, finance, HR, analytics, marketing, support, and operations
- Native integrations across applications
- Deep customization via workflows, APIs, and low-code tools
Proof Point
Zoho’s continued investment in customization and extensibility—through tools like Creator, Flow, Deluge, and embedded analytics—has made it possible to tailor solutions without sacrificing maintainability.
This is why Zoho One has increasingly replaced complex, brittle stacks of disconnected software in mid-market and enterprise organizations alike.
Why This Matters to Camarès Clients
Camarès chose it because it aligned with how we believe technology should work:
- Cost-effective without being cheap
- Powerful without being bloated
- Flexible without being chaotic
- Stable without being stagnant
Seven years later, the market has largely caught up to these beliefs. Zoho One’s growth, customer retention, and product maturity are now widely recognized—but they were visible early to those willing to look past conventional wisdom.
That’s what Camarès did.
And it’s the same mindset we bring to every technology decision we help our clients make today.
