India's Zoho plans to install datacenter in Mexico

Indian software company Zoho Corporation plans to install a datacenter in Mexico, its first to cover Latin America, within the next two years.

"We want to have a datacenter located in Latin America, precisely to strengthen the security part," mid-market customer success manager Jorge Armando Viveros (pictured) told BNamericas on the sidelines of a company event in Buenos Aires.

The company has two datacenters in the US that mirror each other to provide non-stop services. This model is also planned for the Mexico unit.

“We are with a roadmap in which the priority is our corporate offices, to be able to have our own facilities, and from there the analysis of the geographical situation would be carried out to see where the best place could be. That's why it's a two-year project,” customer development representative Raúl Mendiola added.

Zoho has offices in Mexico’s datacenter hub Querétaro and opened offices in Brazil and Colombia. "Our next step is to open offices in Chile," said Tamara Arruñada, event manager for Latin America. The company also plans to open an office in Argentina.

In Brazil, its subsidiary Manage Engine is also evaluating the installation of a datacenter. The company is considering building a facility itself, next to its Santa Catarina or São Paulo offices, or partnering with a local company.

“We want to bring our own datacenter to Brazil for profitability. Because using a datacenter from another place is too expensive. It is expensive to hire Azure, AWS and run the infrastructure,” Manage Engine regional director Subin George previously told BNamericas.

Also driving this investment is Brazil’s data protection legislation, which requires that certain types of data remain in the country.

“At Zoho, we respect the whole issue of data protection laws. We understand that if any country in Latin America requires local data, we will also be choosing to respect these laws [and deploy datacenters],” Arruñada said.

GROWTH

Zoho reported having added 10mn end users in the region annually over the last four years. This growth rate is expected to be maintained this year.

"We have achieved this because we have increased the number of applications on our platform, as well as the updates," Arruñada said.

Among the most popular products is ZohoCRM. “This was pretty much the first product Zoho built, and it hasn't stopped growing. It is also the most enriched application in terms of automations,” said Viveros.

The company also expects growth of the support apps segment.

Zoho has incorporated artificial intelligence in its applications, with plans to include ChatGPT. “It's still a brainstorm. We are seeing trends, what kind of functionality is being sought,” Viveros said.