Zoho Doubles Down on Vertical SaaS, CEO Sridhar Vembu Says Niche Markets 'Ripe for Disruption'

CHENNAI, Tamil Nadu – In a significant strategic announcement, Zoho Corporation CEO Sridhar Vembu revealed today that the company is intensifying its focus on "Vertical SaaS," aiming to build specialized software solutions for niche industries. Speaking at Zoho's annual Zoholics user conference, Vembu stated that many specific sectors are currently underserved by generic software and are "ripe for disruption."

This move signals a major evolution for the Indian tech giant, which has traditionally focused on horizontal applications—like CRM, accounting, and office productivity tools—that serve a broad customer base across different industries.

Vertical SaaS, by contrast, is software tailor-made for the unique needs of a single industry, such as healthcare, construction, hospitality, or automotive retail.

"For too long, specific industries have been held captive by clunky, overpriced, and poorly integrated software from legacy vendors," Vembu told the audience. "We see an immense opportunity to bring our deep-tech stack, unified data model, and philosophy of transnational localism to these verticals. We can provide powerful, simplified, and affordable solutions that actually understand the day-to-day workflow of a dentist, a hotel manager, or a factory supervisor."

The company plans to leverage its existing broad platform, Zoho One, as a foundation to build these industry-specific applications. This approach will allow new vertical tools to be seamlessly integrated with Zoho's existing suite of over 50 business apps.

Industry analysts view the move as a logical next step for a company of Zoho's scale.

"Zoho has achieved massive success with its horizontal suite. The next frontier of growth is specialization," said Neha Sharma, Principal Analyst at TechArc India. "While entering verticals requires deep domain expertise, Zoho's powerful R&D culture and its ability to offer value at an unmatched price point make it a formidable new player in markets dominated by incumbents."

The announcement positions Zoho to compete directly with specialized software providers and underscores its ambition to become the central operating system for businesses of all types and sizes, not just across functions but deep within specific industries.