Clients Not In Hurry To Adopt AI Tools: Zoho ManageEngine CEO

SUMMARY

Ganesan said that Zoho has built a separate leadership team, which has been tasked with overseeing AI product development over the next two years

Bessemer’s Puri said that said that SaaS startups need to prove “value addition and cost efficiencies” to customers by GenAI introduction

As per Inc42 data, the Indian AI ecosystem is projected to become a $17 Bn market opportunity by 2030

While the jury is still out on whether businesses are keen on deploying GenAI solutions, SaaS unicorn Zoho’s enterprise IT management solution ManageEngine’s CEO Rajesh Ganesan had an interesting take. According to him, the company’s clients are not in any kind of rush to adopt AI.

Ganesan was speaking during a session at Inc42’s GenAI Summit. He was joined by SpotDraft cofounder and CTO Madhav Bhagat, Bessemer Venture Partners’ Anant Vidur Puri, and Exfinity Venture Partners’ Chinnu Senthilkumar.

“There is no hurry. The enterprise clients want their business problems to be solved and the onus is on us to effectively use AI to solve those issues… In different geographies including India and the US, we are not seeing our clients rush through any adoption,” said Ganesan.

To align the company’s goals with its clients, Ganesan added that Zoho has built a separate leadership team, tasked with overseeing AI product development over the next two years.

Responding to a question about regulatory concerns around data privacy, Ganesan said that Zoho has established in-house teams to oversee regulatory compliance in each of the geographies it operates.

Noting that it is unwise to merely “throw technology” in the name of solving consumer problems, Ganesan said that it is important to strike a balance between local laws and high-quality products.

For ManageEngine, India is one of the fastest-growing markets, just behind the US and the UK.

Responding to a separate question about how important it is for SaaS startups to embrace GenAI, Bessemer’s Puri warned that GenAI-driven rivals will eventually pip companies that do not “evolve” their product, coding, testing and customer support stack with time.