Zoho Unveils AI-Powered Analytics Platform, Revolutionizing Self-Service Business Intelligence

Zoho launches AI-enabled version of its BI and analytics platform

This content is provided by an external author without editing by Finextra. It expresses the views and opinions of the author. "I use Zoho Analytics for secure online reporting to multiple customers - nurses and midwives - in multiple countries," said Emma Elcombe, Senior Research Officer, Western Sydney University. "Through it, I upload live data into one place, which our customers can filter to get unique, specific and - critically - real-time insights into the impact of visits on families and family satisfaction. With that data, we're able to improve the quality of services for families. Without Zoho and its live, dynamic and accessible reports, we'd still be relying on static PDF reports, which are limited in what they show and it's a major burden to collect, share and update the data. What's more, Zoho Analytics is secure from a data perspective, which is absolutely paramount in the healthcare sector. For healthcare providers, time and insight is critical, and with the new features in Zoho Analytics, we'll be able to enjoy even more of both." "Zoho Analytics launched in 2009 as Zoho Reports, long before technology had caught up to Zoho's vision for business intelligence," said Raju Vegesna, Chief Evangelist for Zoho. "Since then, Zoho has made considerable investments around automation, no-code/low-code development, third-party integration, machine learning, and Zia, Zoho's in-house AI engine. The latest version of Zoho Analytics is one of the first solutions from the company that takes advantage of every one of these decades-long investments. The result is a democratised platform that is powerful, intelligent, flexible, and simple to use." The latest version of Zoho Analytics has advanced across four key areas: Data Management, AI, Data Science & Machine Learning, and Extensibility. Below are notable highlights of the platform across these four categories. Data Management Hub Zoho Analytics has expanded its data management capabilities, ensuring more accurate and applicable decision-making and deeper insights to accelerate business success. Key data management additions to Zoho Analytics are as follows: BI Infused with Generative AI Zoho Analytics has introduced Generative AI capabilities across the BI platform to accelerate the adoption of insights for a broad spectrum of user personas. The following AI-powered enhancements deliver more efficient, contextual, accessible, and intelligent insights and actions to the platform: Data Science and Machine Learning (DSML) Studio Zoho Analytics now features the DSML Studio, allowing users to simply and quickly build custom machine learning models, which, for example, analyse or predict customer churn. DSML Studio offers the following capabilities: Platform Extensibility Zoho Analytics is more deeply extensible, allowing businesses to sync and standardise data stored across multiple tools and platforms for comprehensive analysis and insights. Zoho Analytics is a composable platform on which any analytical solution can be built. The following are additional key extensibility developments: The new Zoho Analytics release features over 100 updates, including new visualisations, enhanced dashboard building, audit and admin controls, revamped mobile apps, Right-to-Left (RTL) support, and more.

Zoho Unveils AI-Rich Enhanced Zoho Analytics Version, Democratises Self-Service BI

Chennai, September 12, 2024 -- Zoho, a leading global technology company headquartered in Chennai, today launched a new version of Zoho Analytics -- Zoho's self-service BI and analytics platform. Among more than 100 other enhancements, Zoho Analytics has developed powerful new AI and ML capabilities, enabling diagnostic insights, predictive analysis, automated reports, and dashboard generation. Additionally, the platform now includes a custom ML model-building studio, seamless integration with OpenAI, 25+ new data connectors, and third-party BI platform extensions. This new version has added power, intelligence, and flexibility to serve a broader range of businesses and users than competitors in the market. "Zoho Analytics was launched in 2009 as Zoho Reports, long before technology had caught up to Zoho's vision for business intelligence," said Clarence Rozario, Director of Product Management, Zoho BI & Analytics Platform. "Since then, Zoho has made considerable investments around automation, no-code/low-code development, third-party integration, machine learning, and Zia, our in-house AI engine. The latest version of Zoho Analytics is one of the first solutions from the company that takes advantage of every one of these decades-long investments. The result is a democratised platform that is powerful, intelligent, and flexible enough to benefit everyone and anyone." The company's BI platform, which has been built from the ground-up in India, is being leveraged by 30 lakh users, globally. In India, Zoho Analytics saw 67% growth in new revenue, making it the second largest market for the offering. This growth is primarily driven by mid and large enterprises in sectors such as ITeS, Financial Services, Manufacturing, and Retail. Today, businesses face three main data challenges: increasing data velocity and variety of data, the necessity for strong data management and governance, and the growing complexity and dynamism of analytical needs. To address these needs, and capture this demand, Zoho Analytics has advanced across four key areas: Data Management, AI, Data Science & Machine Learning, and Extensibility. Below are notable highlights of the platform across these categories.

Zoho Unveils AI-Rich Enhanced Zoho Analytics Version, Democratises Self-Service BI

Introduces unified metrics, generative AI-powered reports and insights, and a custom ML model building studio Zoho, a leading global technology company headquartered in Chennai, today launched a new version of Zoho Analytics -- Zoho's self-service BI and analytics platform. Among more than 100 other enhancements, Zoho Analytics has developed powerful new AI and ML capabilities, enabling diagnostic insights, predictive analysis, automated reports, and dashboard generation. Additionally, the platform now includes a custom ML model-building studio, seamless integration with OpenAI, 25+ new data connectors, and third-party BI platform extensions. This new version has added power, intelligence, and flexibility to serve a broader range of businesses and users than competitors in the market. "Zoho Analytics was launched in 2009 as Zoho Reports, long before technology had caught up to Zoho's vision for business intelligence," said Clarence Rozario, Director of Product Management, Zoho BI & Analytics Platform. "Since then, Zoho has made considerable investments around automation, no-code/low-code development, third-party integration, machine learning, and Zia, our in-house AI engine. The latest version of Zoho Analytics is one of the first solutions from the company that takes advantage of every one of these decades-long investments. The result is a democratised platform that is powerful, intelligent, and flexible enough to benefit everyone and anyone." The company's BI platform, which has been built from the ground-up in India, is being leveraged by 30 lakh users, globally. In India, Zoho Analytics saw 67% growth in new revenue, making it the second largest market for the offering. This growth is primarily driven by mid and large enterprises in sectors such as ITeS, Financial Services, Manufacturing, and Retail. Today, businesses face three main data challenges: increasing data velocity and variety of data, the necessity for strong data management and governance, and the growing complexity and dynamism of analytical needs. To address these needs, and capture this demand, Zoho Analytics has advanced across four key areas: Data Management, AI, Data Science & Machine Learning, and Extensibility. Below are notable highlights of the platform across these categories. Powerful Data Management Hub To empower businesses to deliver high quality and properly governed data, it is imperative to build a robust data management hub. Therefore, the Analytics platform has expanded its data management capabilities, adding Stream Analytics, ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) data pipelines, and metrics-layer enhancements to the mix to ensure broader access to more accurate data for businesses. The platform has expanded its 500+ data connector portfolio by adding Stream Analytics, along with 25 other new data connectors. This will enable users to extract data streams in real-time, enhancing their ability to consume, analyse, and leverage data. Additionally, business users can now create and manage complex ETL data pipelines within the platform. Users can create end-to-end data pipelines easily using Zoho Analytics' visual builder. They will now also build Custom Transforms and ML models using the platform's Python Code Studio, enabling developers to bring these customisations within the platform. To simplify the transformation of data further, Ask Zia, Zoho's AI assistant, will enable natural language processing for users. Users will also be able to access robust data management with an automatic versioning system and a new Sandbox environment. The platform now also enables businesses and users to orchestrate data pipelines using Zoho Flow and manage, monitor, and orchestrate pipelines in one place. With the New Unified Metrics Layer, users can define, standardise, monitor, access control, and catalogue all business metrics in a single pane. The platform also extends to serve in a Headless BI mode, allowing data applications to consume the same metrics in real-time for consistent and dependable insights. Business Intelligence (BI) Infused with Generative AI Zoho Analytics has introduced Generative AI capabilities across the BI platform to accelerate the adoption of insights for a broad spectrum of user personas. The platform now enables Diagnostic Analysis, wherein Zoho's AI-powered, automated insights engine, Zia Insights, now provides diagnostic analytics contextually, bringing decision intelligence into the platform. With enhancements in Ask Zia, Zoho's multi-lingual Natural Language Querying AI copilot, users can now also trigger actions and build custom data models. Ask Zia can also be leveraged within IM channels, including Microsoft Teams, to generate deeper, faster, and more contextual insights and actions. Additionally, Zoho Analytics has added Auto Analysis, enabling AI-powered automated metrics, report, and dashboard generation. Furthermore, Zoho Analytics' seamless OpenAI integration -- enabled by Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) -- drives more relevant and accurate query responses. Using OpenAI APIs with Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) encryption, users can more easily find public datasets and create formula & Structured Query Language (SQL) queries. All these AI-powered enhancements deliver more efficient, contextual, accessible, and intelligent insights and actions to the platform. Data Science and Machine Learning Studio Zoho Analytics now empowers users to build powerful custom machine learning models for specific business requirements, with the Data Science and Machine Learning (DSML) Studio. This Studio offers AutoML, a no-code assistant, to build custom ML models easily. With feature engineering, hyperparameter tuning, and comprehensive model analysis, it enables users to train, test, compare, deploy, and manage models. Zoho Analytics also features Code Studio, the platform's new integrated Python code environment where users can create custom ML models as well as import Python models or externally built libraries, which can be executed within the platform. Platform Extensibility Zoho Analytics is now more deeply extendable, with new capabilities such as its no-code builder for data connectors, actions framework, BI fabric, and client Software Development Kits (SDKs). Zoho Analytics is a composable platform on which any analytical solution can be built. The new BI fabric enables businesses to consolidate insights from multiple BI platforms, such as Power BI and Tableau, onto one, easily accessible and searchable analytics portal. Access to the portal can be controlled with fine-grained access permissions. Moreover, within Zoho Analytics, users can trigger actionable workflows, including URL and Webhook actions. The platform integrates seamlessly with Zoho Flow, enabling 500+ app triggers. Zoho Analytics features a no-code data connector builder, allowing users to create custom connectors, to bring data from any custom application. Partners can also build data connectors that can be published and sold on Zoho Marketplace. The new update features over 100+ enhancements, including new visualisations, enhanced dashboard building, audit and admin controls, revamped mobile apps, Right-to-Left (RTL) support, and more. Disclaimer: All trademarks, product names, and company names cited herein are the property of their respective owners. Pricing and Availability The New Version of Zoho Analytics is available immediately. The basic plan for the self-service BI and analytics platform starts at ₹960 per month billed annually. For information on pricing, please visit: http://www.zoho.com/analytics/pricing.html Zoho Privacy Pledge Zoho respects user privacy and does not have an ad-revenue model in any part of its business, including its free products. The company owns and operates its data centers, ensuring complete oversight of customer data, privacy, and security. More than 100 million users around the world, across hundreds of thousands of companies, rely on Zoho everyday to run their businesses, including Zoho itself. For more information, please visit: https://www.zoho.com/privacy-commitment.html About Zoho With 55+ apps in nearly every major business category, Zoho Corporation is one of the world's most prolific technology companies. Headquartered in Chennai, India, Zoho is privately held and profitable with more than 15,000 employees. For more information, please visit: www.zoho.com

Zoho Analytics flexes its Business Intelligence muscle with an injection of AI

The moments of hesitation before clicking on 'apply' to make changes to a data set in a Business Intelligence (BI) tool can be agonizing. People have lost countless half-hours to watch a screen buffering, only for the system to return an imperious, but vague, error message, having found fault with a token or a mis-placed hyphen. Promises that AI can answer data questions in the blink of an eye are all very well -- but first, you have to get your data into that tool without losing tooth enamel before cajoling it to talk to other systems regularly. For the downhearted of data, there's a potential sunburst chart on the horizon from Zoho Corporation. In its latest update, Zoho Analytics has introduced a series of enhancements that aim to further streamline BI and analytics processes. At the core of this update is Zoho's focus on expanding its data management hub, a central element designed to address the needs of data engineers and analysts. With over 500 native data connectors already available, Zoho Analytics now offers new integrations with applications such as Oracle NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and Amazon Seller Central. These integrations aim to allow users to seamlessly connect their business applications, configure synchronization, and access pre-built dashboards and reports for immediate analysis. Zoho Analytics is also broadening its support for database and data lake integrations. One example is the new connectivity with Yellowbrick, which gives users the option to either import full datasets or connect in real-time through live data streaming. These expanded capabilities allow organizations to import, cleanse, and manage data from diverse sources more efficiently, enabling more robust decision-making based on up-to-date insights. Users can also ask for help with data cleansing - for example, by asking it to remove the 'mail-to' part of email addresses in a data column, or other commands to clean up data. Each process can be previewed for approval before the transformation goes any further. Real-time analytics haven't been left out -- the platform now supports streaming data integration from Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Businesses can utilize this feature to track live data from systems such as warehouse monitoring sensors, updating dashboards in real-time. This provides users with immediate insights into key metrics such as temperature, humidity, and more -- with the aim of enabling quick and informed decision-making. The platform's Natural Language Processing (NLP) feature, Ask Zia, now supports additional languages such as Spanish and French, expanding its accessibility to non-English speaking users. Zia Insights, which offers narrative explanations of data trends, has been adapted to not only describe what is happening in a dataset but also delve into the potential reasons behind those trends for additional data insights. Zoho Analytics has been integrated with OpenAI's GPT model to allow users can to generate more complex analyses, such as SQL queries, by simply typing their questions into the platform. Tools allow users to build Machine Learning (ML) models with minimal coding knowledge. By selecting from a range of algorithms -- such as decision trees and random forests -- users can quickly train and deploy predictive models, optimizing their data for better forecasting and trend analysis. Zoho's Python integration enables data scientists to use custom-built ML models within the platform. This is designed to provide flexibility for organizations that want to develop and deploy more complex models for their individual business needs, without having to switch between multiple environments. One of the most significant enhancements in this update is the focus on platform extensibility. Users can create custom data connectors without requiring any code, opening up the possibility for connecting to niche applications that may not have pre-built integrations. There's also a visual data pipeline builder, allowing users to configure orchestrate data flows and monitor the complete end-to-end process. Making connections and joining dots is a running theme in this update. The new Actionable Framework uses Zoho's automation tool, Zoho Flow, to trigger actions based on insights derived from analytics. For example, users can automatically create tasks in other business applications like Agile CRM based on pre-defined conditions in their data. It's notable that data sets can be appended and consolidated from various destinations -- such as Power BI and Tableau, not just Zoho Analytics. This provides decision makers with a comprehensive view of their organization's analytics, regardless of the platform used by individual departments, allowing for more cohesive reporting and analysis. While it's great to hear what products are capable of, some of the most valuable updates come from real-world examples. I spoke with two Zoho customers to get some context on how Zoho Analytics is being used now. Alun Rafique, one of the co-founders of e-procurement tech provider Market Dojo, explained how his company started: We set up the business 14 years ago with a view to making e-auctions, which is a procurement negotiation tool, more accessible to a wider audience through an easy-to-use pay-as-you-go solution. The company has grown to really focus on e-sourcing and supplier engagement, essentially tools for back-office people working in procurement to collect information and negotiate with suppliers. Market Dojo has customers ranging from £2 million in turnover to many billions, working in the mid-market to large enterprise customers like Imperial Brands and Logitech. Zoho products are a fundamental part of Market Doho's infrastructure - the firm started with Zoho's CRM system in 2011 and has expanded to using its other tools from there. Adopting Zoho Analytics was a natural progression, Rafique explained: It's very well integrated into all the other Zoho products. So it makes reporting between various bits and pieces very easy in terms of multifunctional reporting. The CRM's been used within the whole of Market Dojo -- from the sales team and the CSM team to the support team -- and we've always embedded the Zoho tool. So it's fully embedded within the entire organization. We've got 40 people now. Rafique also shared his experience with Zoho's AI features: I've started to use Ask Zia. For example, I get asked by the marketing department, 'What's the growth revenue for the last quarter?' and I just showed the other day that you can actually ask Zia, 'Can you show me the growth revenue from last quarter?' and it draws the graph. Regarding the newer functionalities, he said: Some of the new functionality is really, really good. I've shown the team recently, like race graphs, sunburst graphs, heat maps, and some experimental forecasting. We're also working on a project with the CSM team to bring in data to create a custom health score, using machine learning to correlate churn rates with the factors that go into the customer health score. When asked about advice for new users, Rafique said: If you're using the Zoho products, it's just a no-brainer. There's no point using another tool because it would take you a lot more work." He added, "If someone's new to the tool, they could be a bit daunted by it, but after you show them the ropes, it's not hard to build something -- or you build it for them and share it. Zoho Analytics is deeply integrated into Market Dojo's operations: "Each of the middle management team now has KPIs, and a lot of those KPIs are dealt with in analytics reports. Everything from how many out-of-hours tickets we get and resolution times to what marketing avenues bring the most revenue, churn KPIs, upsell of licenses, and sales cycle time. Arctic Spas is the largest hot tub manufacturer in Canada with facilities in the US and a global reach, has been using Zoho for around 15 years. General Manager Philip Edey shared his experience of working with Zoho Analytics. Initially, the firm started with Zoho's CRM for handling leads, but usage has expanded to include many other Zoho products over time. Although Edey has looked into what other analytics tools have to offer, the flexibility and integration of Zoho Analytics within their existing ecosystem allows for data centralization, which is crucial given the company's wide network of manufacturing facilities and distributors in North America and Europe. Zoho Analytics has been especially helpful for data preparation and cleansing for Arctic Spas, making it easier to analyze data across different areas of their business. During our conversation, Edey emphasized the flexibility and scalability of the tool, particularly in relation to their production forecasting and budgeting processes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Zoho Analytics was critical in managing the high demand for hot tubs. The tool helped them track leads, allocate resources to dealers, and project production needs. Now, it supports forecasting and marketing, feeding data from over 200 websites into the CRM and helping to map geographical trends and spikes in demand. Zoho Analytics is used across departments, from sales to marketing, with live reports updating constantly. This allows the sales team to compare current performance with previous years, aiding in decision-making for commissions and forecasts. Edey summed it up: I have live reports that just automatically update. Anytime I want to go in and look at something, it's maybe three hours old - instead of spending countless times trying to get all that data into a spreadsheet and clean it all up - it's live data. It's so much more beneficial than stagnant spreadsheets. Zoho customers have watched its analytics tools evolve over the years and appreciated those developments with confidence and trust. With this comprehensive update, Zoho Analytics solidifies its position as a robust BI and analytics platform, catering to a wide array of user needs -- from data preparation and integration to AI-infused insights and advanced data science. The updated features come with a slight emphasis on accelerating BI adoption with AI - but for me, the stronger message is that of flexibility and visibility into integration with not just coding languages but other BI platforms. The enhancements not only make data more accessible to non-technical users but also provide powerful tools for data scientists and engineers to streamline complex workflows. As organizations continue to adopt data-driven decision-making, Zoho Analytics is positioned to be a vital tool in their analytics arsenal.

Zoho Analytics Launches Custom Model Building Studio Powered by OpenAI

From seamless OpenAI integration to a custom ML model-building studio, Zoho Analytics has ramped up its capabilities. Zoho, a global tech company based in Chennai has launched a new and improved version of Zoho Analytics, its self-service BI and analytics platform. Packed with over 100 enhancements, the platform introduces AI and ML features, empowering users with diagnostic insights, predictive analysis, automated reporting, and dashboard generation. From seamless OpenAI integration to a custom ML model-building studio, Zoho Analytics has ramped up its capabilities. It also brings 25+ new data connectors and extensions to third-party BI platforms, adding versatility and intelligence that stand out in today's competitive market. Reflecting on the announcements, Clarence Rozario, Zoho's Director of Product Management for BI & Analytics, shared with AIM, "Zoho Analytics started back in 2009 as Zoho Reports, way ahead of the industry curve. Over the years, we've invested heavily in automation, no-code/low-code development, and our AI engine, Zia. This latest version represents the culmination of those efforts -- a platform that is powerful, intelligent, and accessible to all types of users." Zoho Analytics has over 70,000 users across the globe using the platform every day. In India, the BI tool has witnessed a 67% growth in revenue and so has become the go-to solution for industries like IT, financial services, manufacturing, and retail. With the recent announcements, Zoho Analytics is trying to solve the challenges in the core areas including Data Management, AI, Data Science & ML, and Platform Extensibility. Data Management Hub: Zoho Analytics enhances data pipelines, stream analytics, and its 500+ data connector suite, including 25 new connectors for real-time data extraction. The platform also allows users to create complex ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) pipelines, simplifying data transformation through a visual builder. AI-Powered Business Intelligence: Generative AI features like Zia Insights provide contextual diagnostic analysis. "Ask Zia" lets users query data in natural language, integrating seamlessly with platforms like Microsoft Teams for faster insights. OpenAI integration also enhances query responses, helping users find public datasets more efficiently. Custom Machine Learning Studio: The new Data Science and ML Studio empowers users to build custom ML models without coding experience. Features like AutoML and Python Code Studio enable businesses to train, test, and deploy models with ease.

Exploring the updates to Zoho's data management platforn - SiliconANGLE

Zoho updates its analytics platform with Zia Insights and self-service data preparation If data is the new oil, modern data management platforms such as Zoho are its refinery. In a world where companies struggle with extracting value from data, the newest iteration of Zoho Analytics aims to make data more accessible and actionable for businesses worldwide. "The beauty is we have a common data model where everything maps into," said Chandrashekar LSP, managing director at Zoho Corp. Pvt. Ltd. "We help organizations with an analytics journey because all that you had to do was connect to your business application, be it a CRM or a projects tool. And then we automatically create the data model for analysis. We automatically create reports, charts and dashboards. That whole experience in terms of how organizations can get to insights and how fast they can get to it is indeed a differentiator in terms of the offering." LSP spoke with theCUBE Research Principal Analyst Shelly Kramer, during a AnalystANGLE segment on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media's livestreaming studio. They discussed Zoho meeting the demand for predictive and prescriptive analytics by offering diagnostic insights in real-time and removing the guesswork from decision-making. Today's organizations primarily face three problems in their data insights journey. The first is data velocity and diversity. Companies now run on over a hundred different applications, each generating its own data set. Managing these various data streams -- from transactional to unstructured data -- can be overwhelming. The growing need to process real-time data adds another layer of complexity. Zoho Analytics offers over 500 data source integrations, including new partnerships with Oracle NetSuite, monday.com and Qualtrics, to help organizations streamline and unify data, according to LSP. "You can bring in streaming data, think of data from sensors, you can bring it into the analytics layer and start creating the reports," he said. "And then apart from that, there's integration with Databricks and other such in our cloud data providers." The next challenge is data quality. Companies often struggle with refining raw data and ensuring it's accurate and ready for analysis. Zoho's new data preparation tools make this easier by enabling users to create data pipelines visually. The platform also introduces a natural language processing feature through its AI engine, Ask Zia, to help users clean and manage data more intuitively, according to LSP. "DataStudio always did support the ability to process data and cleanse data, but then it was a point-and-click function," he said. "But now we have made it very visual. We've also introduced a natural language layer to process the data and cleanse the data. You don't have to necessarily use point-and-click and visual representation." The third pain point is adoption and accessibility. Organizations often struggle with making analytics accessible to all relevant stakeholders. Zoho addresses this by embedding its AI-powered tools into popular business workflows. For example, users can query data and generate reports within Microsoft Teams without switching between platforms, according to LSP. "Any question or interaction that you want to have with the data is going to happen in the context of your conversation with your colleague," he said. "Let's say you're talking to your finance department and then you want to pull up some reports. In the context of Teams, you can be right there and then say, 'Show me the revenue forecast for the next three months,' and boom, what's going to happen is you're going to see a report even as you're chatting with your finance team." A key update to Zoho's overall platform is its Data Management Hub. Alongside data integration and support for Google Cloud and Kafka, there's also enhanced data pipeline management, with a visual pipeline builder that allows users to easily create workflows for data preparation, cleansing and transformation, ensuring that data is ready for analysis. Another key improvement is the Metrics Store. This feature allows organizations to create predefined metrics, such as win rates or average deal closing times, for specific business units. Business users can then access these pre-defined metrics instead of combing through raw data, making it easier for them to derive insights without having to be data management experts, according to LSP. "When the data is prepared by the data engineer or the data expert, do you want to just give access to this cleaned-up, raw data to the business user or would you much rather create a set of metrics that are relevant for specific business plans?", he said. These metrics can be embedded directly into operational tools such as CRM systems. This means users don't need to navigate to Zoho Analytics to access data -- they can see key metrics within their existing workflows, significantly improving efficiency, LSP added. Here's the complete SecurityANGLE segment with LSP:

Zoho eyes growth from analytics offerings with GenAI interfaces - Times of India

CHENNAI: Software services company Zoho Corp eyes growth from its revamped business intelligence (BI) and analytics platform amid wider slowdown in the IT services industry. The company has revamped its analytics offerings with generative artificial intelligence-based chat interfaces to simplify the process of building data pipelines to getting insights. Clarence Rozario, director of product management at Zoho BI and Analytics, told TOI: "BI platforms evolved from developer centric technology to self-service business analytics tools in the early 2000s. Now blending analytics with AI and chat interfaces is the way the industry is going. People expect simpler interfaces where they can ask questions and get responses without complex knowledge in data, models and tools and this will help wider adoption." Analytics business contributes 5%- 10% revenue of the $1 billion Zoho Corp. The business grew about 15% in 2023, and Rozario expects a similar figure this year. The impact of a wider slowdown is less seen in business analytics, according to him. Zoho Analytics saw 67% growth in new revenue last year and is primarily driven by mid and large enterprises in sectors such as ITeS, financial services, manufacturing, and retail. Zoho focuses on mid and small sized firms with this offering, which is usually targeted at large corporations. GenAI would be a differentiator and could democratise these for mid-sized firms, he said. Zoho considers North America, Europe, India, Middle East and Asia Pacific as key markets. The revamped Zoho platform includes a custom machine learning (ML) model-building studio for specific business requirements. It offers AutoML, a no-code assistant, to build custom ML models. It offers integration with OpenAI and allows users to ask queries, make actions and build custom data models using text prompts in natural language.