The billionaire CEO of Zoho Corporation, Sridhar Vembu, didn’t just stop at sharing his vision for the company, on Wednesday that offers software solutions to businesses at the Zoholics event in Austin, Texas. Dressed in a traditional garment of Tamil Nadu, a maroon silk shirt, and a white veshti, Vembu spoke for an hour to hundreds of partners, customers, and analysts about the future and where Zoho stands on some key issues, including the impact of AI on jobs, data privacy, layoffs in the tech industry, and more.
Here’s a brief recap of what the Zoho CEO said.
‘Profitable companies shouldn’t cut costs’
“I don’t understand why companies cut costs, especially when they’re profitable,” the billionaire CEO said. “I don’t want to cut costs because we are profitable,” he added, saying that “I wouldn’t be able to make this statement if I were a public company CEO today, which tells you something about the realities of the company business. So, we don’t want to face that type of pressure.”
Also read | Lava Yuva 5G Launched in India: Another Budget 5G Phone
“I’m extremely old-fashioned in all this. We do some skilled technology while remaining extremely old-fashioned in many of the ways we operate,” he said, highlighting why the company is privately held and not listed.
In his address, Sridhar said the company’s balance sheet has remained debt-free. “We can afford the luxury of not cutting costs only if we avoid debt — our balance sheets are completely free of debt,” he added, “I sleep well at night, our CFOs sleep well at night, and that’s why our employees sleep well at night.”
‘Data belongs to customers, not the companies that hold them’
“Your data is your data we don’t ever monetize that. You pay us to use our software, we host your data, keep it safe and secure, but we don’t monetize it,” he said.
“In any jurisdiction you operate, you are subject to local laws. If you’re operating in the Middle East, you’re subject to those laws. If you’re operating in India, you’re subject to Indian laws. In China, they have their own laws. No private company can say, ‘We just record all those; we operate there; we have the laws.”
“Programmers jobs to be automated with AI”
“It could affect programmer jobs. That may shift more towards customer experience. It’s still early days, but I think programmer jobs are something that could be affected by the rise of artificial intelligence,” according to Vembu.
For more latest technology news, click here.
