Zoho Founder Sridhar Vembu Takes A Dig At Rival Salesforce's Steep Contract Renewal Price Hike

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Sridhar Vembu, co-founder of Zoho corporations has taken a swipe at rival Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform Salesforce on X (formerly Twitter) after a post on Reddit revealed a steep contract renewal fee hike.

The reddit post stated that Salesforce has increased the contract renewal price for the reddit user's company again, on top of a steep hike of 20% just last year, bringing the total price hike to a whooping 35%.

This comes shortly after Salesforce chief executive Marc Benioff confirmed on a podcast that the company has laid off nearly 4,000 customer support staff as artificial intelligence (AI) tools took over a larger share in the customer service.

The post and Sridhar Vembu's response

A Reddit post titled“CRM Price – 35% Increase?!” has gained traction among netizens, sparking conversations around Salesforce's pricing strategy. The post, written by an administrator managing 250–300 users, complained about a steep contract renewal hike.

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The user noted,“Last year, Salesforce hit us with an increase of more than 20%. This year, they are hitting us with another large increase. Total increase over the past two years is nearly 35%.”

Frustrated, the original poster asked whether others were also facing such sharp increases or if their company had been specifically targeted. They also posed a question, asking other Salesforce users,“Has anybody found effective tips to negotiate back down to more modest increases year over year?”

Responding to the post, Vembu said,“if Salesforce hits you with steep price increases like mentioned in this Reddit, just mention the word 'ZOHO' and they will drop their prices. That is their official discount code.”

Netizens react to the post

Sridhar Vembu's post received multiple reactions, ranging from praises for Zoho to the issues in Salesforce's services and pricing.

An user noted,“Large enterprises need customization to the lowest level. Plug and play approach won't work for them. That's why Salesforce thrives even though product quality is mediocre. It's also a trap for large enterprises. After spending so much they can't easily migrate.”

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Another user praised Zoho and said,“I've been a ZOHO user since 2016, and not once have I felt the need to migrate the services I use to any other platform. Looking forward to seeing more groundbreaking products from ZOHO in the future.”

Whereas some users also criticised Zoho for its services. An user said,“Zoho is nowhere near Salesforce, lots of UI issues," while another user mirrored this sentiment and posed a question, asking Vembu, "I am not sure about zoho product & offering , but salesforce has different suits which are available to customer's in their range & capacity & allow good productivity . Will you compete anytime with salesforce?

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