Strategic partnership signed to offer enterprise solutions to SMEs

Emirates Development Bank (EDB), fully owned by the UAE Federal Government and a key financial enabler of the UAE’s economic diversification and industrial transformation agenda and Zoho Corporation, a global technology company with a broad portfolio of cloud-based business solutions, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote the growth of the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the UAE.

The agreement between EDB and Zoho aims to benefit EDB clients with cost-competitive enterprise solutions to help them achieve successful digital transformation and realise the full potential of their businesses.

This partnership is in line with EDB’s strategy to expand financial and non-financial support to SMEs in the UAE. As part of the agreement, Zoho One, an all-inclusive suite of 45+ applications that seamlessly connects diverse business functions (sales, marketing, customer support, finance, HR, and collaboration), will be made available to EDB’s SME clients at discounted rates.

With this partnership, existing EDB customers will be provided Zoho Wallet credits worth $900 to purchase Zoho One, while new EDB customers can avail the solution for $1800, subject to fulfillment of the stipulated terms and conditions.

The MoU coincides with EDB’s renewed strategy focused on being the financial catalyst of the UAE economy. EDB’s mission is to the UAE’s economic diversification agenda by enabling individuals, entrepreneurs, SMEs and large corporates in priority industrial sectors and promoting innovative technologies to build a knowledge-based economy.

The bank is expected to help SMEs boost their contribution to the UAE’s non-oil GDP to more than 70 per cent by the end of 2021.

EDB’s customers can gain access to Zoho One’s multi-app platform, which will enable businesses to shift online, manage and automate complex processes, and boost productivity.

Because all applications are built on the same technology stack and supported by a common data model, they contextually integrate with one another, allowing business owners to transcend departmental silos and convert their entire business administration process into one unified system that runs smoothly with minimal supervision.

Ahmed Mohamed Al Naqbi, Chief Executive Officer of EDB, said: “Emirates Development Bank is poised to play a transformative role in the furthering the industrialization of the UAE economy and will be a key player to serve the financial needs of different critical sectors of the economy. Technology will be the bedrock of realising this aspiration. This agreement will help elevate EDB’s offerings to our intended customer segments as part of our mandate to drive the development priorities of the fast-changing UAE economy.”

“We are thrilled to collaborate with Emirates Development Bank to support local businesses in their digital transformation journey. SMEs constitute more than 90 per cent of the UAE’s business sector today, making them instrumental in local economic growth and development. With the right tools and technology at their disposal, these SMEs can scale digitally, expand into wider markets, and contribute better to national prosperity. And a partnership with an industry leader like EDB will enable us to extensively help hundreds of businesses avail easy access to cost-efficient enterprise solutions and unlock new growth levels through business automation, integration, and intelligence benefits,” said Ali Shabdar, Regional Director of MEA, Zoho Corp.

New EDB customers can avail $1800 per business in the form of Zoho Wallet credits, which can be used to purchase Zoho One services. Existing EDB customers will receive $900 as Zoho Wallet credits for their purchase of Zoho One. This offer seeks to help SMEs overcome IT budget constraints and implement enterprise-grade digital technology that helps improve operational efficiency, employee productivity, and customer experience.

Zoho and EDB will jointly organise outreach programmes, online training workshops and educative thought-leadership webinars by industry experts to enable effective technology transfer and help businesses successfully navigate their digital transformation journey.

 Zoho does not allow any third-party trackers to monitor usage behaviour and never sells any data to ad-based companies. Because Zoho has built its entire technology stack, the company is able to offer the most secure experience to its users without any compromise on data privacy.

Users have the assurance that their data is confidential and protected, and only users themselves own the data.

Emirates Development Bank (EDB), headquartered in Abu Dhabi, was established under Federal Law by Decree No. 07 of 2011 issued by His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE. It became operational in June 2015. The Bank unveiled its new strategy in 2021 reinforcing its identity as one of the key drivers of the UAE’s economic recovery.