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Zoho Unveils Early Access to CRM for Everyone, Zoho Apptic & Catalyst
Zoho Corporation, a leading global technology company, today announced early access to Zoho CRM for Everyone, a new set of industry-first capabilities aimed at democratising CRM to all teams involved in customer operations activities.
The company also unveiled significant enhancements to its offerings for professional developers and app development teams. These include early access to new services within Catalyst, the company’s pro-code full-stack development platform, and the general availability of Zoho Apptics, an application analytics solution that enables developers to track the in-app usage and performance of applications built on iOS, macOS, Android, and other platforms.
“Businesses are looking for unified solutions that help them optimise for value, maximise their competitive advantages, and tap into new market opportunities amid tough economic conditions,” said Kehinde Ogundare, Country Head, Zoho Nigeria. “At Zoho, we’re focused on continuously deepening our current offerings and expanding others to serve business needs. Zoho CRM for Everyone, for instance, is the first true democratisation of the CRM paradigm and helps unify all customer operations teams onto the CRM to deliver better customer experiences. Likewise, the upgraded Catalyst and the privacy-focused Apptics solution work hand-in-hand to deliver an unmatched developer experience from concept to code, and deployment to analytics.”
Zoho CRM for Everyone
Zoho CRM is one of the top selling products in Nigeria. The product recorded a 60% YoY growth in 2023 in the country.
Zoho CRM for Everyone allows sales teams, the primary custodian of customer relationships, to communicate and coordinate with other customer-facing teams from a single place—the CRM application—instead of holding fragmented discussions. It enables account managers, for example, to pull in a solutions engineer to coordinate a product demonstration for a customer. A marketer can perform win-loss analysis for specific deals. A community specialist can manage advocacy engagements like case studies. They may all use different core applications for deep work but can now converge on the CRM for managing shared responsibilities towards the customer.
Besides opening up CRM access cross-functionally, Zoho CRM for Everyone also empowers every team to manage their own workflows autonomously within the corporate IT framework. The new capabilities stand to improve visibility for every stakeholder in the customer journey, mitigate gaps in coordination, reduce turnaround time, and improve the quality of the customer experience.
To make CRM for Everyone possible, the following capabilities have come together in Zoho CRM:
● Team Modules and Requesters: Under team modules, business teams can create their own team-level data modules (in addition to organisation-level modules) by themselves while being governed by IT teams. Requesters is a new user profile in Zoho CRM that allows a team member to raise a request for colleagues in different teams and track the request status.
● Refreshed User Experience: To enable this fundamental shift in usage, the interface of Zoho CRM has been redesigned for better usability across roles and functions. With this release, Zoho CRM is also making a major stride in accessibility with capabilities covering areas like vision, motor activity, and interactions.
New Custom App Development Capabilities in Catalyst
Building custom solutions out of a disparate mix of tools has consistently been a source of frustration for developers. Catalyst unifies pro-code development efforts and streamlines the entire lifecycle by abstracting away complexities, providing pre-built components, and offering a comprehensive suite of developer tools.
Catalyst’s newest offerings, available under early access, expand on developer logic, design, and delivery:
● Signals: Routes events from sources like Zoho services, third-party sources, or custom applications to handlers (like Catalyst Functions, Circuits, etc.) using topics and subscriptions.
● NoSQL Database: Allows users to store structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data while supporting diverse data types and scaling dynamically with high performance.
● Slate: A fully managed frontend platform that lets developers easily build highly customised interfaces that leverage frameworks such as React.js, Next.js, Sveltekit, etc.
● CI/CD Pipeline: Automates tests and builds for continuous delivery pipelines, streamlining development workflows for faster time-to-market.
Catalyst seamlessly integrates with the Zoho ecosystem and third-party applications, enabling developers to leverage existing infrastructure and data sources. The platform stands out with its transparent and cost-effective pricing model, empowering organisations of all sizes by eliminating hidden fees and offering predictable, scalable pricing.
Privacy-Friendly Application Analytics:
Zoho Apptics delivers an extensive digital analytics platform designed for every stakeholder involved in application development and management. The solution consolidates analytics across app usage, performance, user engagement, and growth metrics into a centralised console, then synthesises these multifaceted data streams into actionable insights presented visually in dashboards and reports.
This unified view empowers organisations to make informed decisions, optimise app experiences, drive user engagement, and fuel sustainable growth throughout the application lifecycle. Apptics provides multi-platform analytics support, covering Android, iOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS, iPadOS, Windows, React Native, Flutter, and Unity, with web analytics capabilities coming soon.
Apptics stands out by offering a unique capability to prompt Android and iOS users for app ratings and updates directly from the Apptics console. Integrated app store reviews management helps in streamlining the process of analysing user sentiment. Additionally, Zoho Apptics prioritises data privacy and security, exceeding industry best practices and regulatory compliance standards. User information is safeguarded behind encryption and access controls, ensuring analytics insights are leveraged responsibly without compromising individual privacy.
Pricing and Availability
Starting today, early access to Zoho CRM for Everyone is available upon request for Zoho customers worldwide. Zoho will be releasing additional capabilities to CRM for Everyone over several weeks during the early access phase.
Catalyst offers a generous Free Tier that renews monthly, alongside options for a pay-as-you-go model and subscription-based pricing. The new features are now available for early access, and interested users can sign up by visiting Zoho’s Catalyst page. Apptics is globally available now and offers a free plan and a pro plan starting at NGN18600 per month, when billed annually.
MTN Nigeria is set to reignite the dreams of creatives with the launch of its Best of the Streets talent competition for the 2025 edition. This initiative aims to discover and nurture Nigeria’s next generation of creative talent.
L-R: Mobolaji Ogunlende, Honourable Commissioner for Youth and Social Development, Lagos State; Dapo “D’Banj” Oyebanjo, Singer and Founder of C.R.E.A.M platform; Dandizzy, Rapper and Singer; A’isha Umar Mumuni, Chief Digital Officer, MTN Nigeria and Obi Asika, Nigerian music executive and Director-General, National Council for Arts and Culture, NCAC., at the Best of the Streets press briefing on Wednesday, April 23 held at the MTN Rooftop Events Centre, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Slated to commence on May 1, 2025, the competition offers unsigned artists a transformative platform to compete for life-changing rewards, including a grand money prize, professional music video production, and an EP recording deal.
At the press briefing on Wednesday April 23, A’isha Umar Mumuni, Chief Digital Officer of MTN Nigeria, emphasized the initiative’s impact.
“The premise of Best of the Streets is that there’s talent in every street in Nigeria, whether it’s acting, singing, dancing, comedy or other performance arts.
“Best of the Streets seeks to bring out that talent, to show Nigerian youths that there are opportunities everywhere; and at MTN, we are very proud to take part in creating these opportunities.”
Best of the Streets is in collaboration with C.R.E.A.M (Creative Reality Entertainment Art and Music), founded by Nigerian rapper, Dapo “D’Banj” Oyebanjo is a platform which provides talent management, publishing, and funding support to grassroots artists.
“The C.R.E.A.M platform provides solutions and services for talents, creatives and entrepreneurs, by granting them convenient access to showcase their skills and monetize their content. With our newly launched distribution arm, we are not just discovering talent, we are giving them the tools to take them global,” D’banj explained.
Chris Anokute, Nigerian-born LA-based American Executive, known for discovering global superstar Katy Perry, commended the efforts of this initiative in pushing local Nigerian music to the international stage. “Best of the Streets is the greatest artiste discovery platform I’ve seen come out of Africa.
“The music industry is, as of last year, a 30-billion-dollar industry. Afrobeats is the fastest growing genre in the entire world, over 1.1 million hours of music streamed out of Nigeria on Spotify this year alone.”
On the importance of empowering the creative capacities of the youth, Mobolaji Ogunlende, Honourable Commissioner for Youth and Social Development in Lagos State. “As a government, we have vowed not to leave anybody behind in Lagos state, irrespective of their background.
“There are about 30 million citizens in Lagos, and 60% of the youth. Not every youth will be able to go to school, but we still have the creatives, digital, fashion icons, among others. This platform is an avenue to encourage them.”
To participate, aspiring contestants can dial *463# on their MTN line, upload original content via the official @creamplatform, and mobilise votes from the public. Over 2584 creatives are set to be showcased and rewarded this year. Entries into this competition continue up until December, with daily, weekly and monthly winners, with a final winner who will secure the grand prize.
The Best of the Streets initiative reinforces MTN’s commitment to youth empowerment and creative innovation, aligning with Nigeria’s growing entertainment industry demands.
Meta has announced its intention to appeal the decision of the Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal (CCPT), which upheld a $220 million fine imposed by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) over its data practices.
The penalty follows a 38-month investigation conducted by the FCCPC, in collaboration with the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), which ran from 2021 to December 2023.
The investigation found evidence of unauthorised data sharing, insufficient user consent mechanisms, and discriminatory practices that treated Nigerian consumers differently from those in other regions.
In July 2024, the FCCPC imposed the $220 million fine on Meta and WhatsApp, citing violations of Nigeria’s data protection and consumer rights laws. Additionally, the ruling mandated corrective actions to ensure that Meta’s business practices comply with Nigerian regulations.
In a decision delivered on Friday, April 25, the tribunal upheld the fine, reaffirming the FCCPC’s authority and investigative processes. The tribunal also ordered Meta to pay an additional $35,000 to cover the costs incurred during the investigation.
However, Meta expressed disagreement with the tribunal’s ruling, stating in a statement on Saturday, April 26, that it would urgently seek to appeal the decision and apply for a stay of execution.
“We are urgently applying to stay the order and appeal today’s decision to avoid any impact to users,” WhatsApp said.
The company also contested the tribunal’s findings, claiming that the ruling misrepresented how WhatsApp operates and contained inaccuracies regarding its data practices.
Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal has upheld a $220 million fine imposed by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) on Meta Platforms Inc. and WhatsApp LLC for data privacy violations in Nigeria.
The Tribunal also awarded $35,000 in investigative costs to the country’s Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission .
In a statement issued by the FCCPC, the Tribunal delivered its judgment in the appeal filed by Meta Platforms Incorporated (Facebook) and WhatsApp LLC against the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), affirming the Commission’s authority and ruling in favour of its actions on nearly all contested issues.
According to the statement by the FCCPC, “The Tribunal specifically determined that the Commission adhered to prevailing laws, fulfilled its mandate, and exercised its powers by the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
“It ruled that the multiple actions by WhatsApp and Meta, for which the Commission made findings of violations, were correctly identified, and that the Commission did not err in making those findings.”
The statement revealed that WhatsApp and Meta’s legal team was led by Professor Gbolahan Elias (SAN), while the FCCPC was represented by Babatunde Irukera.
It added that both legal teams presented their final arguments on behalf of their respective clients on January 28, 2025.
“The FCCPC had on July on July 19, 2024, issued a Final Order imposing a $220 million administrative penalty after concluding that the companies engaged in discriminatory and exploitative practices against Nigerian consumers, the investigation started in 2020.
“The case arose from a 38-month joint investigation initiated by the FCCPC and the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) into the conduct, privacy practices, and consumer data policies of Meta Platforms and WhatsApp.
“Dissatisfied with the Order last year, Meta and WhatsApp appealed to the Tribunal, challenging both the legal basis and the findings of the Commission,” FCCPC said.
The Tribunal upheld the FCCPC’s authority and investigative procedures in Meta and WhatsApp’s appeal, resolving most of the contested issues in the Commission’s favour.
It confirmed that the FCCPC acted within its constitutional and statutory mandate, particularly regarding fair hearing, data protection, and consumer rights.
While it dismissed the majority of the appellants’ objections, it set aside one specific order (Order 7) for lacking sufficient legal basis.
While expressing satisfaction with the judgment, Tunji Bello, executive vice chairman/CEO, commended the Commission’s legal team for their exceptional diligence and forensic expertise in assembling evidence and presenting their case.
He reaffirmed the FCCPC’s unwavering commitment not only to protecting the rights of Nigerian consumers but also to promoting fair business practices in line with the FCCPA (2018) and the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Nigerian government.
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