Introducing Zoho Office for Microsoft SharePoint (Video here)
We are very happy to announce a new addition to our Zoho Suite -Zoho Office for Microsoft® SharePoint®. This add-on, when installed on Microsoft SharePoint Server integrates Zoho Office Suite on to Microsoft SharePoint.
The add-on provides the following functionality...
Users can create new documents and save them to SharePoint in MS Office formats
View Existing Documents within SharePoint using Zoho Apps (Zoho Writer, Sheet & Show)
Edit existing documents with Zoho Apps and save them back to SharePoint
Provides Collaborative editing capabilities based on SharePoint's sharing permissions
As Zoho applications are served from the cloud, no additional installations are needed on desktops to create/view/edit documents.
Collaboration on SharePoint
Apart from providing editing capability for existing documents, the add-in also provides collaborative editing functionality. Based on sharing permissions defined in SharePoint, multiple users can collaboratively work on documents/spreadsheets/presentations real-time. This feature basically brings one of the key advantages of an online office suite to SharePoint.
While collaboratively editing documents, you can also chat with other members using our integrated Zoho Chat.
Data Behind your Firewall
Along with small and medium businesses, we see a good percentage of departments in larger organizations using our productivity apps for collaboration. There are also businesses who prefer keeping their data behind the enterprise firewall. For such organizations, this new add-on brings in the best of both worlds - Collaboration capabilities of an online application while keeping the data behind your firewall.
If you have SharePoint installed in your intranet behind your corporate firewall, you still will be able to view/edit documents using our online applications. After changes, your documents are saved back to your SharePoint server behind your corporate firewall leaving no data on Zoho Servers.
When you open the document, a copy is transferred temporarily to Zoho servers securely. When the document is closed, it is permanently deleted from our servers immediately leaving no data on our side.
Pricing & Availability
Starting Tuesday (June 23rd), this add-on is available for Microsoft SharePoint 2007 and 2003 versions. You can try the 30 day evaluation version for unlimited users. After the trial period, it costs $2/user/month on an yearly subscription or $3/user/month for monthly subscription.
If you have already invested in Microsoft SharePoint, this add-on is a great compliment that brings in the advantages of online productivity applications to SharePoint. If you are able to access SharePoint, you'll be able to create/view/edit documents without having to invest on productivity suites for every desktop in your business.
