Microsoft outage could be a golden opportunity for Sridhar Vembu’s Zoho: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

Her observations have brought renewed attention to Zoho, the Chennai-headquartered technology company co-founded by Sridhar Vembu, which has steadily built a global presence by offering business software, cloud-based applications and enterprise productivity solutions.

The Microsoft outage has also revived discussions about the risks associated with excessive dependence on a limited number of global technology providers. For organisations relying heavily on cloud services, email systems and workplace collaboration tools, disruptions can affect business continuity and expose vulnerabilities in their digital infrastructure.

Zoho, which offers a broad portfolio of enterprise applications, including email, document management, customer relationship management and collaboration tools, is among the Indian companies positioned to benefit from growing demand for alternatives to established multinational technology platforms.

The disruption, which began on November 12, affected Microsoft services including Outlook, Teams and Copilot, creating difficulties for businesses, government agencies and individual users across several countries. In India, airline IndiGo reported interruptions to its email support services. Microsoft subsequently reported progress in restoring operations and said there was no evidence of malicious activity behind the incident.

Mazumdar-Shaw's observation is particularly significant in the context of India's growing emphasis on technological self-reliance and digital sovereignty. Although international technology companies dominate much of the enterprise software market, Indian developers such as Zoho have demonstrated their ability to build comprehensive software ecosystems for customers worldwide.

However, converting the disruption into a sustained commercial advantage would require more than offering an alternative during an outage. Enterprise customers typically evaluate reliability, cybersecurity, integration capabilities, migration costs and long-term technical support before changing their software providers.

The incident has nevertheless highlighted an important lesson for businesses: depending entirely on a single technology ecosystem can create operational risks when critical services become unavailable. Companies may increasingly consider backup arrangements, diversified software platforms and stronger business continuity plans.

For Zoho, the challenge will be to translate renewed interest in alternatives into lasting customer confidence. Mazumdar-Shaw's remarks underscore how an unexpected disruption affecting a global technology giant could open a window of opportunity for an Indian competitor seeking to expand its international footprint.