Through native integration of four key Zoho applications—Projects, WorkDrive, Analytics, and Sprints—Projects Plus enables asynchronous collaboration, seamless file management, real-time business intelligence, and Agile or Waterfall workflows.

Zoho Projects has seen rapid growth, doubling its revenue in 2024, with 55% of new users migrating from Microsoft Projects and JIRA. Projects Plus builds on this success by focussing on better data democratisation, AI-powered insights, hybrid project management, and collaborative work management. As 18% of enterprise customers deployed both Zoho Projects and Zoho Analytics, Projects Plus directly addresses these needs by consolidating the two, and more, into a singular, efficient solution.

“The surge in digitalisation across the nation and the hybrid work culture have necessitated project management tools to be well ingrained in the overall software architecture of an organisation. With Projects Plus, which can be easily customised and integrated with other apps, we have brought together key tools like analytics, file management and collaboration, and the option to use blended project management methodologies, creating a value-packed offering not yet available in the market. Furthermore, Projects Plus synthesises the latest AI-driven tools, data-first analytics, and privacy-focused protections into software that anticipates the evolving needs of international enterprise organisations, expanding Zoho’s global reach,” said Kehinde Ogundare, country head, Zoho Nigeria.

Business Intelligence Leading to Project Democratisation 

The shift toward Data-Driven Project Management (DDPM) is transforming how  organisations make decisions. Instead of relying on intuition, businesses can now leverage real-time data and analytics to drive efficiency. Projects Plus captures insights across multiple dimensions—including time tracking, budgeting, task completion, and deliverability metrics—helping teams make smarter, data-backed decisions.

Predictive analysis plays a crucial role in this approach, using historical data to forecast risks, estimate project timelines, and anticipate resource needs.

By analysing past trends, businesses can proactively plan and mitigate risks before they impact project success.

Progress tracking has also evolved beyond traditional static tools like Gantt charts. With real-time dashboards, project managers now have dynamic, up-to-date insights that provide a comprehensive view of project status, allowing them to identify and address bottlenecks as they arise.

Additionally, quality control analytics ensure that every stage of a project meets predefined standards. By continuously monitoring data related to project deliverables, businesses can uphold high-quality outcomes, reducing errors and inefficiencies throughout the project lifecycle. With these enhanced analytical capabilities, Projects Plus enables organisations to shift from reactive project management to a more strategic, data-driven approach that improves execution and results.

Projects Plus integrates Zia, Zoho’s AI engine, to automate complex data analysis and provide predictive insights, helping project managers focus on strategic leadership.

By analysing project performance data, businesses can identify inefficiencies and optimise processes, streamlining workflows to improve productivity.

AI-powered insights also enable smarter resource allocation by identifying where resources are being underutilised or overburdened. This ensures that the right people are assigned to the right tasks, maximising efficiency across teams.

Forecasting and planning are also significantly enhanced through AI-driven analysis. With more accurate predictions about project timelines, costs, and potential risks, organisations can make proactive adjustments to avoid delays and cost overruns.

This results in better project outcomes, improved resource management, and higher overall efficiency.

Pricing and Availability 

Zoho Projects Plus is available immediately and priced at NGN7200 per user each month, when billed annually—27% lower than combining Projects, Sprints, Workdrive and Analytics when purchased separately.  For regional pricing, go here.

Summary of this news:

Zoho Projects Plus comes with;

• AI-Driven Insights:With predictive analytics powered by Zoho’s AI engine, Zia, businesses can forecast risks, optimise resources, and enhance decision-making.
• Seamless Integration:Projects Plus natively integrates Zoho Projects, WorkDrive, Analytics, and Sprints, eliminating silos and fostering real-time collaboration.
• Flexible Workflows:Supports Agile, Waterfall, or hybrid methodologies, catering to diverse enterprise needs.
• Cost-Effective:At NGN7200/user/month (billed annually), Projects Plus is 27% more cost-efficientthan purchasing individual Zoho apps separately.

This acquisition aims to enhance Xero’s reporting, insights, and analytics offerings across key markets such as Australia, the UK, and the US.

Syft Analytics, based in Johannesburg, provides cloud-based reporting tools utilised by accountants and small businesses in over 80 countries. Xero intends to gradually integrate Syft’s software into its own platform, offering its customers deeper analytics and financial forecasting. 

Syft’s tools allow users to efficiently review, analyse, and predict financial outcomes, a valuable function in both stable and challenging economic conditions. 

Xero’s acquisition aims to strengthen its offerings, particularly benefiting its small business and accounting clientele.

The deal, valued at up to $70 million, includes an upfront payment of $40 million, with an additional $30 million linked to employee incentives and other conditions over a three-year period. 

Most of Syft’s 70-strong workforce, based in South Africa, will join Xero following the acquisition. Despite the scale of the transaction, Xero anticipates minimal impact on its financial performance in the near term, specifically in the fiscal year 2025.

Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, CEO of Xero, stressed the importance of the acquisition in fulfilling the company’s strategy to provide more comprehensive solutions for small businesses and their advisers. In adding the functionality of Syft Analytics, Xero aims to offer more detailed insights and advanced reporting, helping users make more informed business decisions. 

Cassidy further noted that this acquisition aligns with Xero’s goal of strengthening its accounting solutions, one of the firm’s core strategic priorities.

Syft will continue operating independently as part of Xero’s app ecosystem, allowing current customers to benefit from its advanced analytics and benchmarking capabilities while ensuring new customers will eventually experience an integrated solution. Completion of the acquisition is expected in late 2024, subject to the necessary regulatory approvals.

This acquisition follows recent deals of large multinational companies acquiring innovative South African technology startups, with Syft being a good example of a SaaS company attracting international interest.

Here are their predictions for the trends we all will face this year:

1. Curiosity becomes a coveted job skill

“Curiosity helps businesses address critical challenges – from improving job satisfaction to creating more innovative workplaces. Curiosity will be the most sought-after job skill in 2022 because curious employees help improve overall retention, even during the Great Resignation.” [See the SAS Curiosity@Work report, which surveyed managers globally across industries.]

– Jay Upchurch, CIO, SAS

2. COVID rewrites AI models

“The pandemic upended expected business trajectories and exposed weaknesses in machine learning systems dependent on historical data and reasonably predictable patterns. This identified an acute need to bolster investments in traditional analytics teams and techniques for rapid data discovery and hypothesising. Synthetic data generation will play a major role in helping businesses respond to continued dynamic markets and uncertainty in 2022.”

– Brett Wujek, Principal Product Manager for Analytics, SAS

3. Fraudsters exploit supply chain woes

“While supply-chain fraud is nothing new, it will be a major challenge globally in 2022 as the ongoing pandemic continues to disrupt everything. Businesses have deemphasised risk management for supply chains in their haste to find alternative supply sources. Fraudsters and criminal rings won’t miss the opportunity to exploit this situation. Supply chain analytics will drive transformation as organisations strike the balance between continuity and survival on one hand, and risk management and fighting fraud on the other.

– Stu Bradley, Senior VP of Fraud and Security Intelligence, SAS

4. Demand signals help rescue the supply chain

“In retail, expect more low inventories, high demand and ‘out-of-stocks’ well into 2022. Staffing shortages – from store associates to stockers to truck drivers – will be another challenge in 2022; consumers should prepare for longer in-store wait times. Overall, the retailers that succeed in 2022’s new normal will deftly use analytics to capture and read supply-chain information and consumer-demand signals, then rapidly respond to supply-chain glitches and changing customer preferences.”

– Dan Mitchell, Director of Global Retail Practice, SAS

5. Analytics anticipate disease outbreaks

“We need to move from finding what is already there to anticipating what happens next. We know disease exists, where it comes from and how it evolves, but we don’t know when those changes will occur. We must continue to employ analytics to answer those questions, which is critical to identifying future threats to human health.”

– Meg Schaeffer, Epidemiologist, SAS

6. COVID puts data at the centre of clinical research

“Much has been said about COVID-19’s long-term effects on clinical trials and research, often due to it becoming more decentralised. The real game changer, however, is the crucial role of regulatory-grade analytics to speed up patient enrolment, ensure an intact clinical medicine supply chain, and generate clinically meaningful research and personalised results from the influx of structured and unstructured information. Since clinicians are relying increasingly on remote information in addition to that generated in the doctor’s office, we will continue to see more reliance on digital health analytics and AI.”

– Mark Lambrecht, Director of EMEA & APAC Health and Life Sciences Practice, SAS

7. Livestock monitoring halts disease spread

“Disease outbreaks in the livestock industry persist. This will likely lead to opportunities for livestock monitoring solutions to gain more adoption to combat the spread of new diseases through heat stress, floods and droughts in the coming years. And while COVID-19 has reduced the demand for animal products, especially across hotel and catering businesses, new initiatives favouring animal health and welfare will require similar monitoring solutions.”

– Sarah Myers, Senior Product Marketing Manager for Horizon Industries and Segments, SAS

8. AI and data literacy fight disinformation

“Studies show that false news may be more likely to reach people than the truth. The future will require a combination of analytics and AI running in the background of popular platforms to help provide visibility into the truth. However, powerful algorithms aren’t enough. We need to continue to build media and data literacy skills that will help everyone detect truth from fiction.”

– Jen Sabourin, Senior Software Developer, Corporate Social Innovation and Brand, SAS

9. Data visibility advances public trust

“Governments will be forced to tackle structural changes needed to better use data in three ways: Government must source data at a level of granularity that matches the decisions that need to be made for citizens, deal with privacy concerns around detailed personal information and increase the speed at which data can be shared. Workforce investments and legislative action are needed to drive these changes.”

– Tara Holland, Government Industry Principal for Public Sector Marketing, SAS

10. AI ethics standards begin to coalesce

“I anticipate increased focus on AI frameworks and standards driven by regulatory/legislative bodies and, importantly, by industry as well. While it’s not likely we’ll have de facto standards in the United States, companies in other parts of the world like the European Union and Southeast Asia will begin to coalesce around common approaches to AI.”

– Reggie Townsend, Director of Data Ethics Practice, SAS

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