Benchmark Analysis: Zoho
by Zoheb Dowlut
Launched back in 2008, the application Zoho Invoice is an application that allows business owners to manage invoices, tracking and accept payments from clients, managing expenses and payments. The application is an extension to the web application Zoho Invoice that allows managing payments hassle-free and on the go. Zoho offers business owners unique tools to allow making business management a simple and pain free procedure.
Information Architecture
The information and content presented in the application features a good balance and distribution of hierarchy. The app allows users to take a look at graphs with esti- mates of overdue payments, and current payments. The titles are clearly visible and separates itself from the body text. When browsing recent history of past invoices, Zoho Invoice makes it easy to separate content and clearly indicates the important information directly.
The history of the invoices are categorized by dates for the month and indicate if payments have been sent, overdue or still in progress underneath the overall amount. When selecting details of invoices, the app presents a well balanced set of information for the viewer and retains separates important content through thick headers.
Visual Design
The overall design of Zoho Invoice is well suited for clear, concise and detailed information and does not suppress any important details whatsoever, instead it clearly indicates what is there and what is missing. The app visual properties could consist of colours to separate the large bolded title simply for separating content for easier legibility. In terms of font size, Zoho does well in addressing the hierarchy of words versus titles and clearly bolds the lettering on the subtotal amount to ensure the user see’s what transactions were made and when.
The simplicity of the design — that of which uses less colours to make content distinct — is clear and readable. The colours used are simply attention grabbers for users to view data easily and verify information based on graphs and imagery.
Overall findings
Based on all the findings, Zoho Invoice does indeed have many features that would make it very easy for business owners to manage. It provides a wide array of content for the user and displays the content appropriately with accurate, detailed information. The app allows for account managements and directly sends the user to areas of their interests by selecting either “Estimates, Invoices or Expenses” from the side menu.
All customer information is easily located and provides clear chart information for histories of data. The app contains the most important information and is clear why it is a good choice for business owners who are looking for an on-the-go app to manage their business and financial information.
