Zoho previews AppOS ahead of enterprise app avalanche

Zoho previewed AppOS, which is an effort to create a platform with a shared data foundation, common business and process models, built-in workflows and automation, governance and applications built inside of the platform. 

With inspiration from Apple's iOS, Zoho CEO Mani Vembu, speaking at Zoho Day 2026, said the company is building a platform that does the following:

• Data is structured the same way in every app.
• Business rules run the same way everywhere.
• Teams control their apps, but standards are enforced centrally.
• Apps can evolve and change without drifting into sprawl. 

"Nobody has had the time to solve the fundamental foundation," said Vembu. "This is the current state of enterprise software. There is a broken foundation and then the thing built on top of it."

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Vembu said Zoho AppOS will be able to build Zoho Apps and custom apps and plug into various AI code gen offerings. Zoho partners and customers have begun to test out AppOS. 

According to Vembu, the foundation has to be fixed for business software because "we have to accept that app gen is inevitable." "Every business wants to create differentiation and that means they are going to create more and more apps," he said. 

What Vembu is thinking through with Zoho is similar to what most SaaS vendors will need to do. Business software is a mess. And now you're tossing AI agents on top of it. What could go wrong? Infrastructure has largely been solved and simplified by cloud hyperscalers. Applications have been behind and lack a shared foundation, common business building blocks and one way to run and govern logic across the various enterprise software acronyms such as ERP, HR and ITSM.

The architecture underpinning SaaS will need to change. Problems will need to be prevented not fixed. 

Vembu's bet is that AppOS will offer lower costs, governance and faster time to value. For developers, apps will stay aligned. Zoho said AppOS is a business application OS and not an integration layer and SaaS vertical play.

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