Zoho Unveils UAE Data Centres, Bolstering Regional Digital Transformation Efforts

Zoho Corporation has switched on its first data centres in the UAE, with new facilities now running in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It’s a significant step tied to the AED 100 million investment the company committed to the country back in 2023, and it’s clearly aimed at deepening its roots in what has become one of its strongest regional markets.

The centres will host products from Zoho’s two main brands. There’s ManageEngine on the enterprise IT management side, and the broader Zoho suite, which many startups and SMEs know for its cloud-based business tools. The big draw here is data staying local. Organisations can store information inside the UAE, which helps with data sovereignty and lines up neatly with national cybersecurity priorities. As someone who’s spent years around founders fretting about where their data actually lives, this feels spot on.

Shailesh Davey, co-founder and CEO of Zoho Corporation, said the move underlines the company’s long-term commitment to the UAE. He pointed to the country being one of Zoho’s largest markets in the region for both Zoho and ManageEngine. According to Davey, running local data centres allows more than 100 solutions across the two brands to support businesses of all sizes, as well as government and semi-government bodies, in their cloud adoption and digital transformation efforts. That push also feeds into Dubai’s wider ambition to build a digital economy aligned with Vision 2030.

On the compliance front, the boxes are well and truly ticked. The data centres have secured the CSP Security Standard Certificate from the Dubai Electronic Security Center, which means Zoho can work with government and semi-government entities. They also meet a string of international standards, including ISO 27001, ISO 22301, ISO 27017 and the CSA STAR Level 2 certification. Even Zoho’s Dubai office has picked up ISO 27001, which is no small feat and not just a bit of a faff for show.

The timing makes sense when you look at Zoho’s recent traction. The company posted 38.7 per cent growth in the UAE in 2025 and expanded its partner network by 29 per cent in the same period. To keep up, headcount in the country grew by 35 per cent last year, alongside a move to a larger office. Growth has been fuelled by tools like Zoho CRM, Desk and CRM Plus in the customer experience space, as well as Zoho Books for VAT-compliant accounting, Creator for low-code development, Zoho Workplace for collaboration, and Zoho One, which bundles more than 55 applications under one roof.

Over the past five years, Zoho has invested AED 80 million to support the digital transformation of more than 7,000 UAE businesses, working with partners such as the Department of Economy and Tourism and Dubai Culture. There’s also been a clear shift upmarket. Enterprise-focused growth reached 48 per cent in 2025, driven by platforms designed to deliver faster time to value while cutting overall costs. I reckon this enterprise momentum is where things get really interesting, because once large organisations buy in, smaller firms often follow… well, you know?

At Arageek, stories like this always spark memories of early-stage founders juggling tools, budgets and compliance worries all at once. Having serious infrastructure closer to home can remove one more headache, and that can be chufffed to bits news for a growing team trying to scale without losing sleep. On the flip side, local data centres also raise the bar on expectations. Customers will want performance, security and support to be bang on, every day. Still, believe it or not, this move feels like a natural next chapter for Zoho in the UAE, and definately not the last we’ll hear on this front.

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