Intelligent SME.tech Issue 11 | Page 9

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Zoho to make Zoho Invoice free of charge to empower SMEs to rebuild and grow

Zoho Corporation , a global technology company offering the most extensive suite of business software applications in the industry , announced that its online invoicing solution , Zoho Invoice , will be completely free of cost to further extend the company ’ s support for small and medium-sized businesses .

Fully cloud-based , Zoho Invoice , enables businesses to create and send fully-customised , professional invoices in less than a minute , follow up for payments automatically and get paid online to achieve efficiency in their invoice process .

Due to the global pandemic , SMEs have decided to modernise their invoicing processes at an accelerated rate . To continue its support of the SME community , Zoho Invoice also offers advanced capabilities such as time tracking , auto recording of expenses , project billing and 30 + real-time reports to help freelancers and small businesses easily navigate the billing and payment collection process , without the concerns of cost .

Lumen expands its fibre network in Europe

As the 4th Industrial Revolution continues to accelerate business demand for highspeed broadband and presence in the cloud , Lumen Technologies has expanded its fibre network infrastructure in Europe , strengthening its service capabilities in France , Switzerland and Spain .

These strategic network expansions put highperformance fibre closer to end-users to deliver faster connections , lower latency and enhanced security , for an exceptional customer experience . The infrastructure extends fibre reach in and between major hubs of business and finance .

In France and Switzerland , Lumen increased its footprint with the construction of a unique new fibre route of more than 300 km between Lyon , France and Geneva , Switzerland , connecting three new cities , Grenoble , Chambéry and Annecy .

In Spain , Lumen completed its national fibre ring by adding a new segment of more than 280 km between the city of Salou and the French border . Additionally , Lumen built a new metro network in Barcelona and connected to the MAREA transatlantic subsea cable landing station in Sopelana .

Dubai-based , Udrive , onboards prominent investors to usher in new era of mobility in UAE

With the UAE ’ s economy opening up and mobility once again on an uptick postpandemic , Udrive , an app-based pay-perminute car rental service , is accelerating its growth by doubling its fleet size over the next three months . It is targeting 500 % revenue growth in the next 12 months , as it looks to continue disrupting the transportation market in the GCC . This follows a round of investment led by prominent regional business leaders and three venture capitalists who backed two of the region ’ s most recent ‘ unicorn ’ tech companies .

Founded in 2016 , Udrive was the first to fractionalise mobility by introducing the rent-by-the-minute concept to the region – giving consumers the benefit of paying only for what they use . The company scaled quickly by focusing on the large segment ( 60 %) of the market , made up of a digitally savvy driving age population that neither wants to own a vehicle outright , nor wants to lock up their income in a depreciating asset .