Gaining end-to-end visibility across the customer life cycle is a priority for businesses today – and it became increasingly important for Babu Krishnamoorthy, Chief Information and Technology Officer at Orikan. In this article, he explains why more connected systems and real-time insight was essential to the business and how the need to scale without adding complexity led the company to Zoho One as the ideal solution.
When Orikan was formed through the merger of two established parking technology businesses, the opportunity was clear. By bringing together decades of experience across parking compliance, enforcement and digital payments, the company could offer end-to-end services to councils, universities and government agencies across Australia and New Zealand. However, beneath the surface, the newly combined organisation faced a familiar challenge. Its internal corporate systems had become fragmented and duplicative following the merger, creating behind-the-scenes complexity and making it harder to scale efficiently.
As Orikan expanded its footprint and service offering, it became increasingly important to connect systems across sales, service, project delivery and support. Operating across multiple platforms made it harder to maintain consistent visibility and coordination. For an organisation delivering infrastructure and services to public sector clients, having a more unified operational view was essential to maintaining reliability and trust.
“Following the merger, we inherited two very different technology stacks, each built up over many years,” said Babu Krishnamoorthy, Chief Information and Technology Officer at Orikan. “There were multiple CRM platforms and project tools in play and very little cohesion between them.”
Finding a bridge between two tech stacks
Orikan’s challenge was not simply one of replacing software. The company delivers a complex mix of physical infrastructure, digital products and managed services. This includes on-street parking meters, pay-by-phone applications, enforcement systems used by officers in the field and back-office processing services delivered on behalf of customers. Each of these services generates data and dependencies across the customer life cycle.
Prior to consolidation, CRM data was split across a range of tools that provided partial functionality. Project management and support teams relied on separate systems, often supplemented by spreadsheets and manual processes. Reporting required specialist knowledge and even infrequent tasks such as generating a new report could become time-consuming.
“There was no single source of truth,” Krishnamoorthy said. “Our teams had to work hard just to understand where a customer was at, what products they were using and what commitments we had made.”
Gaining end-to-end visibility across the customer life cycle became increasingly important. While service level agreements were clearly defined, managing them consistently across a diverse customer base and product portfolio required more connected systems and real-time insight. At the same time, ongoing growth through new customers, services and employees reinforced the need for a platform that could scale without adding operational complexity.
Platform consolidation with flexibility
Soon after joining Orikan, Krishnamoorthy and his team began a formal review of the organisation’s enterprise software environment. The objective was to reduce complexity, eliminate duplication and create a unified platform that could support CRM, service management, project delivery and future growth.
After evaluating several options, Orikan selected Zoho One, a bundled suite of applications spanning CRM, help desk, projects and security. Flexibility was a decisive factor.
“Zoho One stood out because it gave us room to grow,” said Krishnamoorthy. “It enabled us access to a broad set of integrated tools that we could deploy as the business evolved.”
The initial focus was on Zoho CRM, implemented with support from Zoho partners. Orikan mapped existing use cases, data structures and workflows, then migrated core sales and customer data. From there, Zoho Desk was introduced to manage customer support, followed by Zoho Projects to handle implementation and configuration work linked directly to deals.
Critically, these systems were connected. When a deal is closed in CRM, a corresponding project is automatically created in Zoho Projects, with relevant data carried over and the project team notified immediately. Support tickets raised via email or the customer portal are routed to Zoho Desk, where they are tracked through to resolution, customer feedback and reporting.
Despite the scale of change, adoption proved smoother than expected. The cutover was completed over a single weekend, with teams quickly adapting to the new environment.
“We did not see the resistance to change that people often expect,” Krishnamoorthy said. “The interfaces are intuitive and even with basic training teams were able to pick it up and run with it.”
Improvements in visibility, efficiency and enabling proactive service
Today, Zoho CRM acts as Orikan’s central system of record, connecting sales, implementation and support teams. Blueprints guide sales teams, ensuring consistent data capture and forecasting. Workflows and notifications alert teams as deals progress, enabling faster handover and delivery.
Zoho Desk provides full visibility into customer requests, with SLA tracking, automated alerts and an expanding knowledge base supporting agents across products. Integration with Microsoft Teams ensures that high-priority tickets are surfaced to the right teams immediately.
Analytics has been equally transformative. Orikan now has real-time dashboards covering support performance, ticket resolution times and pipeline health. At a customer level, the business can forecast revenue by quarter and compare performance against budget with confidence.
Perhaps most significantly, Orikan has shifted from reactive issue management to proactive service delivery. With better data and automation, teams can identify risks early and engage customers before issues escalate.
Low-code development through Zoho Creator has further extended the platform’s value. Processes once managed through spreadsheets and email, such as hardware inventory and stock management, are now handled through custom applications. In one instance, a new internal request management app was deployed within days to handle thousands of requests, using an imported spreadsheet as the foundation.
A platform for growth
As Orikan continues to expand, Zoho One provides a consistent foundation for onboarding new staff, launching new services and scaling operations without adding unnecessary complexity. With learning tools and shared systems across teams, the business can maintain alignment as it grows.
“Zoho One really is the gift that keeps on giving,” said Krishnamoorthy. “Every time we look at a new requirement, we find there is already a capability we can use or something we can build quickly. It has given us confidence that our systems will not hold us back as we grow.”
For Orikan, consolidation was not just about cost or simplification. It was about creating a connected, data-driven organisation capable of delivering reliable, proactive services to customers who depend on it.
