From the beginning, we have aimed to help distributed teams work as if they were sitting in the same room. Through our journey, we discovered that the whiteboard was at the center of a lot of team ceremonies—a place where people would gather around, share their ideas, express themselves and solve big challenges. We called our product RealtimeBoard—this name was direct and defined a brand-new category of collaboration tools which help teams to align around a shared vision in real time.

We’re living in the era of instant gratification. The realm of customer support is no exception. Customers today expect companies to respond to their queries or complaints almost as soon as a ticket is raised, and demand a quick resolution of the issue. In fact, the First Response Rate is now increasingly gaining importance as companies are beginning to see the kind of positive impact it has on customer satisfaction.

In a company’s early days, a nascent support team’s ability to practice empathy and provide personalized customer service plays a crucial role in building a foundation for future growth. But what happens when success comes knocking? Whether it’s a ballooning customer base or pulling the trigger on that long-planned-for push toward global operations, many businesses grapple with a perplexing problem: how can a customer service team maintain that personal touch as it scales?

Online and offline retailers are at war. For years, offline retailers have been struggling to stem the tide of shoppers leaving their stores, abandoning them for the convenience of online shopping. But this year, finally, their efforts have seen some positive press. It’s not a matter of if, but when. So here’s the question for both retailers: How does online and offline customer service compare, and does it really make a difference?

If there’s one thing the folks at Zoho Projects have learned all these years, it’s how incredibly diverse you and your companies are. You’ve shown us how creative you can be in the way you use our features and the way you adapt Zoho Projects to fit your teams. We’ve kept this diversity in mind as our product has grown and evolved.