Food Industry Foresight simplifies research delivery with Zoho Creator

The company

Food Industry Foresight specializes in market research for the food service and hospitality sector. Headquartered in Australia, the company’s operations extend across Australasia, Southeast Asia, China Region, The Middle East, The Nordic Markets and Europe. With more than a decade of experience using digital tools to manage its work, the organization has steadily evolved its systems to support research delivery.

The challenges

Before adopting Zoho Creator, the operations team relied heavily on manual reporting methods to track project progress. Reports were distributed through emails and spreadsheets, and project updates came via phone calls or delayed messages from the field. This meant managers rarely had a real-time view of how projects were progressing or which clients had accessed the latest research.

The manual system also created risks around intellectual property. With no central access controls, sensitive research could be forwarded, duplicated, or accessed by people outside the subscription. Renewals became another pain point: Identifying which clients were due for renewal required digging through usage records and email trails.

As the company scaled its client base, these issues compounded. What worked for a few dozen clients was no longer practical when delivering research to hundreds of stakeholders spread across different countries. The team needed a solution that could standardize report delivery, safeguard content, and give managers control over client access in real time.

The solution

The team implemented Zoho Creator as a centralized digital platform that directly addressed its three biggest challenges:

• Standardized report delivery Instead of emailing files or juggling spreadsheets, every report is now delivered through a single, structured Creator portal. Clients log in to access their insights, ensuring delivery is consistent, reliable, and easy to scale.
• Safeguarded content Sensitive reports are no longer distributed as attachments that can be forwarded or copied. Creator enforces strict access rules so that reports remain protected, even though the underlying files are stored in Zoho WorkDrive. Intellectual property stays within the portal, under the company’s control.
• Real-time client access control Every subscription is managed in Creator. The team can instantly grant, update, or revoke access depending on contract status. If a subscription ends, access can be switched off immediately, which was impossible with email-based delivery.

Benefits and ROI

• Scalable delivery The team is now able to serve a global client base without increasing their headcount. What once required heavy coordination and manual tracking is now managed by the app, allowing employees to focus on analysis and client relationships.
• Time savings Routine tasks like sending updates, chasing usage data, or checking renewal eligibility are handled automatically. This has cut down administrative hours and allowed the company to reallocate time toward strategic work.
• Higher security and control The organization no longer worries about reports being forwarded or accessed by unauthorized parties. With Creator’s access controls, every subscription is tightly monitored, and content distribution can be adjusted in seconds.
• Improved renewals By tracking usage, the company can spot inactive clients and engage with them before renewal time. This proactive approach helps strengthen customer relationships and increases the likelihood of subscription retention.
• Professional image Clients receive their insights through a portal that looks and feels like an extension of the company’s website. Because of this, clients experience a consistent brand identity every time they log in.
• Centralized content delivery While the files themselves are stored in Zoho WorkDrive, Creator governs the entire delivery process. This combination ensures that even if the files are large or complex, access is only granted through the portal.

Looking forward

Following the success of this initiative, the organization plans to extend Zoho Creator to additional project functions. By building on the current setup, the organization aims to make project monitoring more proactive, ensuring that issues are flagged before they escalate, and improving overall efficiency across departments.