Zoho enhances CX platform with AI-driven workflow improvements

Zoho‘s AI-powered CRM expansion aims to democratize customer data access across organizations, breaking down traditional barriers that confined CRM systems to sales teams. The new “CRM for Everyone” platform leverages Zoho’s proprietary AI engine Zia to enable any employee to create customized workflows, reports, and visual elements without technical expertise, making customer data more accessible and actionable throughout the entire business.

The big picture: Zoho Corporation has enhanced its customer experience platform with deeper AI capabilities and workflow orchestration tools designed to extend CRM functionality beyond traditional sales departments.

• The expanded platform leverages Zoho’s proprietary AI engine, Zia, to enable non-technical users to create reports, modules, and workflows using simple natural language prompts.
• These enhancements aim to eliminate adoption barriers and make customer data more accessible and actionable for all departments.

Key features: The new “CRM for Everyone” platform introduces advanced AI capabilities and cross-departmental coordination tools.

• Users can now generate reports by simply asking Zia, which builds visualizations according to user permissions while allowing real-time modification.
• The platform includes workflow creation through natural language commands, custom module development without coding, and an image-to-canvas feature for transforming images into visual CRM elements.

What they’re saying: Zoho’s leadership emphasizes the need to democratize CRM systems beyond their traditional sales-focused implementation.

• “Multiple people in an organization need access to customer information, yet historically, CRMs have been relegated to only sales teams,” said Mani Vembu, CEO of Zoho.
• Keith Dawson, Director of Research at ISG Software Research, noted: “The promise of generative AI was that it would be able to prune away many of the old barriers to progress. Happily, AI capabilities like Zoho’s are delivering on that promise.”

Behind the numbers: Zoho’s pricing strategy aims to make advanced CRM functionality accessible to non-sales teams without significant cost increases.

• Team user licenses for non-sales CRM users start at $9 per user per month across all paid Zoho CRM editions.
• Most AI capabilities are included in standard license costs without additional fees.

Why this matters: Coordinating customer experience across departments has traditionally been challenging due to siloed systems and processes.

• The new Connected Records feature automatically links activities across team modules, maintaining context throughout the customer journey.
• Connected Workflows serve as an orchestration engine that automates coordination among departments including sales, marketing, onboarding, and finance.

Zoho’s approach: The company emphasizes privacy and value in its AI implementation strategy.

• Zoho’s AI models are not trained on consumer data and do not retain customer information.
• With over 55 apps spanning nearly every business category, Zoho employs more than 15,000 people across its global operations.