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  • Zoho News Catch-Up: Recognitions from Nucleus Research and Gartner, Lots of Zoho Analytics and Other Apps’ Updates

    Welcome to our weekly catch-up, where you’ll be in the know of all the latest Zoho updates in one place. Let’s go!

    • New functions for Zoho CRM, Zoho Analytics, and Zoho Social

    Zoho is Named as Leader in Nucleus Research CRM Technology Value Matrix 2022

    (Image via Nucleus Research)

    For the second year in a row, Zoho has been included in the Leader category, demonstrating once again Zoho CRM’s high functionality and flexibility in customizations. Plus, it has been a constantly reliable CRM platform for customers worldwide. And these are just some of the key characteristics that have made some usual competitors fall outside the Value Matrix. Read the Nucleus Research report.

    Zoho Recognized as a Niche Player in 2022 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms

    (Image via Gartner)

    Zoho Analytics makes its Gartner debut thanks to its CX: Gartner Peer Insight reviewers found that the overall experience with the vendor is above average in comparison to other Magic Quadrant vendors. Gartner also praised Zoho Analytics’ natural language query: the AI Ask Zia functionality lets users to ask questions about their data in natural language. It also supports complex analytical questions by using words like “rank,” “compare,” “predict” or “convert,” as well as automatically handling time reasoning. Read the Gartner report.

    Other Zoho Analytics Updates

    New Features

    • Zoho Analytics now seamlessly integrates with Shopify to provide detailed analytics of your e-commerce information. 
    • Webhooks can now be leveraged to trigger alert notifications or custom workflows when data alert conditions are met. 

    Enhancements

    White Label users can now do the domain mapping and domain verification from Zoho Analytics’ user interface. (Image via Zoho)
    • Email views from organization email addresses (besides to the default notifications@zohoanalytics.com). You’ll be able to add multiple email addresses as Organization email address, and email reports and dashboards using these addresses.  
    • The Zoho Analytics’ Dependency Details option for the views has been improved
    • Views now include the Dashboards where the view is embedded. 
    • Table includes immediate child table.
    • Query Table now has multiple level parent tables and child tables. 
    • Dependency details can be invoked from Explorer and Model Diagram. 
    • Zoho Analytics now supports importing Keyhole Markup Language (KML) files as spatial data file to create Geo visualization. 
    • DataPrep functionalities are now available while importing from another Zoho Analytics workspace. 
    • Data Snapshot History: it will be now maintained only for 45 days.
    • Delete rows and columns from tables using the keyboard delete option.
    (Image via Zoho)

    Zoho CRM

    Translation options are now available for modules, subforms, and related lists. Learn more.

    Zoho Social

    The multichannel social media management platform now has the photo editor option. This allows to customize an image to fit the size requirements for each social channel. Learn more and watch the tutorial.

    That’s all for now, IC readers! See you next week for more Zoho updates from InterConnecta!

  • Zoho SalesIQ Updates: Deprecation and 2.0 Version

    One year after launching the 2.0 version of Zoho SalesIQ, Zoho Corporation has announced that the old user interface will be deprecated on May 4, 2022.

    Image via Zoho.

    The redesign transformed the live chat software to become a customer engagement platform so business and customer communications could be easier. In a statement, Zoho said:

    “One year later, we’ve reached the point where it’s time to deprecate the old UI and make the SalesIQ 2.0 the default. As of May 4, 2022, you will no longer be able to access the old UI. This means that if you haven’t already switched to the new version, we encourage you to go ahead and make that change now so you can ease into it at your own pace.”

    We’ll share with you what’s new in Zoho SalesIQ 2.0, which includes 23 new features and 27 feature enhancements.

    Zoho Sales IQ 2.0 and its New Features

    The new 23 features include access to a simple drag-and-drop interface to build bots, while another feature gives the ability to create specific bots that automatically pull answers from resource libraries. Also, there are now more integrations, which include Facebook Messenger and Telegram. Other features from version 2.0 include:

    • Fork conversations in chats

    • Use of tags for organization

    • Translation to local languages

    • Built-in screensharing to help customers through complex queries

    • Profanity management to safeguard business ethics

    Besides new features, Zoho has created a faster and more user-friendly version of SalesIQ, while retaining the existing features that customers use and like. Beta-testing allowed to fix issues and improve features.

    To read the full article, click here.

    Please note that the new version will be made permanent by Zoho on May 4, 2022, and the old UI will be deprecated. If you need assistance with this change, feel free to contact us.

  • Zoho Social Announces Integration with Pinterest

    Zoho Social, the social media management tool from Zoho Corporation, has recently announced their latest third-party app integration: Pinterest, which has been long-awaited by Zoho users.

    According to Zoho Social, the purpose of this addition is to help their users to step up their visual marketing while integrating their efforts throughout social media platforms.

    This integration lets Zoho Social users to create and immediately publish Pins, in which a source link can also be added. The same can be done with the option of scheduling Pins for a later time or date. This also includes a custom schedule feature that helps you add your Pins to a content pipeline: pre-set a timetable for days of the week according to your preferences. Pins’ reposts can also be set every few weeks or months.

    The Zoho Social and Pinterest integration allows you to create, publish, and schedule Pins. (Image via Zoho)

    Another feature from the Pinterest integration is the Reports module, which includes various summaries for performance, engagement, and impressions; as well as custom reports. These can be sent to your inbox on a weekly or monthly basis, plus you can email or export reports to your teammates and clients.

    Finally, the Zoho Social’s Design on Canva button allows you to create and edit designs to post on Pinterest.

    To read the full article, click here.

    Are you considering to implement Zoho Social to manage your business’ social media channels and branding? Then click here for more information.

  • Zoho CRM Winter Update: Multi-Organization Support, Improved Forecasting and Reporting Among New Features

    Zoho Corporation has recently released a number of updates in their Zoho CRM platform. These will continue help users to seamlessly run their business operations with the latest technologies. Without further ado, here’s our summary of their winter update.

    Client Scripting

    Its purpose is to empower developers to use JavaScript codes to extend the capabilities of the Zoho CRM system to deal with niche business needs. Because scripts are executed entirely on the client side, teams can address an extensive variety of requirements through these low-latency scripts that perform actions like field validation, computations, auto-population, UI actions, along with trigger widgets, flyouts, and functions while working with Zoho CRM data.

    Omnichannel Communication

    To build on the strong omnichannel communication platform that’s already in place, Zoho CRM has introduced enhancements across their email and telephony systems to help sales teams to be more effective.

    Email Permissions

    This allows to make emails available to every user in your CRM or just to a small group of key decision makers for confidentiality purposes. You can define your email sharing policy at the organizational level for each role and mass update the policy for users, so you can quickly set email sharing permissions for new employees or update them when users move to different roles in your CRM.

    The option of multiple telephony vendors allows to move users between different providers based on your business needs. (Image via Zoho)

    Multiple Telephony Vendors

    This gives your business the flexibility to assign individuals or groups of users to different telephony systems and move users between different providers based on your business needs.

    Built-In Telephony

    Purchase local or toll-free numbers for your organization’s users and assign them unique outgoing numbers to help your sales representatives build a personal connection with customers.

    More Automations

    These are multiple scoring rules for prioritizing your prospects, which lets you set up unique scoring models for different requirements. Therefore, each model can have its own set of attributes and engagements that contribute to the score. This allows your sales, marketing, and service teams to identify and prioritize the right leads or customers.

    The other automation helps understand the underlying causes of workflow failures. Get in-depth information regarding when and where your workflows fail, and all the records that are affected. Your team can use this data to resolve the underlying issues so your workflows can run properly.

    Artificial Intelligence

    Zia, Zoho CRM’s artificial intelligence assistant, now provides recommendations to new customers based on the purchase patterns of existing customers with similar profiles and provide appropriate reasoning for each recommendation. Zia will also collect information and send automatic notifications to your sales reps when a recommendation is ready.

    In addition, you can now build workflows that can automatically send the right communication to your customers based on Zia’s recommendations.

    The completely renovated forecasting system allows to drill down into the data to compare in a detailed manner your current performance with previous fiscal years. (Image via Zoho)

    Forecasts, Performance, and Reports

    The existing forecasting system has been revamped in its entirety to make it more robust and give more control to your business. Build multiple forecasts for different periods, leverage predictive AI to track where you’ll be at the end of your forecasting period, and drill down into the data to compare in a detailed manner your current performance with previous fiscal years.

    Regarding reports, Zoho CRM now allows you to analyze, monitor, and track your business health while providing what you need for important decision-making. An easy-to-use visual builder makes easier to generate complex and precise reports. Obtain more granular access to your CRM data by viewing shared entries or unique entries in two or more related modules with the new inclusive/exclusive relationship tool. Plus, discover deeper insights into your CRM data by joining multiple reports into one.

    Multiple CRM Accounts Access with a Common Set of Credentials

    Associate a user with multiple CRM accounts to allow business owners, upper management, and decision makers to effortlessly manage multiple businesses or business units. Users are able to switch between accounts instantly for easier access of key business data to understand growth and gain insights for preparing reports, agendas, and ideas for future planning.

    Other Zoho CRM winter updates include:

    • Personalization of emails and email signatures

    • Sales calls management

    • Setting apart sales data into zones

    • Webform analytics

    • User experience

    • Color tags

    • Administrator central

    To read the full article, click here.

    Are you considering to implement or improve Zoho CRM Workflow Automation in your business? Then click here for more information.

  • Nucleus Research Names Zoho as One of the Hot Companies to Watch in 2022

    Nucleus Research has published its annual list of Hot Companies to Watch in 2022, in which it has included Zoho for the second year in a row. According to Nucleus’ report, all eleven companies have shown high levels of performance that set them up for continuous success in this year and beyond.

    Nucleus Research Names Zoho as One of the Hot Companies to Watch in 2022

    The criteria of the ROI-focused technology research and advisory services company evaluated the capability of the vendors to execute strategic initiatives and retain their positioning relative to competitors. Nucleus notes that the vendors featured in their research “have moved towards driving customer value amid an uncertain work landscape.”

    Zoho appears on this list for another consecutive year thanks to their solid customer growth and momentum, and a continued expansion into new application areas with high demand. These areas include data integration, data preparation, UX design, and low-code application development, among others.

    The report highlights that Zoho is “rapidly growing” and adding capabilities throughout their 50+ apps within the Zoho One ecosystem. According to Nucleus, Zoho One’s growth is “completely scalable and self-contained” because it operates its proprietary cloud worldwide, doesn’t sell or share user data for ads or other types of revenue, and leverages a unified data model throughout all apps to streamline integration and deployment. In terms of market positioning, Nucleus had the following to say:

    “Zoho occupies a unique position in the market in that it delivers comprehensive functionality, both in the breadth of applications and in individual application functionality and customization potential, but at a significantly lower price than competing enterprise solutions. […] It has a growing stable of large enterprise customers and has demonstrated the capability of delivering and maintaining a system with thousands of monthly users.”

    Nucleus Research

    Finally, the report acknowledges how “value bets are always the safest play” in times of economic turbulence like the ones we’re living now and, despite that, Zoho has a proven history of providing high value through various deployment sizes and industries. “Its [Zoho’s] lower cost and rapid average deployment time (days to weeks, not months to years) make it a lesser risk investment for companies looking to test a capability or workflow,” concludes Nucleus.

    To read the full report, click here.

    Are you considering to implement or improve a Zoho solution in your business? Our expert and Certified Zoho Consultants can help you! Click here to learn more about our Zoho Consulting Services.

  • Zoho CRM Tops PCMag’s Best CRM Software for 2022

    Zoho CRM continues to get industry recognitions by topping PCMag’s list of “Best CRM Software for 2022.” For their annual list, the online publication tested and reviewed the CRM systems that are currently available on the market. This resulted in Zoho CRM obtaining a 4.5 rating: the same as Salesforce.

    The CRM software built by Zoho Corporation received the Editors’ Choice distinction for having “balanced feature sets and thoughtful integration features.” PCMag’s review highlighted the following:

    “Zoho CRM does a great job of delivering an excellent feature mix at a competitive price as well as integration with a long list of compatible Zoho products; all in all an easy pick for Editors’ Choice.”

    PCMag

    The online technology magazine highlights that one of the ongoing trends in CRM solutions is the consolidation into bigger product ecosystems. This goes hand in hand with Zoho CRM, which isn’t just the flagship suite of solutions in its ecosystem. Instead, it establishes the template for their other business solutions.

    This PCMag recognition comes on the heels of another one. Towards the end of 2021, Forbes Advisor gave Zoho CRM a 4.6 rating, surpassing all their competitors.

    To read the full article, click here.

    Are you considering to implement or improve Zoho CRM Workflow Automation in your business? Then click here for more information.

  • CRM in 2022: Trends and Predictions

    Another year has left the party and a new one has just arrived. Curiosity invades our thoughts, wondering what will bring 2022 in all aspects, including CRM (well, at least for us CRM-obsessed people!). In this article (which has already become our annual tradition), we’ll show you what’s in store for Customer Relationship Management. Let’s begin!

    Image by Vlad Deep via Unsplash

    CRM will be More Social

    This trend continues to be strong, since it was also our CRM trend for 2021. With over 3 billion active social media users around worldwide, there’s no doubt businesses need social media strategies to expand brand exposure, reach, and engagement; as well as bringing new leads. When CRM integrates with social media channels, businesses can capitalize on social media information to understand customers in order to provide them a better customer experience, as well as obtain market insights. Moreover, businesses can be able to create improved product offerings, and reply to queries and comments from customers in a more efficient and fast way.

    Other benefits of a social media and CRM integration are allowing businesses to publish relevant content, getting immediate customer feedback to improve the company’s services, and empowering the customer support team.

    CRM Software will be Powered by AI

    This one is another 2021 CRM trend that continues to gain traction. Although CRM software is fully functional and powerful by itself, it takes the game to another level when integrating with Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI-driven CRM systems allow businesses to store, manage, use, and gather better data to make business decisions that are required to be fact-driven and fast.

    AI-powered systems have many benefits for businesses: tailor-made interactions and experiences for improved customer engagement and retention; customer segmentation based on specific criteria; more manageable lead management; intelligent recommendations throughout the sales funnel’s stages for better decisions; and increased team productivity and efficiency (with functions to make phone calls; schedule meetings, follow up leads, among others).

    When CRM integrates with social media channels, businesses can capitalize on social media information to understand customers in order to provide them a better customer experience, as well as obtain market insights. (Image by Jeremy Bezanger via Unsplash)

    CRM Systems that are Voice-Enabled

    Voice technology is quickly turning into a crucial part of customer relationship strategy. A voice-enabled CRM Software enables customers to process transactions via phone by identifying customers by their “voiceprints”, which ditches the need of entering PINs or passwords.

    Your sales team can take advantage of this by updating data in an efficient manner, keeping track of conversations, and automated messaging. Furthermore, it allows businesses to capture more data and gain more meaningful insights from it. With the latter, businesses are able to make better predictions.

    CRM Systems will be IoT-Enabled

    The Internet of things (IoT) has become a huge game-changer when it comes to CRM technology. IoT integration gives CRM systems broad insights regarding customer behavior. This makes possible to respond better and quickly to customers.

    Also, companies can identify customer dissatisfaction, which allows them to act in a proactive manner for loyalty retention; service representatives are able to solve problems faster and successfully; and businesses are able to fix errors in products before customers can be aware of them.

    Undoubtedly, CRM keeps improving and becoming more integrated with other technologies. And now, more than ever, with the challenges that arose from times changing quicker than ever, we are sure that other exciting trends will continue take place within this decade.

    Happy 2022, dear IC readers!

    To read the full article, click here.

    Are you considering to implement or improve Zoho CRM Workflow Automation in your business? Then click here for more information.

  • Forbes Reviews Zoho One’s Unification Capabilities

    As we recently announced, Zoho One has released its 21st version with many interesting and advanced updates that have caught the attention of many, including Forbes. In this article, we summarize what Forbes had to say about this unified and cloud-based suite of more than fifty integrated business applications.

    Image via Zoho

    SaaS Updates

    Forbes mentions that Zoho One has several benefits, which include offloading application management, updates to the vendor, and having a subscription model tied to resource usage. Moreover, updates in the SaaS model are instantly available to all. This means that new features are evaluated quickly, so you have nothing to download nor install. This gives calmness to customers because they know that their technology is current.

    Forbes highlights that it’s easier to deliver “superior customer engagement and operational excellence” when all the enterprise applications are in a unified platform since it reduces customization costs and complex integrations. Also, a unified platform with a single data source and reporting solution is ideal when organizations are turning to big data, AI, and machine learning applications. Greater security is another benefit that unified systems offer within a SaaS environment to enable business processes, consistent governance, approvals, and more.

    A glimpse of Zoho Lens. (Image via Zoho)

    New and pandemic-aware improvements

    Because customers depend on more on digital channels to sell products nowadays, Zoho released Zoho Commerce in Zoho One to allow customers to grow an online business. With Zoho Commerce you can build a website, take orders, process payments, track inventory, manage shipping, market your brand, and analyze data in the online store.

    Moreover, Zoho added three new applications to the Zoho One suite to make remote collaboration easier and improved: Zoho Lens (for field service technicians to help solve problems faster and reduce on-site visits with augmented reality), Zoho Learn (a knowledge and learning management platform designed to capture and retain the team’s expertise and build training programs), and Team Inbox (a shared inbox for teams that eliminates the need for cc’s and duplicate responses).

    Another new app in Zoho One is Data Prep, which is powered by AI and discovers errors in data from multiple sources.

    Zoho One’s customizable dashboard allows to view and arrange all the data your business needs, thanks to 50+ smart widgets. (Image via Zoho)

    New and better services

    Forbes also emphasizes the 1500+ pre-built reports and dashboards in Zoho One to help synthesize data. As soon as the data in the CRM system, help desk, or a third-party application, all of it is understood and brought into analytics, and then populated into the pre-built reports. Regardless of technical abilities, Zoho has made it easier for any customer to obtain reports with natural language processing.

    With that in mind, the new back-end service called Work Graph creates a graph mapping out the different connections between an individual, the contacts, projects, and conversations with others across numerous tools like email and chat.

    Meanwhile, Mobile Applications Management enables IT to manage devices remotely, and it includes the automatic assignment and installation of specific applications to certain users, updating the operating system, and mandating security policies.

    Org Dictionary is another new tool in Zoho One. It’s a unified dictionary for the organization that is used across all writing pieces and different applications that will come to be specific to the organization.

    Forbes’ Conclusion of Zoho One

    Forbes concludes their review on Zoho One by praising their unified user interface that allows to look and move around all of the suite’s applications. This is provided by unified navigation, calendar, and a dashboard with over 50 pre-built widgets that span the entire business operations, always personalized on the home screen of each user. “These changes improve the overall experience of Zoho One as more streamlined and efficient,” states Forbes. “Third-party integrations are now unified and can be brought into the Zoho One ecosystem allowing access to all applications, whether Zoho or third-party.”

    To read the full article, click here.

    Are you looking to optimize or implement Zoho One in your company? Then click here and sign up for a free trial of Zoho One.

  • Zoho One Expands and Revamps with New Technology

    Zoho One, the unified and cloud-based operating system for business, has revealed a major update in its 21st version. This one includes five new apps, three new services, and seven major platform enhancements.

    Image via Zoho

    Raju Vegesna, Chief Evangelist at Zoho, said the following statement about the new Zoho One”

    “The experience that employees, customers, partners, and suppliers get when dealing with businesses is typically a reflection of how that business and its systems are structured internally. Today, the majority of systems are disconnected as a result of siloed solutions offered by vendors. Unification of a business requires unification of the underlying systems, which can then provide a truly unified experience, internally and externally, along with unified insights. Zoho One was created with this vision and keeps expanding its unbeatable value with new additions and improvements year over year.”

    The improvements to this operating system include the following:

    Unified and Real-time Insights

    • Embedded and Conversational BI: Zoho One now features embedded and conversational analytics that enables decision makers to submerge into their data and gather cross-departmental insights with natural language commands using Zia Insights. 1,500+ pre-built analytics reports and dashboards are provided for quicker and more precise critical business decisions.
    • Data Preparation: DataPrep, powered by machine learning, helps business users integrate, model, cleanse, transform, enrich, and catalog data. It also allows an integration with Zoho Analytics or a third-party app for newly discovered insights.
    • Work Graph: Zoho’s new back-end service, according to them, is “an industry-first for business software, maps interactions between people, resources, systems, and processes by studying signals and their strength across the board to build a business-wide work graph that is specific to each individual within the organization. The result of a work graph will be seen in the day-to-day productivity of users across various apps.”
    • Enterprise Search: Now powered by Zia, this actionable, organization-wide search now understands natural language requests. This will lead to more accurate data discovery across teams and functions.
    Zoho One already integrates with more than 1,000 third-party solutions on Zoho Marketplace. (Image via Zoho)

    More Efficient Operations Scalability and Management for Volatile Scenarios

    • Mobile Application Management (MAM): Zoho One now includes enterprise-grade Mobile App Management capabilities. Admins can effortlessly add and manage all of their users’ devices for improved insight, specific app permissions and policies, locking and wiping devices remotely, and more.
    • Zoho Commerce: The addition enables retailers to build online shops without hassle and with the tools needed to create a website, accept orders, track inventory, process payments, manage shipping, market their brand, and analyze data. Plus, it integrates with third-party payment gateways.

    Solid Employee Experiences Regardless of Location

    • Zoho Learn: This just-released app is a learning management tool that enables interactive training programs and assessments with Zoho’s course builder, and it was made for nurturing employee growth.
    • Zoho Lens: This app gives remote assistance and guidance to employees through augmented reality (AR) via real-time AR annotation, VoIP and text chat, and more. This ensures improved communication and collaboration in a remote-work setting.
    • TeamInbox: A shared email inbox between teams aimed to eliminate task duplication and streamline email conversations in one central place.
    • Org Dictionary: Another industry-first, this service provides a central dictionary for the entire organization. It automatically incorporates the employee name and other sources offering a central and stable diction across various Zoho applications and users.

    Unified and Personalized Experience with Context

    • Unified Console, Dashboards, and Smart-Stack UI: Employees can see their apps, services, and dashboards in one view with centralization across calendars, navigation, among others.
    • Customizable Dashboard with Pre-Built Widgets: This offers users visibility across the organization in a single view with the ability to go deeper with just one click away.

    The Zoho One platform already integrates with more than 1,000 third-party solutions on Zoho Marketplace and now expands integration with 100+ telephony providers to enable seamless communications between stakeholders. Moreover, Zoho One includes a comprehensive platform for developers and business users to create, extend, and integrate. The platform includes Canvas, Zoho Creator, and Catalyst.

    To read the full article, click here.

    Are you looking to optimize or implement Zoho One in your company? Then click here and sign up for a free trial of Zoho One.

  • Study Reveals Digital Transformation is Related to Financial Performance

    It’s more than safe to say that we live in a digital world. From grocery shopping to work meetings, many of us have a world of possibilities thanks to the digital world. According to a survey from industry analyst firm Valoir, most companies are ongoing with digital transformation projects, in which the average company has gone through 70% of the process. Valoir also discovered a correlation between digital transformation and financial performance: companies that are ahead in their digital transformation process gain approximately twice the revenue growth in comparison to companies that are behind.

    Image by Frank Busch via Unsplash

    Image by Frank Busch via UnsplashRebecca Wettemann, CEO of Valoir, explained that plenty of companies have experienced the challenge of assessing the value of their efforts. She also added the following:

    “We found that advancing digital transformation drives both revenue and margin improvements by improving efficiency and delivering better customer and employee experiences.”

    Other findings revealed that human resources departments have a delay when compared to departments like marketing, customer service, operations, and IT when it comes to digital transformation. Less than 20% of the 1,400 companies worldwide that were surveyed have implemented digital and current HR capabilities in crucial areas like training, real-time analytics, mentoring, and reskilling.

    Wettemann also added: “Despite all the recent hype around employee experience, clearly companies have prioritized digital transformation efforts on customer experience and other areas. Given the Great Resignation, attracting and retaining talent has become a top priority. Digital transformation is crucial for improving the employee experience in today’s hybrid workforce.”

    The study conducted by Valoir also discovered that the most advanced industries in terms of digital transformation are financial services, high tech, and healthcare; while consumer goods, the public sector, and utilities lag behind. Moreover, Latin America and North America are ahead of other regions in digital transformation.

    To read the full article, click here.

    Are you interested to join the digital transformation for your business? Or would you like to improve the programs you already have in place? Then click here to learn more about Zoho CRM.

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