Kaizen #159 - Configuring Telephony Extension Widget in Zoho CRM

Hello Developers! 

Welcome back to the Widgets fold in our Kaizen series.

In this post, we will learn how to build a custom telephony extension widget for call centers and deploy it within a Zoho CRM organization. This helps in establishing unified communication support without leaving the platform.

Why configure a Telephony?

Telephony integration with Zoho CRM is vital for businesses that rely heavily on customer communication and sales. Following are a few key reasons for its vitality:

• Centralized Communication: Make and receive calls directly within the CRM, streamlining the communication process.
• Automatic Call Logging: Calls are automatically logged, helping businesses track communication history without manual effort.
• Enhanced Collaboration: Sales, marketing, and customer service teams can access shared communication logs for improved teamwork.
• Automated Follow-Ups: After each call, you can trigger follow-up tasks or emails, ensuring no lead is forgotten.

While the Zoho Marketplace within Zoho CRM offers a variety of telephony extensions, we will look at how to create a private extension that allows you to customize the integration to suit your specific needs.

Note:

For this demonstration, we will use RingCentral as our telephony platform. Although RingCentral is available in the marketplace, we will assume it is a private connected app in this scenario.

Business Scenario

Imagine that you are running a sales agency and you want a widget that lets your sales reps make calls directly from Zoho CRM while tracking all call details seamlessly within CRM records.

The private extension should allow you to control the user interface, customize call-related actions, and manage data flow directly into the CRM, optimizing your sales process.

Creating a Private Telephony Extension

Start by logging into your Zoho CRM account and follow the below steps to build a private extension powered by Zoho Sigma. 

Set Up a Private Extension

1. Navigate to Setup > Marketplace > Extension Builder.

2. Create a workspace in the new tab and click on the New Extension button.Provide the necessary details as shown in the image and choose the service as Zoho CRM.

3. Provide the necessary details as shown in the image and choose the service as Zoho CRM.

4. Click Create.

5. The private extension that you have created will be listed in the Extensions page. Choose your extension and click the edit icon. 

You will be redirected to the Zoho Developer Console. 

Configure the Telephony Widget 

6. In the console, go to Utilities > Connected Apps on the left-side menu.

7. Follow the steps provided in this kaizen to create a new Zoho CRM widget for this use case. 

8. Fill in the details of the application as shown in this image. 

We have chosen External Hosting for the demo, as our sample widget code is hosted on Amazon Web Service (AWS).

Refer to the 'Code Logic for Integration' section below to see how the widget code should be handled.

9. Click Save.

Code Logic for Integration

10. Here is the core logic for handling telephony events like Dial and DialerActive using the Zoho CRM JS SDK:

DialerActive Event Listener:

• This listener is triggered when the softphone icon at the bottom of your screen is toggled.
• It makes a call to the dialed number using Ring Central SDK.
  

Dial Event Listener:

• The listener is activated when a user initiates a call from a Zoho CRM record using the phone icon next to the Phone fields.
  
• The phone button passes the specific record data to the widget, allowing Ring Central to display the record name and dial the number. Following it, the Ring Central SDKs play the role to execute call related functions.
  

Call Completion and Notes Update:

• Once a call ends, the widget opens a note section.
  
• The text added to the widget is fed to the Notes Related List of the corresponding record using the Add Notes SDK.
  

For detailed instructions and to get started, the demo code is available on our GitHub page. Ensure to replace your telephony app credentials, SDKs, and its versions in the rc.js and handler.js files to suit your production needs.

Configure the Call Center

11. Navigate to Build > Telephony in the left menu. 

12. Provide a Name and the Resource Path of your widget. 

13. Click Save.

Packaging and Publishing

14. Go to Package > Publish on the left-side menu and publish the extension. 

15. You will receive a prompt asking if you would like to submit your extension to the Marketplace and avail it like other telephony platforms. 

Once submitted, the review process will take from three weeks to one month for approval.

Instead of waiting for approval, we will proceed with deploying the extension using the private plugin deployment link.

Deploy in your Organization

16. Log into your Zoho CRM organization.

17. Replace the URL of your Zoho CRM page with the deployment link from the Developer Console to install the widget extension.

18. Approve the addition of this extension to your CRM.

19. Once installed, refresh the page and check for the softphone icon at the bottom of your screen.

Click the icon to log in to your telephony platform, such as RingCentral.

Try it Out! 

Once the softphone is installed, try out the following features:

• The softphone icon opens an iframe dialer pad.
• You will see a phone icon near the Phone data fields, enabling quick calls directly from the record.
• After calls, you can take notes and log them as a related list for the CRM record.
  

Additional Components

Consider adding these components to enhance the functionality of your telephony extension widget:

• Call Recordings Widget: Create a related list widget that automatically stores all call recordings for future reference. Refer to this page for help. 
• Call Analytics: Using Ring Central SDKs support users can integrate call duration, frequency, and outcomes into a CRM dashboard Widget for performance tracking.
• Custom Workflow Triggers: With the help of Insert Records SDK in the extension widget, you can automatically log the call details into the Calls module. This enables you to trigger workflow rules for follow-up tasks, notifications, or actions based on call outcomes. 
  

From managing call center operations to automating task follow-ups, the potential of widgets is vast and adaptable to a variety of business needs. We encourage you to explore the complete potential of widgets to build custom solutions that elevate your workflows. 

For further assistance, explore our Widget fold in the Kaizen collection or reach out to us at support@zohocrm.com. You can also drop your questions in the comments below. 

Cheers! 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Related Reading

1. Zoho CRM Widget - An Overview, Installation and Creation, Mobile Compatibility, other Kaizens.
2. Widget SDKs - An Overview, Insert Records API and SDK, Add Notes API and SDK. 
3. Zoho Marketplace - An Overview
4. Zoho Developer Console - An Overview, Creating Extensions, Building Connected Apps, and a Quick Start Guide.
5. RingCentral - Getting Started, Ring Central SDKs.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Previous Post: Kaizen #158 - How to effectively handle API calls to optimize API credits? | Kaizen Collection: Home

• Topic Participants

• Kiruthiga G

  

• Sticky Posts

• Kaizen #197: Frequently Asked Questions on GraphQL APIs

  🎊 Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – We want to hear from you! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

• Kaizen #198: Using Client Script for Custom Validation in Blueprint

  Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – 1 More to the Big Two-Oh-Oh! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

• Celebrating 200 posts of Kaizen! Share your ideas for the milestone post

  Hello Developers, We launched the Kaizen series in 2019 to share helpful content to support your Zoho CRM development journey. Staying true to its spirit—Kaizen Series: Continuous Improvement for Developer Experience—we've shared everything from FAQs

• Kaizen #193: Creating different fields in Zoho CRM through API

  🎊 Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – We want to hear from you! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

• Client Script | Update - Introducing Commands in Client Script!

  Have you ever wished you could trigger Client Script from contexts other than just the supported pages and events? Have you ever wanted to leverage the advantage of Client Script at your finger tip? Discover the power of Client Script - Commands! Commands

• Recent Topics

• CRM templates

  Hello everyone, In my company we use Zoho campaigns where we set up all newsletters and we use Zoho CRM for transactional emails. I have created some templates in Zoho campaigns but from my understanding i cannot use those in Zoho CRM, right?

• Meet Canvas' Grid component: Your easiest way to build responsive record templates

  Visual design can be exciting—until you're knee-deep in the details. Whether it's aligning text boxes to prevent overlaps, fixing negative space, or simply making sure the right data stands out, just ironing out inconsistencies takes a lot of moving parts.

• Addin Support in Zoho Sheet

  Is there any addin support available in zoho sheet as like google marketplace to enhance productivity by connecting with other apps, providing AI data analysis, streamlining business processes, and more?

• Where to integrate Price Book and Product List Price

  Hello, We sync zoho crm all modules with all data to zoho analytics. In zoho crm, we have "Price Books" and "Products" modules, where each product is assigned to a few price books with different list prices. From zoho crm, I am able to export a dataset

• Pending Sales Order Reports

  Pending sale order report is available for any single customer, Individual report is available after 3-4 clicks but consolidated list is needed to know the status each item. please help me.

• Zoho Mail SMTP IP addresses

  We are using Zoho Mail and needs to whitelist IP for some redirections from your service to another e-mails. You can provide IP address list for Zohomail SMTP servers?

• Migrate Your Notes from OneNote to Zoho Notebook Today

  Greetings Notebook Users, We’re excited to introduce a powerful new feature that lets you migrate your notes from Microsoft OneNote to Zoho Notebook—making your transition faster and more seamless than ever. ✨ What’s New One-click migration: Easily import

• Zoho Campaigns - Why do contacts have owners?

  When searching for contacts in Zoho Campaigns I am sometimes caught out when I don't select the filter option "Inactive users". So it appears that I have some contacts missing, until I realise that I need to select that option. Campaigns Support have

• One Contact with Multiple Accounts with Portal enabled

  I have a contact that manages different accounts, so he needs to see the invoices of all the companies he manage in Portal but I found it not possible.. any idea? I tried to set different customers with the same email contact with the portal enabled and

• End Date in Zoho Bookings

  When I give my appointments a 30 minutes time I would expect the software not to even show the End Time.  But it actually makes the user pick an End Time.  Did I just miss a setting?  

• Zoho Commerce

  Hi, I have zoho one and use Zoho Books. I am very interested in Zoho Commerce , especially with how all is integrated but have a question. I do not want my store to show prices for customers that are not log in. Is there a way to hide the prices if not

• email forwarding not working

  Your email forwarding service does not work. I received the confirmation email and completed the confirmation, after that nothing and nothing since no matter what I have tried. Shame as everything else was smooth. I spose it's harder to run one of these web based internet mail services than you guys thought!!! can you fix the email forwarding asap PLEASE!

• Google Ads Conversions Not Being Tracked in Zoho CRM

  We have 3 different conversions created in our Google Ads Account. Only one of the 3 conversion types is tracking in Zoho CRM. Our forms are Elementor Forms that are mapped into Zoho CRM. It apprears to me that all leads are showing up in Zoho CRM, but

• Enable Locations for Expense

  Hi, please enable Locations (ex Branches) for Zoho Expense so that there is consistency between this app and Zoho Books. Thanks in advance.

• Currency abbreviations

  Hello, Im stuck, and need help. I need the currency fields for example, opportunity value, or total revenue, to be abbreviated, lets say for 1,000 - 1K, 1,000,000 - 1M, and so on, how should I do this?

• in the Zoho Creator i have File Upload field get the file on submission of the form Get the File and upload to Zoho Books

  in the Zoho Creator i have File Upload field get the file on submission of the form Get the File and upload to Zoho Books . how I get the file From zoho creator and upload to Zoho Books . using Api response = invokeUrl [ url: "https://www.zohoapis.com/creator/v2.1/data/hh/l130/report/All_Customer_Payments/"+input.ID

• Generate a link for Zoho Sign we can copy and use in a separate email

  Please consider adding functionality that would all a user to copy a reminder link so that we can include it in a personalized email instead of sending a Zoho reminder. Or, allow us to customize the reminder email. Use Case: We have clients we need to

• Syntax for URLs in HTML Snippets

  What are some best practices for inserting a URL in an HTML snippet? I've looked at Zoho Help articles on navigation-based and functional-based URLs, but I'm still unclear on how to incorporate them in an HTML snippet. For example, 1. How do I link to

• Rate Limiting in Zoho Flow (OpenAI API)

  Hi Everyone, We are facing some issues when using Zoho Flow as we have a deluge script running which is making external calls to OpenAI endpoint. Sometimes the response takes more than 30 seconds meaning the script will timeout. We want to implement a

• Placing a condition before converting the LEAD

  Hi,  I need some assistance with Lead conversion. I need to place certain conditions before allowing the user to convert the lead.  For example: up until the certain status's doesn't equal "green" don't allow to convert lead.  I tried creating this using

• it is possible to open a widget via deluge script function

  I have one function that is workflow action I call my fucntion I need to call the internal widget it is possible to open or it have to please tell me the solution

• Creator - Portal Custom Domain

  I will pay $100 in crypto to anyone who can actually get my Creator Custom Domain to function (actually tell me how you got yours to).  Domain verifies, Nothing. I've been fighting it a week, multiple chats to customer service. Clearly I'm doing something wrong.  Some datapoints Domain name itself unimportant, can be a string of numbers.  I need to know what registrars are working for you because GoDaddy does NOT.  Do I need hosting? I've tried both ways and nothing works.  I pushed through Cloudflare

• steps and options to change Domain DNS/Nameservers settings

  Please share the options or steps to change  Domain DNS/Nameservers settings 

• Employees in Leave Policy exceptions

  In the Leave Policies we should be able to add specific employees to the exception list So it will be like All Employees except A,B,C in the exception list, currently we can only add departments etc

• Searching customer field

  Hello, When entering a receipt, we select customer information. The customer information is synced with Zoho CRM. However, we can't find the customer information because it searches for words that begin with the entered value. It needs to search for words

• How I set default email addresses for Sales Orders and Invoices

  I have customers that have different departments that handle Sales Orders and Invoices. How can i set a default email for Sales Orders that's different than the default email for Invoices? Is there a way I can automate this using the Contact Persons Departments

• Modular Permission Levels

  We need more modular Permissions per module in Books we have 2 use cases that are creating problems We need per module export permission we have a use case where users should be able to view the sales orders but not export it, but they can export other

• Kaizen #157: Flyouts in Client Script

  Hello everyone! Welcome back to another exciting edition of our Kaizen series, where we explore fresh insights and innovative ideas to help you discover more and expand your knowledge!In this post, we'll walk through how to display Flyouts in Client Script

• How get stock name from other column ?

  How get stock name from other column ? e.g. =STOCK(C12;"price") where C12 is the code of the stock

• Adding a developer for editing the client application with a single user license

  Hi, I want to know that I as a developer I developed one application and handed over to the customer who is using the application on a single user license. Now after6 months customer came back to me and needs some changes in the application. Can a customer

• Download an email template in html code

  Hello everyone, I have created an email template and I want to download it as html. How can i do that? I know you can do it via the campaigns-first create a campaign add the template and download it as html from there. But what if i don't want to create

• Attachment is not included in e-mails sent through Wordpress

  I have a Wordpress site with Zeptomail Wordpress plugin installed and configured. E-mails are sent ok through Zeptomail but without the included attachment (.pdf file) Zeptomail is used to send tickets to customers through Zeptomail. E-Mails are generated

• Upcoming Changes to the Timesheet Module

  The Timesheet module will undergo a significant change in the upcoming weeks. To start with, we will be renaming Timesheet module to Time Logs. This update will go live early next week. Significance of this change This change will facilitate our next

• Best way to schedule bill payments to vendors

  I've integrated Forte so that I can convert POs to bills and make payments to my vendors all through Books. Is there a way to schedule the bill payments as some of my vendors are net 30, net 60 and even net 90 days. If I can't get this to work, I'll have

• Cant update image field after uploading image to ZFS

  Hello i recently made an application in zoho creator for customer service where customers could upload their complaints every field has been mapped from creator into crm and works fine except for the image upload field i have tried every method to make

• Billing Management: #4 Negate Risk Free with Advances

  In the last post, we explored how unbilled charges accumulate before being invoiced. But what happens when businesses need money before service begins? Picture this: A construction company takes on a $500,000 commercial building project expected to last

• Is there an equivalent to the radius search in RECRUIT available in the CRM

  We have a need to find all Leads and/or Contacts within a given radius of a given location (most likely postcode) but also possibly an address. I was wondering whether anyone has found a way to achieve this in the CRM much as the radius search in RECRUIT

• Zoho CRM Inventory Management

  What’s the difference between Zoho CRM’s inventory management features and Zoho Inventory? When is it better to use each one?

• Cannot Enable Picklist Field Dependency in Products or Custom Modules – Real Estate Setup

  Hello Zoho Support, I am configuring Zoho CRM for real estate property management and need picklist field dependency: What I’ve tried: I started by customizing the Products module (Setup > Modules & Fields) to create “Property Type” (Housing, Land, Commercial)

• Get Workflow Metadata via API

  Is there a way to get metadata on workflows and/or custom functions via API? I would like to automatically pull this information. I couldn't find it in the documentations, but I'm curious if there is an undocumented endpoint that could do this. Moderation

• Next Page