Zoho CRM Feature Requests - SMS and Emails to Custom Modules & Time Zone Form Field

Zoho CRM Feature Requests - SMS and Emails to Custom Modules & Time Zone Form Field

TLDR:

  1. Add Date/Time/Timezone form field, and be able to turn off auto timezone feature.

  2. Allow for Zoho Voices CRM SMS Extension to be able to be added to custom modules, and cases.

  3. Create a feature that tracks emails by tracking the email chain, rather than just bringing in all of the emails for a contact or a lead, as that is not viable with custom modules.

  4. Create a roadmap that shows us what features are coming to Zoho CRM in the coming months.

  5. Additionally, CRM has already had someone contact me to talk about these features which is pretty neat.

Not gonna have any karma, as I am just making this account for my company so that I can try to get these form fields and features approved.

I have been using Zoho CRM for over half a year now, and I want to highlight some key improvements that I believe would greatly benefit the system. There are three specific areas: the Date/Time form field, emails, and SMS integrations. Additionally, I believe Zoho CRM has the potential to evolve from a standard CRM into a full-fledged ERP. This transition would not be difficult if Zoho simply allowed for more customization within the CRM. I strongly propose that the CRM team focuses on maximizing customizability and, for gosh sakes, releases a public roadmap for the platform.

  1. The Date/Time Form Field is Limited Zoho currently uses a feature where the Date/Time field automatically adjusts based on a user's local time zone. For example, if Tommy in Eastern Time enters 8 AM on 2/11/2026, Brian in Central Time sees 7 AM.

While not inherently a bad idea, this creates major issues. If my company operates strictly on Eastern Standard Time, but Brian works in Central Time, he has to do mental math. If he needs to schedule a task for Tommy at 9 AM Eastern, Brian has to enter 8 AM Central. If he forgets and enters 9 AM, the task is actually due at 10 AM Eastern.

This gets exponentially more complicated for field workers, like an electrician operating across multiple time zones. How does Zoho calculate their time zone based on phone location or zip code? For national or global companies working across all 38 time zones, checking schedules requires constant mental gymnastics. For most large companies, this alone is a dealbreaker or forces expensive custom coding.

Currently, my team is forced to use a plain text box for times just to bypass this auto-conversion. This is an absolute nightmare because we cannot pull data from a text field, and sorting is impossible. I propose that Zoho CRM and Creator add the ability to turn off this auto-conversion and introduce a dedicated Date/Time/Timezone field for users with complex scheduling rules.

  1. Zoho Voice SMS Extension Limitations The SMS extension built by the Zoho Voice team is an awesome widget. However, I am incredibly frustrated by the support process. On September 12, I requested that this extension be made available for Custom Modules and Cases. Over the next few months, I exchanged around 50 emails and had multiple meetings with support. It was only today, on 2/19/2026, that I was informed by a CRM technician that this is actually a CRM limitation, not a Zoho Voice limitation.

I am quite upset that no one mentioned this during months of communication. This highlights a recurring issue with Zoho: the lack of public-facing roadmaps, no transparent way to track feature requests, and poor communication between departments. Having a public roadmap would not only give customers clarity but also ensure different Zoho departments understand each other's limitations.

I am requesting that the CRM team allows us to enable these widgets for Cases and Custom Modules. I know it requires more coding and field mapping on Zoho's end, but it is entirely possible. Other third-party applications can already do this, so if external tools can integrate with custom modules, why am I even using Zoho Voice?

  1. Email Integration in Custom Modules This ties into the email conundrum. We use a Custom Module for Work Orders and want the ability to tie a specific email to that record's related list. Currently, it pulls in every single email related to the associated Contact or Lead. This is unhelpful when we are trying to use CRM as the single source of truth for all employees.

Because CRM is the most robust option in the Zoho ecosystem (aside from Creator, which struggles with complex math), Zoho is missing the secret sauce. They should build CRM as a fully customizable platform and use the rest of the stack for separate functions. This means allowing Custom Modules and all standard modules to fully integrate with standard tools like email, calendar, and SMS. Clients ultimately want to integrate their entire tech stack directly into the CRM.

For example, Zoho Inventory has been around for over a decade but is extremely limited compared to other warehouse management systems. If Zoho focused on building that functionality directly into the CRM, it would be amazing. Look at Zoho FSM, which was built using Creator. That app could easily exist within CRM with a few tweaks. But if you ask the Inventory or FSM teams to customize something, they repeatedly tell you to build it out in Creator or CRM instead. With the rise of AI and Zia, many of these auxiliary tools are going to become redundant. What can Inventory or FSM do that could not be done better and customized more within the CRM?

Ultimately, this is a request for these features to be expanded in Zoho CRM. Zoho is a fantastic, highly affordable application, but it needs to allow customers to build unlimited use cases within this environment. Right now, Zoho CRM operates like a light ERP. With a few more tweaks, it could easily outstrip tools like NetSuite or SAP. By combining Zoho Flow, Analytics, CRM, and Creator, you can build almost anything, but the lack of native CRM customization creates unnecessary roadblocks. Zoho One is already trying to be an ERP; you just need to allow for more customization and publish a public-facing roadmap.

Please let me know if you agree or disagree with this. Even getting a simple Date/Time/Timezone form field would drastically improve our processes.

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