Building Extensions #1 - Introduction to Developer Series on Extension development for Zoho Desk

This series aims to equip developers with all they need to build extensions for Zoho Desk in Zoho Sigma and publish them in Zoho Marketplace.

Hey Developers!

Welcome to our Developer Community series for Zoho Desk. This series from Zoho Marketplace is focused on educating developers who want to build extensions for Zoho Desk. Through this series, we will be guiding you through everything you need to do to build extensions for Zoho Desk and get them published in Zoho Marketplace.

Let's start with Zoho Marketplace.

Zoho Marketplace is an online store where Zoho users can find extensions that can enhance the core functionality of the Zoho product they use. It is similar to Google's Play Store, where users find apps to install and use according to their needs.

What are extensions?

Extensions are built to enhance the features of existing Zoho products or integrate a third-party application with Zoho software for various business purposes. As a result, all the necessary information is available in a single place, thus eliminating the need to switch between multiple windows or applications.

What can developers do?

As a developer, you can create extensions that can either combine Zoho Desk's functionalities with that of third-party applications, or enhance an existing functionality of Zoho Desk to provide a better user experience. To create such extensions, you don't need extensive expertise in programming. An adequate knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript can help you to a great extent. Zoho provides an unified developer platform called Sigma, where developers can create their own extensions for various Zoho products. Explore the wide range of extensions for Zoho Desk built and exhibited in Zoho Marketplace.

Once you have developed an extension, you need to submit it in the Marketplace for approval. During the approval process, the extension will be subjected to functional and security testing. You will be provided with feedback for improving the effectiveness of the extension, if necessary. Once approved, it will be listed in Marketplace, allowing Zoho Desk users to discover and use it.

Let's discuss a simple case of how an extension can be integrated with a Zoho product and how it makes the user's work easier.

Imagine, Daniel starts a shipping company and can manage every process manually, at first. When his customer base reaches around 250+, Daniel incorporates Zoho Desk to provide better email support to customers. As the company grows further, he needs a few more applications to solve his business challenges and enable other modes of customer support.

Here, we can see that as the company grows, the number of applications increases. Now it creates more hassle when multiple applications are involved. One effective solution for these hassles is contextual integration, and that is where the extensions come in. Extensions for all the required applications can be built and integrated with Zoho Desk, so that all Daniels's business processes can be handled in one place. We welcome you developers to build these extensions.