Introducing Connected Records to bring business context to every aspect of your work in Zoho CRM for Everyone
Hello Everyone,
We are excited to unveil phase one of a powerful enhancement to CRM for Everyone - Connected Records, available only in CRM's Nextgen UI.
With CRM for Everyone, businesses can onboard all customer-facing teams onto the CRM platform to provide the best services for their customers. Teams work in their own designated spaces on the platform, and more often than not, business context gets lost as tasks transition from one team to another. To address this challenge, we have introduced Connected Records, a powerful feature that will help multiple teams coordinate seamlessly. Connected records enable teams to focus on their processes while the CRM handles coordination, delivering the right customer context to the right team at the right time.
So what are connected records?
Connected records help users link records between two modules. This feature helps improve coordination across teams and eliminate the need to rely on email and chat for task coordination.
Whether it's linking a deal to a product demo request and then linking the same deal to an onboarding request when the deal is closed won or linking a deal directly to a contract request or to a customer advocacy request if the onboarding is successful, this feature ensures all teams have the right context at the right time to execute their work. (See image below)
From the above image, we can understand that the connection for each record will differ depending on the specific task or use case, making it unique to that record.
How can you create connected records?
You can create connected records in two ways :
- Manual creation : Create connected records manually from within an organization module linking it to a record in the team module or from within a team module linking it to another team module.
For instance, we can create a product demo record in the pre-sale team module directly from a new deal in the deals module or create a customer advocacy record in the advocacy team modules directly from an onboarding record in the onboarding team module. - Auto-connect records using workflows : When you have a clear outline of the various steps in your sales process, you can connect records from one step to another automatically using a workflow rule.
For instance, we can automatically create an onboarding record in the onboarding team module when the deal stage is marked as closed won or create a win/loss analysis record in the marketing team module when the deal stage is marked as closed lost. This will help maintain continuity between the two steps and also provide the teams working on these records at both steps with clear customer context.
What else do connected records offer?
With connected records, requesters can raise requests from any module instead of navigating to the My Requests tab every time.
When records are linked between two modules, users can use public fields to display record details to team members who are not part of the module, so essential information is available for those members to complete their process efficiently.
Use Case: Managing a Deal in CRM with Connected Records
A prospect has inquired about a product for their business, leading to the creation of a deal record named Zylker Deal in the CRM system. To ensure the deal progresses smoothly and is closed successfully, multiple teams need to collaborate and access relevant data to execute their processes for this deal. Imagine the number of emails or chat messages required to coordinate this process across teams. This is precisely where connected records come into play.
With connected records, the Zylker deal record can be connected across various modules managed by different teams within the CRM platform, enabling the deal to be closed successfully. This eliminates the need to rely on emails and chats, providing a seamless way to link and share critical information across teams.
Let's see how this can be done:
Step 1 : Linking the Deal to the Case Study Module
The first step involves connecting the Zylker Deal record with the Case Study module managed by the Marketing team. This allows the sales team to access the relevant case study to persuade the prospect and strengthen their decision to purchase the product.
The sales executive can manually create a connected record from the Zylker Deal record of the Deal module directly to the Case Study module. Thereby, requesting the marketing team for a relevant case study and creating a connection from an org module to a team module.
Step 2 : Connecting the deal record to the Demo Module
If the prospect is convinced and is moved to the second step, they will require a demo of the product. So, the deal record can be linked to the Demo module managed by the Pre-sales team.
The sales executive can manually create a connected record from the Zylker deal record from the Deals Module directly to the Demo module. Thereby raising a request to the Pre-sales team to conduct a demo for the prospect and creating a connection between two team modules.
From Step 1 and Step 2, we understand that each record's connection will be different. They will differ on a record level based on the use case or task at hand. Connected records will achieve connections between org modules and team modules or between two team modules.
Step 3 : Onboarding After the Deal is Closed (Won)
The prospect likes the demo and decides to purchase the product. Once the Zylker Deal is successfully closed as won, the deal record can be linked to the Onboarding module managed by the onboarding team. This facilitates the transition from sales to onboarding, and most often, manually creating an onboarding request for every record that reaches the Deal won stage can be time-consuming and repetitive for the sales team. So they can simply automate this process.
This can be done by setting up a workflow rule to automatically connect records from one module to another. So the sales executive can set up a workflow rule saying whenever a new record is created with the deal won stage, create a new connected record in the onboarding team module, thus automatically raising a request to assist the customer in setting up their account.
Thus, when you know your sales pipeline, you can create a connected record from within a workflow to link a record from one step to the next.
Step 4 : Linking to the Training Team for Ongoing Assistance
Finally, after the customer completes the onboarding process, they can choose to receive training to use the product efficiently. So the Zylker deal record can be connected to the Training module managed by the Training team.
Here, the sales executive being assigned as the requester for the Training team can raise a request directly from the Zylker Deal record of the Deals module to the Training module instead of navigating to his My Request tab to do so. This step ensures that the customer receives proper guidance in using the product’s features through training sessions, enhancing their overall experience and satisfaction.
Why is connected records more suitable than a lookup relation?
One may argue that linking of modules can be achieved by a lookup relation as well. However, the key difference between a Look-up and Connected Record relationship is flexibility. Connected Records are dynamic and flexible and can link any two modules anytime, whereas Look-up relationships are not dynamic and should be configured by the admin during the CRM configuration.
Read our help article to learn how to create connected records for your modules in CRM.
Here is a quick demo video for the same:
Here is a quick demo video for the same:
We hope this new enhancement brings you as much excitement as it does to us, and that your work is simplified as you navigate through the new version of CRM. Please reach out to us in the comments below if you have questions about this enhancement.
Access your files securely from anywhere
Centralize Knowledge. Transform Learning.
All-in-one knowledge management and training platform for your employees and customers.
New to Zoho Recruit?
Zoho Developer Community
New to Zoho LandingPage?
Zoho LandingPage Resources
New to Zoho Survey?
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Bigin?
Topic Participants
Serena Woolridge
Haiku Technical Support
Rakesh Kumar
Zohoboy
Sunderjan Siddharth
Sticky Posts
Good news! Calendar in Zoho CRM gets a face lift
Dear Customers, We are delighted to unveil the revamped calendar UI in Zoho CRM. With a complete visual overhaul aligned with CRM for Everyone, the calendar now offers a more intuitive and flexible scheduling experience. What’s new? Distinguish activitiesVoC in Zoho CRM is now data savvy: Explore response drilldown, summary components and participation in CRM criteria
VoC has all the goods when it comes to customer intelligence—which is why we're constantly enhancing it. We recently added the following: A customer drilldown component that shows you the list of prospects and customers behind a chart's attribute ExpandedWrapping up 2025 on a high note: CRM Release Highlights of the year
Dear Customers, 2025 was an eventful year for us at Zoho CRM. We’ve had releases of all sizes and impact, and we are excited to look back, break it down, and rediscover them with you! Before we rewind—we’d like to take a minute and sincerely thank youPresenting ABM for Zoho CRM: Expand and retain your customers with precision
Picture this scenario: You're a growing SaaS company ready to launch a powerful business suite, and are looking to gain traction and momentum. But as a business with a tight budget, you know acquiring new customers is slow, expensive, and often deliversCreate and populate a record in an instant: Introducing zero-shot field prompting to Zia's ICR
A couple of months ago, we upgraded our in-house AI image detection and validation tool, Zia Vision, with intelligent character recognition (ICR). By training Zia with sample images, you could create and enrich CRM records with data extracted from standard
New to Zoho TeamInbox?
Zoho TeamInbox Resources
Zoho CRM Plus Resources
Zoho Books Resources
Zoho Subscriptions Resources
Zoho Projects Resources
Zoho Sprints Resources
Qntrl Resources
Zoho Creator Resources
Zoho CRM Resources
Design. Discuss. Deliver.
Zoho Show Resources
Get Started. Write Away!
Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.
Zoho CRM コンテンツ
-
オンラインヘルプ
-
Webセミナー
-
機能活用動画
-
よくある質問
-
Ebook
-
-
Zoho Campaigns
- Zoho サービスのWebセミナー
その他のサービス コンテンツ
Nederlandse Hulpbronnen
ご検討中の方
Recent Topics
Update Portal User Name using Deluge?
Hey everyone. I have a basic intake form that gathers some general information. Our team then has a consultation with the person. If the person wants to move forward, the team pushes a CRM button that adds the user to a creator portal. That process isUnable to retrieve Contact_Name field contents using Web API in javascript function
Hello, I've added a field in the Purchase Order form to select and associate a Sales Order (Orden_de_venta, lookup field). I've also created a client script to complete some fields from the Sales Order (and the Quote), when the user specifies the relatedUpdating Woocommerce Variation Products Prices Via Zoho CRM
I can update product prices with this flow: But I can't update variant products. I got a code from Zoho for this, but I couldn't get it to work. It needs to find the product in the CRM from the SKU field and update the variation with the price there.Emails Disappearing From Inbox
I am experiencing the unnerving problem of having some of the messages in my inbox just disappear. It seems to happen to messages that have been in there for longer than a certain amount of time (not sure how long exactly). They are usually messages that I have flagged and know I need to act on, but have not gotten around to doing so yet. I leave them in my inbox so I will see them and be reminded that I still need to do something about them, but at least twice now I have opened my inbox and foundPower of Automation :: Automatic removal of project users once the project status is changed.
A custom function is a software code that can be used to automate a process and this allows you to automate a notification, call a webhook, or perform logic immediately after a workflow rule is triggered. This feature helps to automate complex tasks andCustomizing Form Questions per Recipient Group in Zoho Campaigns/Forms
Hello everyone, I would like to ask if it’s possible in Zoho Campaigns or Zoho Forms to send out a campaign where the form questions can be customized based on the group of recipients. Use case example: I have prepared 20 questionnaire questions. ForForms - Notification When Response Submitted
How do I set it up to generate an email notification when a response (class request) is submitted?How to disable user entry on Answer Bot in Zobot
Hi, I have an Answer Bot in my Zobot, here is the configuration: I only want the user to choose 1 of the 4 the options I have provided: When no answer found, user chooses 'I'll rephrase the question' or 'Ask a different question When answer is found,More admin control over user profiles
It's important for our company, and I'm sure many others, to keep our users inline with our branding and professional appearance. It would be useful for administrators to have more control over profile aspects such as: Profile image User names Email signaturesPlease Make Zoho CRM Cadences Flexible: Allow Inserting and Reordering Follow-Up Steps
Sales processes are not static. We test, learn, and adapt as customers respond differently than expected. Right now, Zoho Cadences do not support inserting a new step between existing follow-ups or changing the type of an existing primary step. If I realizeClear Tag & Linking Between Quotes and Sales Orders
Hi Zoho Team, In Zoho Books, when a quote is converted into a sales order, it would be extremely useful to have: A clear tag/indicator on the quote showing that it has been converted into a sales order. A direct link in the sales order back to the originatingAdd Direct Ticket Link to Zoho Help Center Portal in Email Replies
Hi Zoho Support Team, We hope you're doing well. We’d like to request a small but valuable improvement to enhance the usability of the Zoho Help Center portal (https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/myarea). Currently, when someone from Zoho replies to a support[Webinar] Deluge Learning Series - AI-Powered Automation using Zoho Deluge and Gemini
We’re excited to invite you to an exclusive 1-hour webinar where we’ll demonstrate how to bring the power of Google’s Gemini AI into your Zoho ecosystem using Deluge scripting. Whether you're looking to automate data extraction from PDFs or dynamicallyNew in Cadences: Option to Resume or Restart follow-ups when re-enrolling records into a Cadence, and specify custom un-enrollment criteria
Managing follow-ups effectively involves understanding the appropriate timing for reaching out, as well as knowing when to take a break and resume later, or deciding if it's necessary to start the follow-up process anew. With two significant enhancementsIm Stuck in an EDIT ONLY WITH WIZARD issue
So I found Wizards to be a really helpful tool in minimizing the exposure of redundant, superfluous fields to staff that would never otherwise have to edit those fields. My issue is, that when the record (in this case a lead) is created with a wizard,Account upgrade
Good evening, I upgraded my account and paid for it. From standard to professional. Unfortunately after the paiment my account was not upgraded. Please your advise. Best Regards Erik van StaverdenHow to set ALL default dates of my organization to DD-MM-YYYY format?
All replies to this question comes from a time where the UI was different. It's extremely frustrating not being able to find how to do this simple setting change. I want everything and everyone in my organizations to have DD-MM-YYYY date format by default.How can I sync from Zoho Projects into an existing Zoho Sprints project?
Hi I have managed to integrate Zoho Projects with Zoho Sprints and I can see that the integration works as a project was created in Zoho Sprints. But, what I would like to do is to sync into an existing Zoho Sprints project. Is there a way to make thatCan we generate APK and IOS app?
Dears, I want to know the availability to develop the app on zoho and after that .. generate the APK or IOS app and after that I added them to play store or IOS store.. Is it possible to do this .. I want not to use zoho app or let my customers use it. thanksZoho Subform Workflows onAdd of Row
Suppose I have a form with attached workflows onLoad. If I use the form as a subform, will it inherit the workflows or do I need to create new ones onAdd of row?Super Admin removal
I brought a sub, and I gave the Super admin rights to a person who is no longer with us, so I need to change, and I need to make myself the Super adminBetter Notes Commenting
Hi, I'd like to suggest better collaboration tools for NOTES. The current notes section for Accounts, Contacts and Deals is not ideally suitable for any degree of communication or collaboration. When responding to a note, there is no ability to leaveExporting Templates
I have just spent 2 hours creating a project template for a Netsuite configuration, and want to share it with other Zoho Projects users - who have a different account. Is there any way to do this?Power of Automation:: Streamline Associated Teams based on the Task Owner update.
Hello Everyone, A Custom function is a user-written set of code to achieve a specific requirement. Set the required conditions needed as when to trigger using the Workflow rules (be it Tasks / Project) and associate the custom function to it. Requirement:No Response from Zoho Support in 8 Days - Typical?
I have a couple of issues I'm trying to work through. Initially, I was getting support from support@zohofsm.com, but I have not received a response in 8 days (11 on another question). Is this typical? Can I pay for support? For context, I am not spammingAdd QUOTE OWNER profile image to a Quote Template
I can add their email address.. phone number, DOB. I need to add a users profile picture so when they assign a template to a quote they own it adds their picture to the cover page. I've tried hacking a solution together but there has to be an easier way.Zoho Connections Desk API relative URL PATTERN_NOT_MATCHED
While i am trying to do this: async function fetchTicketsFromDesk(timeFilter = 'current_month') { try { const response = await ZOHO.CRM.CONNECTION.invoke("desk_connection", { url: "/api/v1/tickets", method: "GET", }); const data = response.details ? JSON.parse(response.details)Zoho CRM - Custom Views for Portal Users
I'm looking for an option to customise custom views for portal users in CRM. It would be great if "portal user" was a permission on custom views.【参加無料】10/17(金) 東京 ユーザ交流会 Vol.3 参加登録 受付開始！
ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの藤澤です。 10/17(金)に、東京・新橋で「東京 ユーザー交流会 Vol.3」を開催します！ 今回のユーザー事例セッションのテーマは、「Zoho Flowを活用した他社の決済サービスとの連携事例」です。 さらに、Zoho Flowに限らず、Analytics や Campaigns などの多彩なZohoサービスの活用方法について、豊富なご経験をもとにご紹介いただきます。 また、Zoho社員セッションでは、Zoho CRMを活用して日々の営業業務を効率化する具体的な事例をお話しします。業界を問わず、幅広い方にご参考いただける内容となっています！Zoho Meeting Plug compatibility with newer versions of Outlook
Documentation states that the zoho meeting plug in for outlook is only compatible with versions up to Outlook 2019 What is available to users of more up to date versions of outlook/office 365?Introducing Zoho's own SMS gateway
We're thrilled to announce the launch of our own SMS gateway feature within Zoho Marketing Automation! This new feature enables seamless SMS campaign management alongside your email marketing initiatives, providing a more integrated and efficient wayEmbedding in Desk articles
We would like to embed documents in our Desk articles. When we use an iframe for the embed, we get scrollbars and a frame border. Neither of those is acceptable. I've spoken with the Desk Support team about what we want and they tell me that it cannotZoho CRM button to download images from image upload field
Hello, I am trying to create a button in Zoho CRM that I can place in my record details view for each record and use it to download all images in the image upload fields. I tried deluge, client scripts and even with a widget, but feel lost, could notMass Update Contacts In Zoho Campaigns
Is there a way to mass update contacts in zoho campaigns? I want to be able to change the content of a field for a few hundred contacts, and can't go through all of them individually.report showing assignment type
Hi, We've created a number of workflows to allow us to auto assign tickets to agents based on keywords and other criteria. I'm struggling to create a report that would show me what is the percentage of tickets that are assigned automatically via workflowsOption to Disable Knowledge Base Section in Feedback Widget Popup Hello Zoho Desk Team
Hello Zoho Desk Team, How are you? We are actively using Zoho Desk and would like to make more use of the Feedback Widget. One of the ways we implement it is through the popup option. At the moment, the popup always displays the Knowledge Base section,Placeholders in Ticket Templates
We should be able to use placeholders in ticket templates. When we create a new ticket, our description field is shown to the client in the email they receive. It would be very handy to be able to personalize that description field in our ticket templates to pull in the name of the client that the ticket is for. Using them in the subject field as well, so we can auto populate Account Names, etc.when the record is created the tag want to Show as Opportunity how i achive this using Deluge Script
In the quotation i have the work flow schedule for create opportunity record in the module , on that time the quotation tag select as opportunity created. How i achive this using Deluge Script . this like i want to Do tag1 = Map(); tag1.put("name","NurturingDelete a channel
I need delete a channel in tickets.Subtasks don't update parent task's times
Hi there: I've recently upgraded to premium and check that subtasks completion % don't update the proportional completion of the parent tasks related to it. We've been challenging with the problem of having to update twice or sometimes 3 times the completion of the related tasks. I've seen posts similar to this, of 3 years old. Is there any roadmap for making this happen in a future release? Thanx César Ratto Lima, Perú.Next Page