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
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
Zoho CRM Workflow and Function Backup Options
Hi everyone! I have been able to make several backups of my CRM data and noticed that the Workflows and Functions are not included in these backups. To my knowledge, there is no backup feature for workflows and functions, which is problematic in of itself.Is or will be possible to associate meeting transcription and summary, made by Zia, to meeting/contact/account record in CRM?
Would be useful to keep context and track jobs, better if it will be autoDesk Field Not Showing in Analytics
Hi there, I recently added a field to our Zoho Desk Ticket Information. I went and added the data retrospectively to the tickets. It is also marked as required, so all new tickets cannot be closed off without it being filled in. When I try to run a reportExport data using advanced export options and customizable settings
Hello everyone, The user interface for exporting data has been revamped with updates to make data exports more flexible and efficient for users. These updates not only enhance usability but also bring advanced capabilities to help users extract preciseMoving data from one pipeline to another
Hey all, I've got some complex pipelines to build and I'd like to seperate them into seperate pipelines rather than have one mammoth one. If I create 2 pipelines, is there any easy way to use the output of Pipeline1 to be the input into Pipeline2? OrHow to export/find all deluge code.
Hi, I have a large app wich contains several forms, reports, html views, I need to find thow my application if any contains specific word, I could find it manually by editing app and see on every section(field code, on succes, on load, etc) but I would like to do it faster. Is there a way to at least export it to a file the whole deluge code on my application?Have Some Bugs in Zoho CRM Ask Zia Assistant
Hi Support Team, I have found some bugs in Zoho CRM Ask Zia Feature Please Check below screenshot, insight option is showing twice i think its in early access that's why its have some bugs .COD with Partial payment
Two reasons why we need COD with partial payment option. 1) Since we deal heavy weight products our shipping costs are too high. If shipment is rejected by customer we incur huge loss. 2) Some competitors place fake orders with different names and returnSlicers are now available in Zoho Sheet—filter your data interactively
At Zoho Sheet, we diligently track user requests and feedback. In line with this, based on extensive user requests, we've integrated Slicers to pivot tables and are delighted to announce its release. Slicers are interactive visual filters that have add,Resizing a Record Template Background Inage
Hi everyone, I have an issue which I can't seem to resolve: Basically, I'm designing a record template in certificate form. I've specified A5 landscape. I've set my background image the same dimensions with total pixels at 443,520. Whatever I try, whenUpdated font library: New font styles and custom font options in Zoho Sheet
Zoho Sheet's font library now supports 500+ font styles in 60+ languages! The updated font library is stacked with new font styles, and some of the previously available font styles have been replaced with equivalent options. There are two ways you canIntroducing Data Bars: Graphically represent changes in data within the cells
Conditional formatting has helped millions of spreadsheet users analyze and highlight their data more efficiently. In addition to the classic rules, color scales, and icon sets available in Zoho Sheet, you can now apply Data Bars, a convenient methodDefault Font Size in Desk
How do I set my default font size in Desk? It takes me about 45 minutes to find the place to set it, then, when I sign out of Zoho and log back in, it's back to font 10 again. Seems like this would be simple, but like everything with Zoho, it's buriedTip #19 - Create checkbox tracker in your spreadsheet
Hello Sheet users! We are here with yet another tip to help you get the most out of Zoho Sheet. Spreadsheets can be used to handle a variety of tasks, but ever tried using checkboxes to track the progress of your action items dynamically? Here's a sampleTip #20 - Three things you probably didn't know you can do with picklists
Hello Zoho Sheet users! We’re back with another quick tip to help you make your spreadsheets smarter. Picklists are a great tool to maintain consistency in your spreadsheet. Manually entering data is time-consuming and often leaves typos and irregularPer Level Approval for admins
We need Process admins like Zoho CRM in Zoho Books for per stage approval Currently in books, admins only have the option for Final Approval But for example, in cases like when an employee is on leave, we can't just approval one level we only have optionFeature enhancement: Highlight rows based on a cell value
Hello Sheet users, We're excited to announce a new feature enhacement, shaped directly by your valuable feedback! As you might know, conditional formatting is a great tool for anyone dealing with large data sets. Previously, if you’ve ever wanted to drawUpdating custom fields in Zoho Projects
Hi I am wondering if anyone has experience with custom fields in Zoho Projects. I am struggling to update the field using either deluge or the api endpoint. My code is: //custom_Map = map(); custom_Map = {"UDF_DOUBLE_1":"0.27"}; update_Map = map(); update_Map.put("custom_fields",custom_Map.toList());Markdown for Desk?
Hi, my company wants to use markdown for formatting text in Desk (in all modules there, especially Tickets and Helpcenter). Zoho already offers use of markdown in several products (see https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/backstage/microsite-guide/formatting-with-markdown/articles/formatting-with-markdo)Change Currency symbol
I would like to change the way our currency displays when printed on quotes, invoices and purchase orders. Currently, we have Australian Dollars AUD as our Home Currency. The only two symbol choices available for this currency are "AU $" or "AUD". I wouldCalendar not working
Are we the only ones. On any browser we cannot click on any of our calendar appointments and get them to open. They just make the browser loop. WE have reached out and have been told they are working on it. The office staff are really stuck. The pointWhatsApp Message Template Quick Reply Buttons
Hello, I created my first Message Template to overcome the 24-hr messaging window and it was approved by WhatsApp/Meta. When I go to Meta, I also see that template brought from Zoho Desk, and used it via Zoho Desk IM. However, I notice that when in Meta'sAccount in Quick View Filter
I have a report that I often run against a specific Account. Every time, I have to go into the edit menu and change the Advanced Filter. I would prefer to use the Quick View Filter, but it does not allow me to use the one and only field that makes anySet Display for Numbers/Currency/etc with Client Script/Customization in Canvas List Page
Is it possible to set a display mask for a number/currency field using Client Script or customization? I have custom fields that I would like to keep the decimal places for calculation purposes, but do not need them displayed to the user. So 101.3568136.143.188.51 blocked by spamcop
Zoho mailserver seems to be blocked by spamcop. Cant send mail to my customer. Not sure what to do.🚀 WorkDrive 5.0: Evolving from a file sharing app to an intelligent content management platform: Phase 2
Hello everyone, WorkDrive's primary focus has always been to provide an intelligent and secure content management platform, simplify collaboration, and be the central repository of files for all Zoho apps. In our previous announcement, we unveiled thei keep see there is a connetion issue connecting 3rd party api on zoho when using zia
hi there , i have set up open ai api to zoho zia (copied and pasted to zoho zia) but I keep getting notificaiton "there is a connetion issue connecting 3rd party api on zoho" when using zia on top when click zia and try to type in word thereDeleting Fields in CRM Deletes Views in Analytics
Hey friends! I'm having some issues when we modify some fields within ZohoCRM. There are times where we need to sunset a field and eventually completely remove it. In these instances, it seems like a lot of views are removed in Analytics. This rangesZoho Desk Android and iOS app update: Access multilingual templates on the IM module
Hello everyone! We have introduced multilingual templates on the IM module of the Zoho Desk mobile app allowing you to send IM template messages in translated versions. iOS: Android: Please update the app to the latest version directly from the App Store/Does Zoho offer a full WhatsApp Marketing Platform (like WATI / GallaBox)?
lm exploring WhatsApp marketing and I’d like to understand what options are available within the Zoho ecosystem. Currently, I see: Zoho SalesIQ has a broadcast option, but it seems very limited — for example, it doesn’t support uploading contacts viaCustom buttons
Getting Error "You can only create 10 custom buttons per module" ! I already have more than 10 for 1 module before trying to create another. Is this a new restriction brought about by the all knowing what's best for businesses Zoho guru ? It would beThe Social Wall: October 2025
Hello everyone, As we head toward the end of the year, we’re bringing you a few updates to help give your social media efforts a strong finish. This month, we’re rolling out new enhancements across both the web and mobile app. Post Preview Have you everClient Script | Update - Support for List Page (Canvas) and Notes
Hello everyone! We are glad to announce two exciting updates in Client Script. Client Script support for List Page (Canvas) Client Script support for Notes These open the door to more dynamic and interactive customizations! 1. Client Script support forPincode Based Pricing
We want to give extra discount to customers within city limits because our shipping and packing costs are less. My proposal is assign list of pincodes to price list and assign the price list to customers whenever they sign up with pincodes. Also showfeature question: lookup field in Projects task layout
Hello, Below we have interface to configure a custom task layout, however, we need a lookup field to let pickup data from other apps, such as Zoho CRM Products module, is that possible or already in your roadmap? or a workaround to achieve it? Thanks in advance.What's New in Zoho Analytics - October 2025
Hello Users! We're are back with a fresh set of updates and enhancements to make data analysis faster and more insightful. Take a quick look at what’s new and see how these updates can power up your reports and dashboards. Explore What's New! ExtremeZoho Analytics & SQL Server - Live connect
Below are the steps I did Created a fresh database and table in my own virtual server Created a new data source connection with live connect I was able to select the tables and created the data source successfully I am getting the error when I try toExplore the Redesigned Quotes Module in Zoho Billing
Dear users, We’re excited to introduce a refreshed look for the Quotes details page in Zoho Billing! This update brings you a more efficient user interface experience without changing your existing workflow. We've enhanced layouts with organized tabs,Latest updates in Zoho Meeting | Create departments, Share PDF files
Hello all, You can now create departments to group team members within your organization. This will make it easier for you to organize department-level meetings and invite members. In webinars, use the Share material feature to share PDF files directlyUnify All Zoho Video Meeting Experiences into One Standardized Platform
Hi Zoho Team, We would like to share an important user experience concern regarding the current state of video meeting functionality across the Zoho ecosystem. The Problem Within Zoho, there are multiple ways to initiate or schedule a video meeting: ZohoNext Page