Introducing Serverless Functions!!

Introducing Serverless Functions!!

Serverless architecture, also known as "Function-as-a-service"(Faas), provides a platform for developers to write functions to integrate the CRM and any third-party application. These codes, written in Deluge, can be triggered from any other third party services or it can be triggered directly from any web or mobile app. Most applications require a server that lets them host their applications, parsing, sharing and computing data.

However, having to set up a server just for the sake of providing a simple solution to their customers will not bode well for some. Furthermore, running a server also includes HTTP issues and scalability issues. As such, you can use Zoho CRM's serverless environment to run your application in sync with CRM without the need to put up a server.

If I had to give an example, setting a server is like setting up a restaurant and making people come over. But serverless architecture is like door-step delivery.





Here's how Serverless Architecture work

Let us assume that there is Zylker Inc. which is an online store that sells different products. They, however, are not the manufacturers, hence they need to procure the products from vendors and deliver it to the customers.

Here's how the usual process goes. The customer adds items to the cart, confirms the order, makes the payment and waits for the product to get delivered. Now speaking in the CRM's terminology, when the customer makes the payment, the sales guy gets the payment details and creates a deal record marking the deal stage as won. Then, the process involving Warehouse processing and Delivery gets started.

For the payment details and shipment details, there are different applications that handle the process. You can use the data from those applications and update the CRM through the use of webhooks.

With Middleware softwares:



And now with Serverless Functions:



Getting Started with the process:

1. Writing the Function:

Now that you're sure of what you need to do, you can write your business logic within functions. The code for the above logic would be something like this:



As you can see above, you define what the function needs to do when it is executed. As such, whenever the function is triggered from Zylker's application, the corresponding data in CRM is updated. But even so, there's a tiny problem. We do not know the format of the incoming data to CRM.

The types of input can be:

  • Parameters
  • Stream(Body)
  • File
  • Headers

Functions can parse most of the input types and process the information regardless. However, there needs to be some pre-defined lines of code that are to be given within the functions to facilitate this process. For instance, the function can get the entire Request Object and turn them into readable arguments, which can be used at your disposal. No matter what type the input is, you can use them to insert, update or make any other changes to your CRM as per your requirement. Not only can you get the entire request object, you can also set up what response the function, or in a way, the CRM, has to give out to the end user.

2. Authentication:

You need to properly authenticate your application with Zoho. There are 2 methods to do that.

  • OAuth
  • API Key

OAuth is a bit complex but the most widely used method that most applications adopt, whereas API Key is much more simple, but certain security inadequacies made it such that there are only some applications that use this method. Nevertheless, you can decide by yourself which one fits you best, based on the 3-party application.

3. Registering with Webhook

Now that you've created the function and made the function available as an API call. You need to register, or provide the URL to the other 3rd party application. This step is done so that the 3rd party application can be programmed to send a webhook based on certain conditions.

In this case, a webhook may be triggered when the shipment status is moved from "Packaged" to "Out-for-Delivery". When the webhook is triggered, the URL given within the webhook triggers the function within CRM. And based on the data received from the webhook, the shipment status of the customer within CRM can be changed accordingly.



Is it New to Zoho CRM?

I'm sure most of you are aware of "Functions", the one that lets you add additional functionality to your CRM. Those who are using “Functions” to write their own business logic to connect to third party apps, other Zoho services, web hooks, etc., have been using this serverless computing in a way.

Functions are designed to help people solve the issue of running servers, creating their business logic or integrating custom applications. Hence, it can be set to trigger based on events from within CRM or from external sources, without a server.

Learn more from our resources - Serverless Functions.



    Access your files securely from anywhere

        All-in-one knowledge management and training platform for your employees and customers.






                              Zoho Developer Community




                                                    • Desk Community Learning Series


                                                    • Digest


                                                    • Functions


                                                    • Meetups


                                                    • Kbase


                                                    • Resources


                                                    • Glossary


                                                    • Desk Marketplace


                                                    • MVP Corner


                                                    • Word of the Day


                                                    • Ask the Experts



                                                              • Sticky Posts

                                                              • 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.
                                                              • Kaizen #226: Using ZRC in Client Script

                                                                Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. In today's post, lets see what is ZRC (Zoho Request Client) and how we can use ZRC methods in Client Script to get inputs from a Salesperson and update the Lead status with a single button click. In this
                                                              • Kaizen #222 - Client Script Support for Notes Related List

                                                                Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. The final Kaizen post of the year 2025 is here! With the new Client Script support for the Notes Related List, you can validate, enrich, and manage notes across modules. In this post, we’ll explore how
                                                              • Kaizen #217 - Actions APIs : Tasks

                                                                Welcome to another week of Kaizen! In last week's post we discussed Email Notifications APIs which act as the link between your Workflow automations and you. We have discussed how Zylker Cloud Services uses Email Notifications API in their custom dashboard.
                                                              • Kaizen #216 - Actions APIs : Email Notifications

                                                                Welcome to another week of Kaizen! For the last three weeks, we have been discussing Zylker's workflows. We successfully updated a dormant workflow, built a new one from the ground up and more. But our work is not finished—these automated processes are


                                                              Manage your brands on social media



                                                                    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

                                                                                        • CRM Community Learning Series

                                                                                          CRM Community Learning Series


                                                                                        • Kaizen

                                                                                          Kaizen

                                                                                        • Functions

                                                                                          Functions

                                                                                        • Meetups

                                                                                          Meetups

                                                                                        • Kbase

                                                                                          Kbase

                                                                                        • Resources

                                                                                          Resources

                                                                                        • Digest

                                                                                          Digest

                                                                                        • CRM Marketplace

                                                                                          CRM Marketplace

                                                                                        • MVP Corner

                                                                                          MVP Corner







                                                                                            Design. Discuss. Deliver.

                                                                                            Create visually engaging stories with Zoho Show.

                                                                                            Get Started Now


                                                                                              Zoho Show Resources

                                                                                                Zoho Writer

                                                                                                Get Started. Write Away!

                                                                                                Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                                                                                                  Zoho CRM コンテンツ



                                                                                                    Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


                                                                                                        ご検討中の方




                                                                                                                • Recent Topics

                                                                                                                • Concern Regarding Stock Validation in Inventory Management

                                                                                                                  Hi Zoho Team, We would like to highlight a concern regarding stock validation in the inventory system. As per standard inventory management practices, if the stock level is zero, the system should not allow users to create a shipment, packing slip, or
                                                                                                                • Automation Series #2: SLA vs Supervisor Rule in Zoho Desk

                                                                                                                  SLA vs Supervisor Rule: Keeping tickets on track in Zoho Desk This post is part of the "Desk Automation Series," Chapter 1. Through this series, we will help you choose the right automation type in Zoho Desk by comparing commonly confused automations
                                                                                                                • Zoho Recruit - Email Relay

                                                                                                                  Good day, Has anyone succeeded in setting up an email relay for Office 365? If I add the details from https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/pop-imap-and-smtp-settings-8361e398-8af4-4e97-b147-6c6c4ac95353, I get the connection error. Regards, Eka
                                                                                                                • Better use of contacts

                                                                                                                  Zoho inventory has the ability to add multiple contacts to customers. However Zoho inventory doesn't currently provide a way to link a contact to objects like sales orders. This means that while you can tell what company has placed a sales order you can't
                                                                                                                • Notebook AI limits

                                                                                                                  Hi folks, Working with the AI transcription tools in Notebook, on the Mac App, which I find quite handy, but the one thing I am struggling with is the inability to either edit or copy the results of the transcript: I can't click in any of the boxes, and
                                                                                                                • Disappointment with Zoho Payments

                                                                                                                  Dear Gowdhaman, I am writing to inform you that I am removing Zoho Payments from my website. I cannot continue to disappoint my customers due to the lack of UPI support, as has been the case with my experience so far. Please note that the 0.5% transaction
                                                                                                                • Zoho Commerce B2B

                                                                                                                  Hello, I have signed up for a Zoho Commerce B2B product demo but it's not clear to me how the B2B experience would look for my customers, in a couple of ways. 1) Some of my customers are on terms and some pay upfront with credit card. How do I hide/show
                                                                                                                • Rename system-defined labels in Zoho CRM

                                                                                                                  Renaming system-defined labels is now available across all DCs. Hello everyone, Zoho CRM includes predefined system fields across modules to support essential CRM operations. Until now, the labels of these fields were fixed and could not be edited from
                                                                                                                • Introducing parent-child ticketing in Zoho Desk [Early access]

                                                                                                                  Hello Zoho Desk users! We have introduced the parent-child ticketing system to help customer service teams ensure efficient resolution of issues involving multiple, related tickets. You can now combine repetitive and interconnected tickets into parent-child
                                                                                                                • Separate Items & Services

                                                                                                                  Hi, please separate items and services into different categories. Thank you
                                                                                                                • Log a call: Call Duration for Inbound is mandatory but inbound is optional

                                                                                                                  Hi Team Can you advise on why the call duration for the inbound call type is a mandatory field? We have a use case where we are manually logging a call but do not use the call duration field. The field does not have the option to make it non mandatory
                                                                                                                • Zoho Sign 2025–2026: What's new and what's next

                                                                                                                  Hello! Every year at Zoho Sign, we work hard to make document signing and agreement execution easy for all users. This year we sat down with our head of product, Mr. Subramanian Thayumanasamy, to discuss what we delivered in 2025 and our goals for 2026.
                                                                                                                • New Account, Setting up Domain Question

                                                                                                                  Hello, I recently set up a new account with a custom domain. But after paying and setting up my account, it says OpenSRS actually owns the domain, and I have to sign up with them to host my site. But OpenSRS wants to charge me $95, which is ridiculous.
                                                                                                                • 【開催報告】東京 Zoho ユーザー交流会 NEXUS vol.1 ~ データドリブン経営・少人数組織のCRM活用・AIエージェントの最前線 ~

                                                                                                                  ユーザーの皆さん、こんにちは。 コミュニティグループの中野です。 2026年3月27日(金)、東京・新橋にて「東京 Zoho ユーザー交流会 NEXUS vol.1」が開催されました。 今回は「マーケティング領域のZoho 活用法 × AI」をテーマに、ユーザーさん2名による事例セッション、Zoho 社員によるAIセッションなどを実施しました。 ご参加くださったユーザーの皆さま、ありがとうございました! この投稿では、当日のセッションの様子や使用した資料を紹介しています。残念ながら当日お越しいただけなかった方も、ぜひチェックしてみてください。
                                                                                                                • Monthly Webinar : Getting Started with Zoho LandingPage

                                                                                                                  Our monthly Getting Started with Zoho LandingPage webinar is back! If you're building your first page and want a little guidance, this is where to start. Learn how landing pages fit into your strategy, generate leads, and improve conversions. Here’s what
                                                                                                                • Mass emails - Allow preview of which emails will receive the email based on the criteria

                                                                                                                  Feature request. Please allow us to view and confirm the exact recipients of the mass emails based on the criteria we've chosen before sending. It can be quite sensitive if you send the mass email to some wrong accounts accidently, so it would be great
                                                                                                                • Limitation in Dynamic Constant Sum Based on Previous Question Selections in Zoho Survey

                                                                                                                  Zoho Survey supports the Constant Sum question type, allowing respondents to distribute a fixed total (such as 100) across a set of options. However, it does not support dynamically populating these options based on selections made in a previous question.
                                                                                                                • SAP Business One(B1) integration is now live in Zoho Flow

                                                                                                                  We’re excited to share that SAP Business One (B1) is now available in Zoho Flow! This means you can now build workflows that connect SAP B1 with other apps and automate routine processes without relying on custom code. Note: SAP Business One integration
                                                                                                                • sync two zoho crm

                                                                                                                  Hello everyone. Is it possible to sync 2 zoho crm? what would be the easiest way? I am thinking of Flow. I have a Custom Module that I would like to share with my client. We both use zoho crm. Regards.
                                                                                                                • Import MSG to Yandex Mail Account | Fast & Reliable Solution

                                                                                                                  If you are facing problem to import MSG files to Yandex Mail account can be challenging if done manually, especially when handling multiple files. A reliable solution is using the MacGater Mac MSG Converter, which simplifies the entire process with accuracy
                                                                                                                • Copy all reports in a folder

                                                                                                                  I currently have a database that I need to create multiple charts filtered by market. All of the charts are identical, I just change to of the filters and then I have the next market's set of charts. The only way I've been able to copy charts (reports)
                                                                                                                • OpenURL working Intermittently

                                                                                                                  Never had this issue before, everything was working fine up to a few days ago. We have a buttons on reports to open forms with pre-filled fields. Now, there are instances where it will throw and error and gives no feedback. What is really strange is not
                                                                                                                • Zoho Recruit mailserver get blocked by Microsoft!

                                                                                                                  Hi, We have experienced this issue twice now, where Zoho Recruit outbound IP addresses are being blocked by Microsoft. We are confident that Microsoft is the blocking party, as all outbound emails to candidates with @hotmail.com, @live.com, and @outlook.com
                                                                                                                • Calculate Hours Minutes Sec in Zoho Creator Using Deluge

                                                                                                                  check_In = "8-Aug-2023 10:00:00".toDateTime().toLong(); checkout = "8-Aug-2023 18:00:00".toDateTime().toLong(); //difference = start.timeBetween(end); check_In = "8-Aug-2023 17:56:50".toDateTime().toLong(); checkout = "8-Aug-2023 18:00:00".toDateTime().toLong();
                                                                                                                • Build Smarter Apps with AI in Zoho Creator

                                                                                                                  Build Smarter Apps with AI in Zoho Creator This is truly the era of AI, and businesses that adapt now will lead tomorrow. Zoho is already moving ahead in this direction, continuously evolving its platform with powerful AI capabilities. With Zoho Creator,
                                                                                                                • Zia Dashboard Insights : turn your dashboard into decisions

                                                                                                                  When you look at a chart or KPI in a dashboard, you would possibly see something like: Revenue: $2.4M ↓ 18% vs last month. It can be a positive growth or a negative one, or a dip in revenue, a spike in deals, a slowdown in renewals—all you usually see
                                                                                                                • Tickets without registration

                                                                                                                  Hi, would it be possible to give customers the opportunity to be able to read their tickets without registration?
                                                                                                                • Zoho Desk Answer Bot vs. Zia Agents – Knowledge Base & Ticket Access

                                                                                                                  Hi everyone, I’m currently evaluating AI options in Zoho Desk and ran into some limitations with the Answer Bot: Answer Bot limitations Only uses Knowledge Base articles No access to tickets Limited control over sources: Either one Help Center or all
                                                                                                                • Como estruturar automações eficientes no Zoho Creator

                                                                                                                  Como estruturar automações eficientes no Zoho Creator Introdução No contexto de aplicações empresariais, automação não é apenas uma conveniência, é um fator crítico para ganho de produtividade, redução de erros e escalabilidade operacional. O Zoho Creator
                                                                                                                • Changing the status of a work-order

                                                                                                                  Is there a way to change the status of a work-order?
                                                                                                                • Online Payment Fees

                                                                                                                  We don't take many online credit card payments so the merchant service provider (PayPal) charges us the 2.9% fee for processing the amount. I would like the ability for the fee to be automatically added to the total amount for "ease of payment". We'd
                                                                                                                • What is a realistic turnaround time for account review for ZeptoMail?

                                                                                                                  On signing up it said 2-3 business days. I am on business-day 6 and have had zero contact of any kind. No follow-up questions, no approval or decline. Attempts to "leave a message" or use the "Contact Us" form have just vanished without a trace. It still
                                                                                                                • Zia Agents in Zoho CRM: a better way to set up digital employees

                                                                                                                  Hello everyone, If you've been using Zia Agents in Zoho CRM, so far using Connections was the only deployment method you're familiar with. You create an agent in Zia Agents (define its objective, write instructions, use tools, add knowledge base) and
                                                                                                                • Bank Feeds

                                                                                                                  Since Friday my bank feeds wont work. I have refreshed feeds, deactivate and reactivate and nothing is working
                                                                                                                • Logged out

                                                                                                                  Hi, just been working on a sheet when a pop up box appeared telling me I'm going to be logged out in x number of seconds and if I reload I may lose any edits, or words to that effect. It did indeed log me out and I did indeed lose my last edits. Any idea
                                                                                                                • Zoho API

                                                                                                                  I have little experience with API. I'm trying to get a Custom API working with Zoho creator. I have created a Custom API and created an Endpoint URL, but i get a 9400 error code "The provided HTTP method is not valid for this custom API". Based off the
                                                                                                                • #157127950

                                                                                                                  Where did my initial question go?
                                                                                                                • Zoho writer unable to merge documents to PDF with basic fonts in Hebrew or fonts from my computer

                                                                                                                  I created several forms that will be merged into PDF files through Zoho Writer and I am unable to receive the PDF in the basic fonts of the Hebrew language or in the fonts I have on my computer. The writer exports to PDF an exchange font that looks very
                                                                                                                • How I Implemented Subscription-Based Access Control and Expiry Handling in Zoho Creator

                                                                                                                  I recently worked on a use case where users come into the application to request a service, but they should only be able to continue the process after completing a subscription. The challenge was not just controlling access, but also making sure that
                                                                                                                • Zoho Forms API

                                                                                                                  Is there any way to get all form entry list using API? Looking forward to hear from you
                                                                                                                • Next Page