What is Wrong with Zoho CRM and How to Fix it -- But first the good news....
I have recently been evaluating all the major CRM platforms aimed at small to medium businesses. This has included:
The first thing that I want to say about Zoho is that it is very impressive: Fast, comprehensive, outstanding contextual gadgets for gmail, google apps integration, a very good Quickbooks accounting integration, and much much more. For the price, this solution is super powerful.
As this impression formed, I began to see more of the constellation of Zoho offerings. I could not believe the number of applications they had. It was exciting because one would assume that if there is an invoicing application, a calendar, an email, and on and on, they would all integrate very well. What I came to realize is that these were all created in what looks like island teams with some consideration toward integration, but that was not the initial approach. What started as excitement became concern and disappointment.
I am a big fan of Zoho and impressed with all they have done. I think they are inches away from being great and taking on all comers. But, to do so, is going to require a fundamentally different approach to their thinking, the market, and the powerful assets they have created. And, it has nothing to do with lack of technical expertise. I am taking the time to write this novel because I am hoping it will help Zoho focus on what is important and also help new users see the incredible line up of tools that Zoho has created, but also understand the limitations right upfront so that they can plan for them.
With that said, here is what I think Zoho should do to fix their CRM (I say fix because in the eyes of the users, these are not enhancements, they appear to be oversights or design flaws considering how well other things are done):
1. Lack of integration with Zoho Invoice: The invoicing feature of Zoho CRM is natively very simple, and not usable for most organizations. Zoho Invoice on the other hand is a very impressive tool and I have to say much better than FreshBooks or the like. It is astounding to me that Zoho and Invoice are not fully integrated at this point. You can bring account information into Invoice, but you cannot pull anything back into CRM from Invoice. This integration is noted as a high priority has been promised fro Q2 in the forums, but I have not seen any feature list to say what the integration will be.
Suggestion: Integrate all the account information from CRM into Invoice. Keep Invoice as a separate app that is accessible in CRM if you like, no problem. Put "hooks" into the CRM on things like cases so that hours can be tracked directly from those cases without the time consuming requirement to create a project first. Also, make sure you do not break the Quickbooks integration of CRM when you bring over Invoice. Figure out how to feed those invoices in there and synchronize the Invoice information with QB.
2. Lack of Calendar integration with Google Calendar: This is listed on the roadmap for the CRM. At this point, they should have a release date posted, however. Zoho has done a great job with the contextual gadgets in Gmail, so I am sure the calendar will be good. Even without all the fancy things, people are dying to have the ability to be able to see their calendars in CRM, and create an event that links to a contact or account. Even batchbook does this.
3. Lack of gadgets on the dashboard: I can't believe that there are not more options for dashboard items. Whether twitter feeds, facebook feeds, stocks, world city time/weather, or whatever. People use the CRM all the time. You WANT them to stay looking at it and the best way to do that is to give them some fun stuff and some diversity of information flow right on their dashboard. I think the best way to do this is to set up a framework for people to create these and let they go at it. Web tabs are not even close to the same thing.
4. Campaigns are a shell: One of the very surprising things I have come to realize is that the campaigns functionality at this point does not have built in email campaign capabilities where you can create a list, send a newsletter and track outcomes for example. To my knowledge (please correct me if I am wrong), it does not have the ability to track any kind of email based campaign like Sugar, SF, or others. Campaigns are basically a place where you can store lists, and track what account was part of what campaign.
5. Integrations are really missing: Most CRM's today are valued on their native functionality and how well they integrate with other applications. Zoho's own applications do not yet integrate well between each other, and I cannot understand why there are not more integration options for everything from customer portals, to online marketing management, and accounting. I understand that Zoho is active in all these places, but it really makes it tough to "work online" as envisioned when you have to jump between so many applications. There needs to be a framework so that 3rd parties can add contextual features when the integration is done. Examples: "Send invoice to Xero", "Send campaign list to Mailchimp" etc. This is not just an API push/pull but the ability to integrate the workflow.
6. No functional customization whatsoever: One of the biggest challenges facing any user/admin of Zoho CRM is that you cannot add anything. No buttons, no logic hooks, no objects. You can change layouts, define workflows (which are nice), put in custom fields, but you cannot create objects and institute any kind of native functionality. A rich external API exists, but it is not the same thing. This leaves many of us severely hamstrung. In most cases, I could get past these hurdles if integration among Zoho's own apps were strong because I could find a way to "get it done" somehow. Without that, you are really stuck.
7. Is Creator the answer? Creator is an online database application that is gaining steam. Zoho has now allowed builders of these applications (users) to access information from the CRM package to build little apps in Creator. This is great news. The bummer, though is that no inverse integration has been announced as of yet. This means that you can't use Creator to build a module (for you SugarCRM users) or an Object (for you salesforce peeps) to expand functionality based upon a new entity of any kind.
8. Evangelism: Sounds fancier than it really is. Zoho is a massive set of applications. There is a tremendous amount of work to do to help users understand how the pieces can be used.... together or independently. I would strongly suggest some "Solution experts" that listen carefully to what the customer is trying to accomplish (not the specifics) and then provide them with options on ways they could do that with Zoho. This kind of relationship with existing and prospective clients would be so much more effective than what currently happens. Most of my contact with Zoho support resources have been very binary. I explain an issue to them, and they tell me they can or can't do that. Rarely does the individual attempt to own/understand my issue, they never commit to a timeframe on any pending features, and do not seem to have an organized place where a user can get updates (frequently) on hot topics through a moderated forum. I find the same questions I have asked over and over again in different ways, but there is usually not a good single place where that topic is discussed (like the lounge does) with some updates given along the way. I found a few threads where the forum moderator asked the users what they wanted in an upcoming release of Invoice. That was great.
So, what are my top requests of Zoho?
Writer
Get Started. Write Away!
- SugarCRM
- ZohoCRM
- Batchbook
- CapsuleCRM
- Landslide
- Salesforce
- Solve360
- and at least 5 others
The first thing that I want to say about Zoho is that it is very impressive: Fast, comprehensive, outstanding contextual gadgets for gmail, google apps integration, a very good Quickbooks accounting integration, and much much more. For the price, this solution is super powerful.
As this impression formed, I began to see more of the constellation of Zoho offerings. I could not believe the number of applications they had. It was exciting because one would assume that if there is an invoicing application, a calendar, an email, and on and on, they would all integrate very well. What I came to realize is that these were all created in what looks like island teams with some consideration toward integration, but that was not the initial approach. What started as excitement became concern and disappointment.
I am a big fan of Zoho and impressed with all they have done. I think they are inches away from being great and taking on all comers. But, to do so, is going to require a fundamentally different approach to their thinking, the market, and the powerful assets they have created. And, it has nothing to do with lack of technical expertise. I am taking the time to write this novel because I am hoping it will help Zoho focus on what is important and also help new users see the incredible line up of tools that Zoho has created, but also understand the limitations right upfront so that they can plan for them.
With that said, here is what I think Zoho should do to fix their CRM (I say fix because in the eyes of the users, these are not enhancements, they appear to be oversights or design flaws considering how well other things are done):
1. Lack of integration with Zoho Invoice: The invoicing feature of Zoho CRM is natively very simple, and not usable for most organizations. Zoho Invoice on the other hand is a very impressive tool and I have to say much better than FreshBooks or the like. It is astounding to me that Zoho and Invoice are not fully integrated at this point. You can bring account information into Invoice, but you cannot pull anything back into CRM from Invoice. This integration is noted as a high priority has been promised fro Q2 in the forums, but I have not seen any feature list to say what the integration will be.
Suggestion: Integrate all the account information from CRM into Invoice. Keep Invoice as a separate app that is accessible in CRM if you like, no problem. Put "hooks" into the CRM on things like cases so that hours can be tracked directly from those cases without the time consuming requirement to create a project first. Also, make sure you do not break the Quickbooks integration of CRM when you bring over Invoice. Figure out how to feed those invoices in there and synchronize the Invoice information with QB.
2. Lack of Calendar integration with Google Calendar: This is listed on the roadmap for the CRM. At this point, they should have a release date posted, however. Zoho has done a great job with the contextual gadgets in Gmail, so I am sure the calendar will be good. Even without all the fancy things, people are dying to have the ability to be able to see their calendars in CRM, and create an event that links to a contact or account. Even batchbook does this.
3. Lack of gadgets on the dashboard: I can't believe that there are not more options for dashboard items. Whether twitter feeds, facebook feeds, stocks, world city time/weather, or whatever. People use the CRM all the time. You WANT them to stay looking at it and the best way to do that is to give them some fun stuff and some diversity of information flow right on their dashboard. I think the best way to do this is to set up a framework for people to create these and let they go at it. Web tabs are not even close to the same thing.
4. Campaigns are a shell: One of the very surprising things I have come to realize is that the campaigns functionality at this point does not have built in email campaign capabilities where you can create a list, send a newsletter and track outcomes for example. To my knowledge (please correct me if I am wrong), it does not have the ability to track any kind of email based campaign like Sugar, SF, or others. Campaigns are basically a place where you can store lists, and track what account was part of what campaign.
5. Integrations are really missing: Most CRM's today are valued on their native functionality and how well they integrate with other applications. Zoho's own applications do not yet integrate well between each other, and I cannot understand why there are not more integration options for everything from customer portals, to online marketing management, and accounting. I understand that Zoho is active in all these places, but it really makes it tough to "work online" as envisioned when you have to jump between so many applications. There needs to be a framework so that 3rd parties can add contextual features when the integration is done. Examples: "Send invoice to Xero", "Send campaign list to Mailchimp" etc. This is not just an API push/pull but the ability to integrate the workflow.
6. No functional customization whatsoever: One of the biggest challenges facing any user/admin of Zoho CRM is that you cannot add anything. No buttons, no logic hooks, no objects. You can change layouts, define workflows (which are nice), put in custom fields, but you cannot create objects and institute any kind of native functionality. A rich external API exists, but it is not the same thing. This leaves many of us severely hamstrung. In most cases, I could get past these hurdles if integration among Zoho's own apps were strong because I could find a way to "get it done" somehow. Without that, you are really stuck.
7. Is Creator the answer? Creator is an online database application that is gaining steam. Zoho has now allowed builders of these applications (users) to access information from the CRM package to build little apps in Creator. This is great news. The bummer, though is that no inverse integration has been announced as of yet. This means that you can't use Creator to build a module (for you SugarCRM users) or an Object (for you salesforce peeps) to expand functionality based upon a new entity of any kind.
8. Evangelism: Sounds fancier than it really is. Zoho is a massive set of applications. There is a tremendous amount of work to do to help users understand how the pieces can be used.... together or independently. I would strongly suggest some "Solution experts" that listen carefully to what the customer is trying to accomplish (not the specifics) and then provide them with options on ways they could do that with Zoho. This kind of relationship with existing and prospective clients would be so much more effective than what currently happens. Most of my contact with Zoho support resources have been very binary. I explain an issue to them, and they tell me they can or can't do that. Rarely does the individual attempt to own/understand my issue, they never commit to a timeframe on any pending features, and do not seem to have an organized place where a user can get updates (frequently) on hot topics through a moderated forum. I find the same questions I have asked over and over again in different ways, but there is usually not a good single place where that topic is discussed (like the lounge does) with some updates given along the way. I found a few threads where the forum moderator asked the users what they wanted in an upcoming release of Invoice. That was great.
So, what are my top requests of Zoho?
- Fully integrate Zoho Invoice and allow for time tracking within the CRM so that we can bill for it.
- Give us a fully functional calendar in the CRM, syncrhonized with google calendar.
- Provide some great gadgets (dashlets) for the dasbhoard and a framework for others to make more
- Step up the integration push: Xero, Saasu, MailChimp, and other popular packages. I am not sure I am okay with the "intermediary" cloud connector services that are popping up. Examples are onesaas and the like. Better that my data goes from Zoho to Xero and nowhere in between.
- Beef up the campaign module or integrate with a strong contender like MailChimp (directly)
- Put out some roadmaps, even if only feature lists 60 days in advance of release. Help us plan for the future. We are basically betting on Zoho for our businesses.
- Last but not least, change the approach to selling and supporting this powerful and wide set of software solutions.
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
lushtech
Sridhar Vembu
Raymond Vardanega
Neale
Sticky Posts
Elevate your CX delivery using CommandCenter 2.0: Simplified builder; seamless orchestration
Most businesses want to create memorable customer experiences—but they often find it hard to keep them smooth, especially as they grow. To achieve a state of flow across their processes, teams often stitch together a series of automations using WorkflowPresenting 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 deliversNimble enhancements to WhatsApp for Business integration in Zoho CRM: Enjoy context and clarity in business messaging
Dear Customers, We hope you're well! WhatsApp for business is a renowned business messaging platform that takes your business closer to your customers; it gives your business the power of personalized outreach. Using the WhatsApp for Business integrationZoho CRM: Sales Rep Professional Certification Program on Coursera
We are happy to share that we have published the Zoho Sales Representative Professional Certificate in partnership with Coursera, a leading platform for online learning and career development that offers access to courses and degrees from leading universitiesEnhancements to the formula field in Zoho CRM: Auto-refresh formulas with the "Now" function, stop formula executions based on criteria, and include formulas within formulas
Dear Customers, We hope you're well! By their nature, modern businesses rely every day on computations, whether it's to calculate the price of a product, assess ROI, evaluate the lifetime value of a customer, or even determine the age of a record. With
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
Upload API
I'm trying to use the Upload API to upload some images and attach them to comments (https://desk.zoho.com/DeskAPIDocument#Uploads#Uploads_Uploadfile) - however I can only ever get a 401 or bad request back. I'm using an OAuth token with the Desk.tickets.ALLZOHO Creator subform link
Dear Community Support, I am looking for some guidance on how to add a clickable link within a Zoho Creator subform. The goal is for this link to redirect users to another Creator form where they can edit the data related to the specific row they clickedAdding Overlays to Live Stream
Hello folks, The company I work for will host an online event through Zoho Webinar. I want to add an overlay (an image) at the bottom of the screen with all the sponsors' logos. Is it possible to add an image as an overlay during the live stream? If so,Email Sending Failed - SMTP Error: data not accepted. - WHMCS Not sending emails due to this error
I have been trying to figure out a fix for about a week now and I haven't found one on my own so I am going to ask for help on here. After checking all the settings and even resetting my password for the email used for WHMCS it still says: Email Sending Failed - SMTP Error: data not accepted. I have no clue how to fix it at this point. Any insight would be lovely.FSM setup
So we have been tinkering with FSM to see if it is going to be for us. Now is the time to bite the bullet and link it to our zoho books and zoho crm. The help guides are good but it would really help if they were a bit more in depth on the intergrations.Does Zoho Learn integrate with Zoho Connect,People,Workdrive,Project,Desk?
Can we propose Zoho LEarn as a centralised Knowledge Portal tool that can get synched with the other Zoho products and serve as a central Knowledge repository?Zoho Flow - Update record in Trackvia
Hello, I have a Flow that executes correctly but I only want it to execute once when a particular field on a record is updated in TrackVia. I have the trigger filters setup correctly and I want to add an "update record" action at the end of the flow toAdd Comprehensive Accessibility Features to Zoho Desk Help Center for End Users
Hello Zoho Desk Team, We hope you're doing well. We’d like to submit a feature request to enhance the client-facing Help Center in Zoho Desk with comprehensive accessibility features, similar to those already available on the agent interface. 🎯 CurrentFiltering repport for portal users
Salut, I have a weird problem that I just cannot figure out : When I enter information as administrator on behalf of a "supplier" portal user (in his "inventory" in a shared inventory system), I can see it, "customer" portal users can see it, but theHow to add application logo
I'm creating an application which i do not want it to show my organization logo so i have changed the setting but i cannot find where to upload/select the logo i wish to use for my application. I have seen something online about using Deluge and writingZoho Projects - Q2 Updates | 2025
Hello Users, With this year's second quarter behind us, Zoho Projects is marching towards expanding its usability with a user-centered, more collaborative, customizable, and automated attribute. But before we chart out plans for what’s next, it’s worthRename Record Summary PDF in SendMail task
So I've been tasked with renaming a record summary PDF to be sent as part of a sendmail task. Normally I would offer the manual solution, a user exports the PDF and uploads it to a file upload field, however this is not acceptable to the client in thisOption to Empty Entire Mailbox or Folder in Zoho Mail
Hello Zoho Mail Team, How are you? We would like to request an enhancement to Zoho Mail that would allow administrators and users to quickly clear out entire folders or mailboxes, including shared mailboxes. Current Limitation: At present, Zoho Mail onlyCreate new Account with contact
Hi I can create a new Account and, as part of that process, add a primary contact (First name, last name) and Email. But THIS contact does NOT appear in Contacts. How can I make sure the Contact added when creating an Account is also listed as a Contact?BUTTONS SHOWN AS AN ICON ON A REPORT
Hi Is there any way to create an action button but show it as an icon on a report please? As per the attached example? So if the user clicks the icon, it triggers an action?in zoho creator Sales Returns form has sub form Line Items return quantity when i upate the or enter any values in the sub form that want to reflect in the Sales Order form item deail sub form field Q
in zoho creator Sales Returns form has sub form Line Items return quantity when i upate the or enter any values in the sub form that want to reflect in the Sales Order form item deail sub form field Quantity Returned\ pls check the recording fetch_salesorderEstimates with options and sub-totals
Hi It seems it would be great to be able to show multiple options in an estimate. For instance I have a core product to which I can add options, and maybe sub-options... It would be great to have subtotals and isolate the core from the not compulsory items. ThanksRate Limiting in Zoho Flow (OpenAI API)
Hi Everyone, We are facing some issues when using Zoho Flow as we have a deluge script running which is making external calls to OpenAI endpoint. Sometimes the response takes more than 30 seconds meaning the script will timeout. We want to implement aOptional Items Estimate
How do you handle optional items within an estimate? In our case we have only options to choose with. (Like your software pricing, ...standard, professional, enterprise) How can we disable the total price? Working with Qty = 0 is unprofessional....Important Update : Zendesk Sell announced End of Life
Hello Zendesk users, Zendesk has officially announced that Zendesk Sell will reach its End of Life (EOL) on August 31, 2027 (Learn more). In line with this deprecation, Zoho Analytics will retire its native Zendesk Sell connector effective October 1,Zoho Sheets
Hi, I am trying to transition into Zoho sheets, I have attached the issues encountered. Server issues, file trying to upload for more than 30 mins, even once uploaded my data aren't loaded. Simple calculations are not working I have attached the sample.Create static subforms in Zoho CRM: streamline data entry with pre-defined values
Last modified on (9 July, 2025): This feature was available in early access and is currently being rolled out to customers in phases. Currently available for users in the the AU, CA, and SA DCs. It will be enabled for the remaining DCs in the next coupleZoho CRM + Zoho FSM : alignez vos équipes commerciales et techniques
La vente est finalisée, mais le parcours client ne fait que commencer ! Dans les entreprises orientées service, conclure une vente représente seulement la première étape. Ce qui suit — installation, réparation ou maintenance régulière — influence grandementTop Bar Shifting issue still not fixed yet
I mentioned in a previous ticket that on Android, the top bar shifts up when you view collections or when you're in the settings. That issue still hasn't been fixed yet. I don't wanna have to reinstall the app as I've noticed for some reason, reinstallingPower of Automation:: Automate the process of updating project status based on a specific task status.
Hello Everyone, Today, I am pleased to showcase the capabilities of a custom function that is available in our Gallery. To explore the custom functions within the Gallery, please follow the steps below. Click Setup in the top right corner > DeveloperCelebrating Connections with Zoho Desk
September 27 is a special day marking two great occasions: World Tourism Day and Google’s birthday. What do these two events have in common (besides the date)? It's something that Zoho Desk celebrates, too: making connections. The connect through tourismAttention API Users: Upcoming Support for Renaming System Fields
Hello all! We are excited to announce an upcoming enhancement in Zoho CRM: support for renaming system-defined fields! Current Behavior Currently, system-defined fields returned by the GET - Fields Metadata API have display_label and field_label propertiesBilling Management: #3 Billing Unbilled Charges Periodically
We had a smooth sail into Prorated Billing, a practice that ensures fairness when customers join, upgrade, or downgrade a service at any point during the billing cycle. But what happens when a customer requests additional limits or features during theNo bank feeds from First National Bank South Africa since 12 September
I do not know how Zoho Books expects its customers to run a business like this. I have contacted Zoho books numerous times about this and the say it is solved - on email NO ONE ANSWERS THE SOUTH AFRICAN HELP LINE Come on Zoho Books, you cannot expectZoho CRM Calendar | Custom Buttons
I'm working with my sales team to make our scheduling process easier for our team. We primary rely on Zoho CRM calendar to organize our events for our sales team. I was wondering if there is a way to add custom button in the Calendar view on events/meetingSync desktop folders instantly with WorkDrive TrueSync (Beta)
Keeping your important files backed up and accessible has never been easier! With WorkDrive desktop app (TrueSync), you can now automatically sync specific desktop folders to WorkDrive Web, ensuring seamless, real-time updates across devices. Important:Citation Problem
I had an previous ticket (#116148702) on this subject. The basic problem is this; the "Fetch Details" feature works fine on the first attempt but fails on every subsequent attempt, Back in July after having submitted information electronically and wasOpen Sans Font in Zoho Books is not Open Sans.
Font choice in customising PDF Templates is very limited, we cannot upload custom fonts, and to make things worse, the font names are not accurate. I selected Open Sans, and thought the system was bugging, but no, Open Sans is not Open Sans. The realDoes Zoho Sheet Supports https://n8n.io ?
Does Zoho Sheet Supports https://n8n.io ? If not, can we take this as an idea and deploy in future please? ThanksFailing to generate Access and Refresh Token
Hello. I have two problems: First one when generating Access and Refresh Token I get this response: As per the guide here : https://www.zoho.com/books/api/v3/#oauth (using server based application) I'm following all the steps. I have managed to getZeptomail 136.143.188.150 blocked by SpamCop
Hi - it looks like this IP is being blocked, resulting in hard bounces unfortunately :( "Reason: uncategorized-bounceMessage: 5.7.1 Service unavailable; Client host [136.143.188.150] blocked using bl.spamcop.net; Blocked - see https://www.spamcop.net/bl.shtml?136.143.188.150Apply transaction rules to multiple banks
Is there any way to make transaction rules for one bank apply to other banks? It seems cumbersome to have to re-enter the same date for every account.How to bulk update records with Data Enrichment by Zia
Hi, I want to bulk update my records with Data Enrichment by Zia. How can I do this?Need Guidance on SPF Flattening for Zoho Mail Configuration
Hi everyone, I'm hoping to get some advice on optimizing my SPF record for a Zoho Mail setup. I use Zoho Mail along with several other Zoho services, and as a result, my current SPF record has grown to include multiple include mechanisms. My CloudflareIs there an equivalent to the radius search in RECRUIT available in the CRM
We have a need to find all Leads and/or Contacts within a given radius of a given location (most likely postcode) but also possibly an address. I was wondering whether anyone has found a way to achieve this in the CRM much as the radius search in RECRUITNext Page