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?
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
VoC 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 youGood 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 activitiesPresenting 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
The Social Wall: December 2025
Hello everyone! As we wrap up the final edition of the Social Wall for 2025, it’s the perfect time to look at what went live during December. QR code generator From paying for coffee to scanning metro tickets, QR codes are everywhere and have made everydayCustom AI solutions with QuickML for Zoho CRM
Hello everyone, Earlier, we introduced Custom AI Solutions in CRM that let you access QuickML for your custom AI needs. Building on that foundation, we’ve now enabled a deeper integration: QuickML models can be seamlessly integrated into CRM, and surfaceHelper Functions and DRY principle
Hello everyone, I believe Deluge should be able to use 'Helper functions' inside the main function. I know I can create different standalones, but this is not helpful and confusing. I don't want 10000 different standalones, and I dont want to have toIntroducing workflow automation for the Products module
Greetings, I hope all of you are doing well. We're happy to announce a few recent enhancements we've made to Bigin's Products module. The Products module in Bigin now supports Workflows, enabling you to automate routine actions. Along with this update,Power up your Kiosk Studio with Real-Time Data Capture, Client Scripts & More!
Hello Everyone, We’re thrilled to announce a powerful set of enhancements to Kiosk Studio in Zoho CRM. These new updates give you more flexibility, faster record handling, and real-time data capture, making your Kiosk flows smarter and more efficientZia Formula Expression Generator for Formula fields
Hello everyone! Formula fields are super useful when you want your CRM to calculate things for you but writing the expression is where most people slow down. You know what you want, but you’re not fully sure which function to use, how the syntax shouldIssue with Zoho Creator Form Full-Screen View in CRM Related List Integration
Hi Team, We have created a custom application in Zoho Creator and integrated it into Zoho CRM as a related list under the Vendor module, which we have renamed as Consignors. Within the Creator application, there is a form named “Pickup Request.” InsideWrapping 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 youCustomer Parent Account or Sub-Customer Account
Some of clients as they have 50 to 300 branches, they required separate account statement with outlet name and number; which means we have to open new account for each branch individually. However, the main issue is that, when they make a payment, theyProjects custom colors replaced by default orange
Since yesterday, projects uploaded to Zoho, to which I had assigned a custom color, have lost the customization and reverted to the default color (orange). Has anyone else had the same problem? If so, how did you resolve it?Restrict Users access to login into CRM?
I’m wanting my employees to be able to utilize the Zoho CRM Lookup field within Zoho Forms. For them to use lookup field in Zoho Forms it is my understanding that they need to be licensed for Forms and the CRM. However, I don’t want them to be able toIntroducing 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 toUnknown table or alias 'A1'
I would like to create a subquery but i am getting the following error: Unknown table or alias 'A1' used in select query. This is the sql statement: SELECT A1.active_paying_customers, A1.active_trial_customers, A1.new_paying_signup, date(A1.date_active_customers),in the Zoho creator i have address field based the customer lookup im selecting the addresss , some times the customer address getting as null i want to show as blank
in the Zoho creator i have address field based the customer lookup im selecting the addresss , some times the customer address getting as null ,i want to show as blank instead of showing null. input.Billing_Address.address_line_1 = ifNUll(input.Customers_Name.Address.address_line_1,"");Question about upgrade and storage space Zoho Notebook
After upgarding my Zoho Notebook plan, I am running into the following issue. I just upgraded from a free Zoho Notebook subscription to Pro Lite after I got a notification in my Window Zoho Notebook desktop app saying that I had run out of space. However,how to add email to existing organization i w
I am already registered my organization and i have an email id. I need one more email id but i can't find anywhere .i want the cheapest email id . how to add ?add zoho account
How to add a zoho mail to previous zoho account? I have twoName changed in settings for mailbox but still not changed when typed in To field
In the email account secretary@ i have updaetd the new staff members details but the old members name still appears when I type secretary@ in the To field. I cant work out where Zoho is finding the old name from. I have deleted the browser cache. If IPrinting to a brother label maker
I see allot of really old unanswered posts asking how to print to a label maker from a zoho creator app. Has their been any progress on providing the capability to create a customized height & width page or print template or whatever to print labels?Sync 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:Track online, in-office, and client location meetings separately with the new meeting venue option
Hello everyone! We’re excited to announce meeting enhancements in Zoho CRM that bring more clarity and structure to how meetings are categorized. You can now specify the meeting venue to clearly indicate whether a meeting is being held online, at theCalling the new 'Custom API' feature from within a Custom Widget
From what I've learned it is not possible to call an endpoint from the new "Custom API" feature within a Creator Widget. The SDK's doesn't support it yet, when calling it natively you end up with CORS issues or at least I couldn't get it working evenAnnouncing new features in Trident for Mac (1.32.0)
Hello everyone! We’re excited to introduce the latest updates to Trident, which are designed to reinforce email security and protect your inbox from evolving threats. Let’s take a quick look at what’s new. Deliver quarantined emails. Organization adminsMarketing Tip #5: Improve store speed with optimized images
Slow-loading websites can turn visitors away. One of the biggest culprits? Large, uncompressed images. By optimizing your images, your store loads faster and creates a smoother shopping experience leading to higher sales. It also indirectly improves SEO.SMS to customers from within Bigin
Hi All, Is there anyone else crying out for Bigin SMS capability to send an SMS to customers directly from the Bigin interface? We have inbuilt telephony already with call recordings which works well. What's lacking is the ability to send and receiveAdmins cannot see each others' Scheduled Reports?!
Very frustrating that as an admin I cannot see what my reports my fellow admins have created and scheduled. After asking about this on the help chat, I was told the issue is trust and security. By giving someone Admin status, it means we trust them with those responsibilities. Please change this, it is not a good process to have to bother other users to change a report or change users within a report.Automatically CC an address using Zoho CRM Email Templates
Hi all - have searched but can't see a definitive answer. We have built multiple email templates in CRM. Every time we send this we want it to CC a particular address (the same address for every email sent) so that it populates the reply back into ourWriter update results in BitDefender blocking it as malware
After updating Writer to latest update, Bitdefender blocked the app and writer no longer runs.Is there a way to invoke deluge function from within a widget?
Hi! I have custom functions in deluge and I was wondering whether there is any way to call this function through a widget? Something like on click of a button inside a widget, run the deluge custom function. Would this be possible?Missing Import Options
Hello, do I miss something or is there no space import option inside of this application? In ClickUp, you can import from every common application. We don't want to go through every page and export them one by one. That wastes time. We want to centralizeZoho CRM Portal Field Level Permission Issue
Hi Support Team, I am using the Zoho CRM Portal and configuring field-level editing permissions. However, we are unable to restrict portal users from editing certain fields. We have created a portal and provided View and Edit (Shared Only) access forWhy am I seeing deleted records in Zoho Analytics syncing with Zoho CRM?
I have done a data sync between Zoho CRM and Zoho Analytics, and the recycle bin is empty. Why do I see deleted leads/deals/contacts in Zoho Analytics if it doesn't exist in Zoho CRM? How can I solve this problem? ThanksCustom Fonts in Zoho CRM Template Builder
Hi, I am currently creating a new template for our quotes using the Zoho CRM template builder. However, I noticed that there is no option to add custom fonts to the template builder. It would greatly enhance the flexibility and branding capabilities ifIntroducing the Zoho Projects Learning Space
Every product has its learning curve, and sometimes having a guided path makes the learning experience smoother. With that goal, we introduce a dedicated learning space for Zoho Projects, a platform where you can explore lessons, learn at your own pace,All new Address Field in Zoho CRM: maintain structured and accurate address inputs
The address field will be available exclusively for IN DC users. We'll keep you updated on the DC-specific rollout soon. It's currently available for all new sign-ups and for existing Zoho CRM orgs which are in the Professional edition. Latest updateCollaboration with customers made easy with Zoom Meeting and Zoho Desk integration
Hello everyone! We are happy to announce that you can now integrate your Zoho Desk account with Zoom Meeting. The integration bridges the gap between digital communication and human connection, empowering teams to deliver timely support when it mattersCRM Canvas - Upload Attachments
I am in the process of changing my screens to Canvas. On one screen, I have tabs with related lists, one of which is attachments. There doesn't appear to be a way to upload documents though. Am I missing something really obvious? Does anyone haveTrueSync regularly filling up my local disk
Seems that WorkDrive's TrueSync randomly starts filling up my local hard drive space. None of the folders have been set as "Make Offline" but still it seems to randomly start making file offline. The settings of the app is so minimal and is of no realKaizen #194 : Trigger Client Script via Custom buttons
Hello everyone! Welcome back to another interesting and useful Kaizen post. We know that Client Scripts can be triggered with Canvas buttons and we discussed this with a use case in Kaizen#180. Today, let us discuss how to trigger Client Script when a[Webinar] A recap of Zoho Writer in 2025
Hi Zoho Writer users, We're excited to announce Zoho Writer's webinar for January 2026: A recap of Zoho Writer in 2025. This webinar will provide a recap of the features and enhancements we added in 2025 to enhance your productivity. Choose your preferredNext Page