Zoho CRM is on its way to GDPR Compliance

Zoho CRM is on its way to GDPR Compliance

Hello folks,  

GDPR has been the talk of the hour and we would like to ensure that this GDPR fever does not come in the way of your business and selling. There are several GDPR centric enhancements in Zoho CRM that will be released in a phased manner to all our users in the following weeks. 

Designed to help you meet the privacy standards set by the European Union, these enhancements will provide a streamlined mechanism for you to collect, process and store your customer data in conformation with the GDPR. 

So what is GDPR and how will it affect your business?

GDPR or General Data Protection Regulation is a landmark policy aimed at empowering citizens of the European Union regarding their personal data. With increasingly complex flow of information across the world, GDPR aims to give EU citizens more direct control on how their personal information is being processed in addition to improved data privacy.

GDPR not only applies to companies in the EU region but to any organization that collects or processes the data of EU citizens. If you are one of those organizations who collect or process data of EU citizens, the following enhancements in Zoho CRM are for you. 

GDPR centric enhancements in Zoho CRM:

We have split GDPR requirements into Data collection, Data processing and Data Subject Rights. In the sections below, we state the GDPR requirements along with the respective enhancements in Zoho CRM that meet them.  

Note: The Organization collecting customer data is referred to as "Data Controller"/"Controller", your customers are referred to as "Data Subjects" and Zoho CRM will be the "Data Processor". 

1. Data Collection

GDPR demands that personal information collected from Data Subjects should be limited to what the Data Controller needs in order to deliver its services, and a legitimate need in case of requesting additional information must be demonstrated. It is also mandatory that you state the purpose and get clear consent when collecting personal information.  

Consent must be explicit, where Data Subjects take an affirmative action (clicking on the checkbox, so no pre-ticked check boxes). Controllers are also expected to be transparent about the duration for which the data will be processed. 

Consent Form: Consent is one of the cornerstones of GDPR, as the execution of any processing activity now depends on the consent provided by the Data Subject. So in-order to demonstrate compliance, it is mandatory that a Data Controller identifies Data Subjects who require consent and those who do not require it under criteria such as Legitimate interest, Vital interest, Public interest, Contract, Freely given consent and other basis. After identifying this, the Data Controller should get consent from Data Subjects who require consent and be able to provide proof of consent if needed. 

The fully customizable consent form in Zoho CRM allows Controllers to get explicit consent in regards to: 
  • The purpose of data collection.
  • Preferred communication channel.
  • Duration for which the data can be processed or consent duration.
  • Sharing information with connected services.
Consent from Data Subjects, in written declaration or orally obtained consent (through email or telephone) can be attached to the form using the Attachment option.  


Once the Data Subject has submitted their consent, it's stored under the Data Subject's record details page for the purpose of official record and for the Controller to know their actionable items from the data provided. For example, if a Data Subject has explicitly stated that their preferred channel of communication is email, then they are not to be contacted through any other means. 

Double Opt-in Mechanism: This is one more compliance feature which you can use when setting up webforms. Anytime a Data Subject submits their information through a webform, a double Opt-in email is sent to them to confirm their registration/sign-up.

Data source tracking: Data Subjects' information can be pushed into Zoho CRM from multiple sources which include direct sources like web-forms, and indirect sources such as imports, manual entries, APIs, and third-party integrations.

The source and additional details if any (like the URL, IP address and geo-location) will be documented in the record details page. The screenshot below shows a new section called Data Privacy, under which Data source and the respective consent details are populated. 


2. Data Processing

Information provided by a Data Subject can only be processed in a lawful basis. There is significant emphasis on the fact that all processing activities must be carried out securely to ensure that personal information is not exposed. 

Marking Personal fields - fields containing PII (Personally Identifiable Information): Data Controllers can mark fields containing personal information as Personal fields and set a sensitivity level (High and Low). Based on the privacy preference, the Controller can choose to restrict these fields from certain processing activities such as exports, APIs and connected services.

There are two cases when data is being processed via connected services:

Case 1 - Data Subject has not consented to their data being shared with any connected services. In such a case no information of theirs will be shared with any of the integrated services of Zoho CRM. 
Case 2 - Data Subject has consented to their data being shared with connected services but there is an organizational restriction in sharing PIIs. In such a case the fields with PIIs will be not be processed in APIs and connected services. 

With regards to Zoho connected services (Zoho products like Books, Desk, Campaigns, etc.) consent provided in one product will apply across all integrated Zoho products.  

Encryption At Rest (EAR): Enterprise users have the option of Encryption At Rest for Personal fields. 

Audit log and timeline for customer records: The Data Controller can monitor the processing activities done on a Data Subject's personal information. 

Consent Management: The consent management system helps the Controller to keep track on the consent status of their Data Subjects. The system helps users identify Data Subjects who are yet to provide consent and immediately allows for sending an email with the consent form link. Consent can be obtained through webforms, consent form, portals and offline consent (Email or phone call). 

The screenshot below is a consent dashboard showing the various consent statuses. Clicking on them will get you a list of all Data Subjects with their particular consent status.   


3. Data Subject Rights

GDPR comes with a slew of rights which EU Data Subjects can exercise at any time which must be addressed in a month's time. The data request management in Zoho CRM lets the Controller keep track of all data requests to address them in a timely manner. The data requests raised is also maintained under each Data Subject's record details page so that the Controller is informed on any pending requests. 


The Data Subject can exercise their rights through the consent form, portal, or offline through email and phone calls.


Zoho CRM helps Controllers address these data requests through the following options: 

Access (Right to View): Using Zoho CRM's email feature, a template consisting of all customer information fields can be quickly created, which can then be sent to your customer upon request.
Rectify (Right to Rectify): Customer specific information can be exported and sent to the customer for rectification and the same can be updated.
Export (Right to Portability): Customer specific information can be exported, attached to an email and sent to a customer in a machine readable format, all without being downloaded on to your device.
Stop Process (Right to Stop Processing): Once a customer exercises this right, the corresponding record will be locked preventing further processing.
Erase (Right to be forgotten): Once exercised, the customer's record will be locked for the duration of the retention period defined in the Data controller's terms of service, after which the controller has the option to delete the customer information. Once deleted, the record will be moved to a blocklist and the re-entry of the same data will be prevented.

All of these enhancements will be made available for you in Zoho CRM in a phased manner. So watch this space for more updates!

    Access your files securely from anywhere









                          Zoho Developer Community




                                                • Desk Community Learning Series


                                                • Digest


                                                • Functions


                                                • Meetups


                                                • Kbase


                                                • Resources


                                                • Glossary


                                                • Desk Marketplace


                                                • MVP Corner


                                                • Word of the Day


                                                • Ask the Experts





                                                          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

                                                                                                          • In App Auto Refresh/Update Features

                                                                                                            Hi,    I am trying to use Zoho Creator for Restaurant management. While using the android apps, I reliased the apps would not auto refresh if there is new entries i.e new kitchen order ticket (KOT) from other users.   The apps does received notification but would not auto refresh, users required to refresh the apps manually in order to see the new KOT in the apps.    I am wondering why this features is not implemented? Or is this feature being considered to be implemented in the future? With the
                                                                                                          • Every time an event is updated, all participants receive an update email. How can I deactivate this?

                                                                                                            Every time an event is updated in Zoho CRM (e.g. change description, link to Lead) every participant of this meeting gets an update email. Another customer noticed this problem years ago in the Japanese community: https://help.zoho.com/portal/ja/community/topic/any-time-an-event-is-updated-on-zohocrm-calendar-it-sends-multiple-invites-to-the-participants-how-do-i-stop-that-from-happening
                                                                                                          • How can I filter a field integration?

                                                                                                            Hi,  I have a field integration from CRM "Products" in a form, and I have three product Categories in CRM. I only need to see Products of a category. Thanks for you answers.
                                                                                                          • How to implement new online payment gateway?

                                                                                                            Hello, Can you tell me how to proceed to implement my local payment gateway? DIBS has an open avaiable API that should be easy to implement into ZOHO BOOKS. http://tech.dibspayment.com/dibs_payment_window
                                                                                                          • Zoho CRM - Portal Users Edit Their Own Account Information

                                                                                                            Hi Community, I'm working on a client portal and it seems like the only I can make the Account record editable to the Contact, is if I add another lookup on the Account to the Contact record. Am I missing something as the account already has a list of
                                                                                                          • I’ve noticed that Zoho Sheet currently doesn’t have a feature similar to the QUERY formula in Google Sheets or Power Query in Microsoft Excel.

                                                                                                            These tools are extremely helpful for: Filtering and extracting data using simple SQL-like queries Combining or transforming data from multiple sheets or tables Creating dynamic reports without using complex formulas Having a Query-like function in Zoho
                                                                                                          • Connecting Zoho Mail with Apollo.io

                                                                                                            Hi, I am trying to connect my Zoho Mail account with my Apollo.io account to start sending cold email for prospecting purposes. I have activated the IMAP setting but I am still unable to connect to the Apollo account. I am using my email credentials but
                                                                                                          • Where does this report come from in the Zoho One ecosystems?

                                                                                                            Is this directly from MA, Analytics or ??? ???
                                                                                                          • Contact's title in "Contact Role Mapping"

                                                                                                            When I'm creating a deal, I'd like to see the contacts title in the listing. Right now, I only see this: How can I get the contact's title in there?
                                                                                                          • Zoho CRM - Client Portal - Hide Notes Related List

                                                                                                            Hi Community, I'm building a customer portal and I can't find a way to hide the notes related list. I don't want the client to see the notes I have about them. Is there a way to do this as it is no bin/trash icon when I hover over.
                                                                                                          • "Pivot Table" Conditional Formatting

                                                                                                            Team, I there a way to use conditional formatting a "Pivot Table"  report? Thanks, Arron Blue Pumpkin Hosting | Solutions Made Simple
                                                                                                          • How many clients can be added to Zoho Practice?

                                                                                                            How many clients can be added to Zoho Practice without having their zoho app?
                                                                                                          • Stage History

                                                                                                            when viewing a ticket , and you look at stage history tab (kanban view) and look at the stage duration column in days, it shows the current stage of the ticket as " current stage ". Should it not rather show the amount of days it has been in that current
                                                                                                          • Send Automated WhatsApp Messages and Leverage the Improved WhatsApp Templates

                                                                                                            Greetings, I hope all of you are doing well. We're excited to announce a major upgrade to Bigin's WhatsApp integration that brings more flexibility, interactivity, and automation to your customer messaging. WhatsApp message automation You can now use
                                                                                                          • Automating Ticket Responses Using Zoho Desk's AI Features

                                                                                                            We’re looking to set up an automation within Zoho Desk that can analyze incoming emails or tickets and automatically respond with relevant knowledge base articles based on the content of the request. Could you please guide us on how to configure this
                                                                                                          • Optimising CRM-Projects workflows to manage requests, using Forms as an intermediary

                                                                                                            Is it possible to create a workflow between three apps with traceability between them all? We send information from Zoho CRM Deals over to Zoho Projects for project management and execution. We have used a lookup of sorts to create tasks in the past,
                                                                                                          • Service locations are tied to contacts?

                                                                                                            Trying the system out. And what I discovered is that it seems that the whole logic of the app is, I'd say, backwards. There is a Customer - a company. The company has contact persons and service locations can be associated with different contact persons.
                                                                                                          • Enhancements to Zoho Maps integration tasks

                                                                                                            Hello everyone, We're excited to announce enhancements to the Zoho Maps integration tasks in Deluge, which will boost its performance. This post will walk you through the upcoming changes, explain why we're making them, and detail the steps you need to
                                                                                                          • Bug in Total Hour Calculation in Regularization for past dates

                                                                                                            There is a bug in Zoho People Regularization For example today is the date is 10 if I choose a previous Date like 9 and add the Check in and Check out time The total hours aren't calculated properly, in the example the check in time is 10:40 AM check
                                                                                                          • Narrative 12: Sandbox - Testing without the risk

                                                                                                            Behind the scenes of a successful ticketing system: BTS Series Narrative 12: Sandbox - Testing without the risk What is a sandbox environment? A sandbox environment is a virtual playground that allows you to test freely and experiment with various elements
                                                                                                          • Dynamically catching new file creations

                                                                                                            I have a team folder with many subfolders, and in those folders we add new documents all the time. I'd like to have a workflow or script to notify me (and then take other actions) when a file is added anywhere in that structure that ends in "summary.txt".
                                                                                                          • Announcing new features in Trident for Mac (1.27.0)

                                                                                                            Hello everyone! Trident for macOS (v1.27.0) is here with new features and enhancements to improve scheduling and managing your calendar events. Let's take a quick look at them. Stay aligned across time zones. Both the scheduled and original time zones
                                                                                                          • Branding of native system emails

                                                                                                            Make system emails adjustable in terms of branding. We want our system to be completely white label, because it is not a CRM anymore, it's way more than that. We are following the strategy of "CRM for everyone" to use the CRM in all departments, not only
                                                                                                          • Slow uploads of large files

                                                                                                            I'm wanting to use Workdrive for transferring large images and video (we're talking things from 100MB-5GB). I'm running solo on a 500MBit/sec fiber connection. I'm getting upload speeds to Workdrive of no more than about 1-3Mbytes/sec when going through
                                                                                                          • Migrate Your Notes from OneNote to Zoho Notebook Today

                                                                                                            Greetings Notebook Users, We’re excited to introduce a powerful new feature that lets you migrate your notes from Microsoft OneNote to Zoho Notebook—making your transition faster and more seamless than ever. ✨ What’s New One-click migration: Easily import
                                                                                                          • need to upload from airtable to google drive

                                                                                                            I have a zapier zap that automates between airtable and google drive. When a customer uploads a new file into airtable via a client portal interface, zapier uploads that file into a folder linked to that customer's project record. I need to replicate
                                                                                                          • Can't delete functions that are associated with deleted workflow rules

                                                                                                            We have a handful of functions that were once associated with a workflow rule, but the rule has been deleted. The function still thinks it is associated so I can't assign it to a new rule. It is starting to get really messy because we have a list of functions
                                                                                                          • Default Sorting on Related Lists

                                                                                                            Is it possible to set the default sorting options on the related lists. For example on the Contact Details view I have related lists for activities, emails, products cases, notes etc... currently: Activities 'created date' newest first Emails - 'created
                                                                                                          • Credit Management: #1 Credit You Owe vs Credits Owed to the Business

                                                                                                            Think about the last time you ordered food online. You might have paid in advance through your card, but you received a $20 refund because your order got delayed or cancelled. In most apps, refunds don't go into the bank account directly; instead, they're
                                                                                                          • Tip #46- Turn Every Session into an Insight with Zoho Assist survey report- 'Insider Insights'

                                                                                                            Delivering exceptional remote support isn’t just about resolving issues, it’s about understanding how both customers and technicians experience each session. That’s where Survey Report in Zoho Assist come in. You can configure and customize survey questions
                                                                                                          • Enhancing Zia's service with better contextual responses and article generation

                                                                                                            Hello everyone, We are enhancing Zia's Generative AI service to make your support experience smarter. Here's how: Increased accuracy with Qwen One of the key challenges in AI is delivering responses that are both contextually accurate and empathetic while
                                                                                                          • Allow the usage of Multi-Select fields as the primary field on "Layout Rules"

                                                                                                            We want to force our users to enter some explanation strings when a multi-select field has been utilized. I can't understand the reason for the usage restriction of Multi-Select fields as a primary field. This is a simple "Display hidden mandatory field
                                                                                                          • CRM/Bookings integration edits Contact names

                                                                                                            Hi there, I've installed the extension that connects Zoho CRM and Zoho Bookings. When we get a new appointment from Bookings from an existing Contact, that Contact's record shows this: First Name was updated from asd to blank value Last Name was updated
                                                                                                          • Domain Change

                                                                                                            “Please update my Email-in domain from @biginmail.biginmail.in to @biginmail.zoho.com. Messages to the .in domain are bouncing.”
                                                                                                          • Webhooks Limit Exceeded

                                                                                                            Today, I received an error message saying, 'Total number of Webhook call exceeded', but when I look at Manage > Billing, it doesn't look like any of my invokeURL calls are being logged. Following the advice from this thread: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/webhooks-daily-limits-in-zoho-creator
                                                                                                          • Auto select option in CRM after Zoho Form merge

                                                                                                            Hi, I have a dropdown field in Zoho CRM that is filled with a Zoho Form. The data is filled but not automatically shown. After selecting the right value in the dropdown the information a second field is shown. So the question is; how can I make the dropdown
                                                                                                          • Bring your CRM data straight into your presentations in Zoho Show

                                                                                                            Let's say you are working on a presentation about your team's sales pipeline for an upcoming strategy meeting. All the information you need about clients and leads is in Zoho CRM, but you end up copying details from the CRM into your slides, adjusting
                                                                                                          • Improved RingCentral Integration

                                                                                                            We’d like to request an enhancement to the current RingCentral integration with Zoho. RingCentral now automatically generates call transcripts and AI-based call summaries (AI Notes) for each call, which are extremely helpful for support and sales teams.
                                                                                                          • Introducing New APIs in Zoho Contracts

                                                                                                            We are excited to announce the release of new APIs in Zoho Contracts to help you automate and manage every stage of your contract lifecycle more efficiently. Here’s a quick overview of what’s new: 1. Complete Contract Draft You can use this API to complete
                                                                                                          • Vimeo

                                                                                                            For me Vimeo is the most important video social channel for media and filmmakers. Would others agree and like it added to Zoho Social.
                                                                                                          • Next Page