Zia Agents in Zoho SalesIQ

Zia Agents in Zoho SalesIQ

Zia Agents can be deployed in Zoho SalesIQ to function as AI-powered operators that can engage with visitors, answer queries, and assist with support workflows across channels. SalesIQ supports deploying Zia Agents as digital agents. Once deployed, these agents appear as operators inside SalesIQ and can take up conversations automatically.

Zia Agents work based on:

  1. Instructions configured during agent creation
  2. Tools & Knowledge base assigned to the agent 
  3. Connected Zoho applications and workflows

In SalesIQ, Zia Agents currently function primarily as an AI-assisted operator layer focused on Q/A-based conversational support.

How Zia Agents work with SalesIQ

The agents operate similarly to human operators but are powered through AI instructions and tool-based execution. Within the current SalesIQ scope, Zia Agents can:

  1. Pick up and respond to visitor chats automatically
  2. Answer visitor questions
  3. Read and refer to Articles and FAQs
  4. Retrieve recent visitor conversations for context
  5. Forward chats to departments
  6. Close conversations
  7. Work across all supported SalesIQ channels

The agent’s actual behavior depends heavily on the instructions, tools and knowledge base configured in the agent. 

Idea

For example:

  1. A sales-focused agent can qualify leads and push information into CRM
  2. A support-focused agent can create tickets in Desk
  3. A marketing-focused agent can add users to campaigns

These workflows depend on the tools and instructions configured for the agent and are not limited to native SalesIQ-only actions.

Warning
Maximum of five Zia Agents can be deployed within the same SalesIQ portal. 

Supported SalesIQ Tools

The following SalesIQ tools are currently supported for Zia Agents:

Permission
 Description
salesiq_closeConversation
Closes an active conversation in SalesIQ. This ends the chat session and updates the conversation status.
salesiq_getChatTranscript
Retrieves the transcript of a chat using the chat ID.
salesiq_forwardChat
Transfers an active chat conversation to a specified department in SalesIQ.
salesiq_listArticles
Returns the list of Articles available in a SalesIQ portal.
salesiq_getArticleDetails
Retrieves detailed information about a specific article.
salesiq_getChatDetails
Retrieves the details of a chat using the chat ID.
salesiq_listConversations
Retrieves the list of conversations available in a SalesIQ portal.
salesiq_getVisitorRecentChats
Retrieves recent chat sessions related to a visitor conversation to help the agent understand context.
salesiq_listFAQs
Returns the list of FAQs available in a SalesIQ portal
salesiq_getFAQDetails
Retrieves complete details of a specific FAQ.

Important Notes

Agent priority over chatbots
  1. When both, Chatbots and Zia Agents are deployed within SalesIQ, Zia Agents receive higher priority.
  2. This means the Zia Agent will attend chats before chatbot flows are triggered.
Operator priority & Chat handling
  1. Once enabled, Zia Agents will start attending chats automatically.
  2. Human operators are mainly required when the agent forwards the chat to a department.
  3. All the Zia agent chat will be listed under the chats (active/closed)
Transfer to operator is not built-in by default
  1. Transfer-to-human behavior is not automatically enabled.
  2. The agent instructions must explicitly define this behavior.
  3. The salesiq_forwardChat tool should be included.
  4. If the tool is not configured, the agent may continue attempting to answer instead of escalating.
Additional operator license not required
  1. Deploying a Zia Agent in SalesIQ does not require purchasing an additional SalesIQ operator license.
  2. For example: If a portal has 5 purchased operator licenses. A Zia Agent can still be deployed as an additional operator

How to deploy Zia Agents in SalesIQ

  1. Open Zia Agents and navigate to Agent Studio
  2. Create an agent > Using Zia or from scratch
  3. Configure the agent name, role, instructions, tools, knowledge base, guardrails and more.
Warning
To deploy an agent in SalesIQ, adding at least one SalesIQ tool is mandatory.

  1. Next, test the Agent by validating responses, tools and it's behavior
InfoImportant deployment recommendation

Although any eligible user can create a Zia Agent, it is strongly recommended that the SalesIQ portal owner performs the deployment process. This helps avoid deployment-related permission issues such as - "Digital Employee cannot be created in the current service portal by this user"

If this issue occurs:

  1. Ask the SalesIQ portal owner to deploy the agent
  2. Or have the portal owner complete the final deployment steps

Deploy as SalesIQ Operator

Once the agent is ready to deploy, click on Deploy > Deploy as Digital Agent. 

  1. Configure parameter mapping
    1. Configure the required parameter mapping for tools.
    2. For SalesIQ deployments, choosing Model Mapping is generally recommended.

  1. Configure the SalesIQ portal
    1. All the associated SalesIQ portals under the user will be listed.
    2. Select the portal where the agent should be deployed

  1. Review concent
    1. Review the requested permissions and continue.

  1. Assign SalesIQ role
    1. All the roles and departments associated with the selected portal will be listed. Select the role and departments for the agent.
    2. The agent will attend chats only from the selected departments.

  1. Operator display name for agent
    1. Provide the operator name that should appear inside SalesIQ.
    2. This becomes the visible operator identity for visitors.

  1. Review & Deploy
    1. Review the deployment summary and click Continue
    2. The Zia Agent will now be deployed into SalesIQ as an operator.

Agents in SalesIQ

  1. Once deployed, the agent will be added as an operator in Zoho SalesIQ in the enabled state.

  1. To view the agent profile, navigate to, Settings > General > Operators > click on the Agent
  2. From the agent profile, you can, 
    1. Change the agent's name
    2. Update the display picture (DP)

    1. Modify associated departments
    2. Manage agent versions
  1. All deployed versions of the agent will be listed here, allowing you to choose the appropriate version based on your requirements.

  1. The agent’s productivity will also be captured in Reports.
Idea
All chats handled by the agent will be available under Active Chats and Closed Chats. Operators with access permissions can view the agent’s chats and intervene in active conversations using the "Take over" option.
Alert
Currently, agents cannot be used in advanced configurations such as, triggers, routing rules, integration owner configurations.