Introducing Connected Workflows in Zoho CRM for Everyone : Free Your Teams to Focus on What Matters

Introducing Connected Workflows in Zoho CRM for Everyone : Free Your Teams to Focus on What Matters

Hello Everyone,

We’re thrilled to introduce the next big evolution in Zoho CRM for Everyone -- Connected Workflows. This new feature builds on our commitment to deliver a CRM that’s truly inclusive, adaptable, and designed for consistent collaboration across your entire organization and not just your sales team.

With the launch of Connected Records, we enabled teams to share contextual information and stay aligned through record connections across modules. Now, with Connected Workflows, we’re taking it one step further by enabling Zoho CRM to coordinate work across teams and enable them to deliver their best for customers.

What are Connected Workflows? 

While Connected Records make it easy to share customer context across your customer journey, however, many of the processes involved in your customer's journey need to be consistently carried out. That’s where Connected Workflows come in.

Connected workflows help free your teams from manual coordination by enhancing coordination across multiple teams and improving customer relationship management. They allow you to automate your entire customer journey that spans across multiple customer-facing teams.

With Connected Workflows, you can build smooth coordination between departments like Sales, Marketing, Legal, Onboarding, and Training  so that each step in the customer journey is coordinated without manual follow-ups or miscommunication.


How to create Connected workflows? 

"Users should have the Connected Workflows permission enabled in their profile settings."

Every connected workflow begins with a primary module, either an organization module or a team module, depending on your customer journey.

Triggers : Initiate by setting up triggers by configuring either a single trigger or multiple triggers for a module. The triggers are :
  • when a record is created in the module
  • When a record is edited record in the module,
  • When a record is created or edited in the module, or
  • When a field in the record is edited in the module.

Multi-module criteria for Triggers : You can configure multiple criteria for triggers to execute actions in any other related modules; Enable other module criteria option for this. This ensures actions run when related modules are updated with values matching the trigger.
 
Actions : Assign one or more actions for each trigger . The actions are :
  • Creating a new connected record in the associated module
  • Updating an existing connected record in the associate module, or
  • Notifying users via email. 

Use Case: Automating the customer journey from a sales enquiry  to customer success

A typical customer journey goes through four stages, and we know that even though the sales team is the initial point of contact, multiple teams are involved and will support the sales team to win the customer.                                                        

Involved Teams
Initial Evaluation
Sales Team is the point of contact
Marketing team supports with customer-facing content in the Case Study Module
Demo Request
Sales Team schedules a product demo
Pre-sales team provides product demos in the Product demo module
Customer Onboarding
Sales Team updates the sale cycle stage to 'Closed Won'
Onboarding team helps the customer get started post-sale in the Onboarding Assistance module
Product Training
Sales Team arranges for training sessions
Training team helps the customer to be fully equipped to use the product in the Training module
 
Here's how Connected Workflows can automate the sales process and achieve coordination between the multiple teams involved.  

We’ll create a connected workflow with Deals as the primary module and configure three triggers:

Trigger 1: When a new record is created → Create a connected Case Study record for Marketing (Action)

Trigger 2: When Lead Status is "Qualified" → Create a Product Demo record and notify the Pre-sales Team(Action)

Trigger 3: When Deal Stage is "Closed Won" → Create an Onboarding record for handoff prep(Action)

This sets up three connected modules: Case Study, Demo Request, and Onboarding, as shown in the image below.

 Now we will configure the associated modules.
  • Case Study
    Trigger : When status is "Completed" → Notify Sales Team about availability(Action)

  • Demo Request 
    Trigger : When status is "Completed" → Notify Sales Team that demo was given(Action)

  • Feedbacks (manually created from Demo Request)
    Trigger : When new record is created  → Email lead with feedback form(Action)

  • Onboarding 
    Trigger :     When status is "Completed" → Notify Training Team to start sessions and Sales Team of onboarding completion; also create a Training record(Action)

  • Training (automatically created from Onboarding)
    Trigger :     When new record is created → Update Account type to "Customer" and notify Sales Team of training completion(Action) 


Now let's look at how all these modules have been connected to carry out a customer journey in the GIF below.



In this entire customer journey, there is no loss of customer context, no repeated back-and-forth between teams, and no delays due to miscommunication. Each team receives a connected record with all the relevant data they need to execute their part of the process.
Here is another video with a detailed explanation on how connected workflows works :

How Are Connected Workflows Different from Traditional Workflows?     

  • Connected Workflows go beyond one module; they’re designed to coordinate across team boundaries and hence use multiple modules to build a workflow.
  • Connected workflows trigger follow-up tasks/actions in both org and team modules.
  • Connected Workflows generate connected records as part of the process, so new requests are automatically created in modules, and those teams will have full context from day one. Users can save the time they take to create requests from the Request tab with this feature.

Why use connected workflows for your business? 

  • No more manual follow-ups because of automating cross-team coordination and reducing dependency on reminders or emails.
  • Achieving consistent execution across your customer's journey.
  • Providing end-to-end visibility where teams see the full customer journey, not just their part in the entire journey.
  • Above all, providing contextual coordination among multiple teams by minimizing delays between hand-offs.
 

We believe Connected Workflows will be a game-changer in how you deliver exceptional customer experience. We’re excited for you to start building your first Connected Workflow. Let us know in the comments if you have any queries.

Availability :
  • This enhancement is available only in Zoho CRM's new UI.
  • The number of connected workflows that can be created edition-wise are :
    • Standard Edition.      : 2
    • Professional Edition : 2
    • Enterprise Edition    : 10
    • Ultimate Edition.      : 10
    • Click here to learn about others limitations for this feature.

Early Access for Connected Workflows

We are in the process of opening out connected workflows for our customers, however, if you’d like early access to explore and use this feature, we’ve got you covered!

Fill out this form to get early access.

We’d love for you to try it out and share your feedback.


Regards,
Serena Woolridge
Zoho CRM Marketing Team


      • Recent Topics

      • Will I Get a Refund If I Downgrade Zoho Mail?

        Hello, We upgraded an email account for our new employee. However, the employee left after one month, and now I've reduced the number of Zoho Mail users from 7 to 6. Can we get a refund for the remaining portion of our annual payment?

      • Infinite loop of account verification

        Hi I can't do anything on my zoho account.  I always get this message Hi Sheriffo Ceesay As a security measure, you need to link your phone number with this account and verify it to proceed further. When ever I supply the details, it displays that the number is associated with another account. I don't have any other account on zoho so this is really annoying. 

      • Zoho Billing Now Supports VeriFactu for Businesses in Spain

        Starting from January 1, 2026, Spain requires real-time invoice reporting for all B2B transactions. From July 2026, this requirement will extend to B2C transactions as well. All reporting must be carried out through the VeriFactu to AEAT (Agencia Estatal

      • Introducing the revamped What's New page

        Hello everyone! We're happy to announce that Zoho Campaigns' What's New page has undergone a complete revamp. We've bid the old page adieu after a long time and have introduced a new, sleeker-looking page. Without further ado, let's dive into the main

      • Zoho Books - France

        L’équipe de Zoho France reçoit régulièrement des questions sur la conformité de ses applications de finances (Zoho Books/ Zoho Invoice) pour le marché français. Voici quelques points pour clarifier la question : Zoho Books est un logiciel de comptabilité

      • Name autocomplete

        Hi, During searching emails the web tool does not always propose the auto-completion of the saved emails. As a result I either have to go to contacts and look up the exact email, or the exact full name including the middle name and any dots, which is very annoying. For example I have a contact that I emailed in the past that has "First M. Last" <email@email.com> type of contact. When I start typing 'First' the email may or may not pop up in the autocomplete menu. Then if I start typing "first last"

      • How do i follow up my email campaign in-thread

        Is there a way to follow up the email campaign so that it is in-thread using zoho campaigns? eg customer gets original email with subject line "hello" then 5 days later follow up would be with subject line "RE: hello".

      • Announcing new features in Trident for Mac (1.29.0)

        Hello everyone! Trident for macOS (v1.29.0) is here with new features and enhancements to enhance your business communication. Let's take a quick look at them. Access shared mailboxes. You can now view and access shared mailboxes in Trident, which are

      • Books is extremely slow again today !

        Everything is running slowly even with 500mb connection speed

      • Cyclic dependencies in many-to-many relationships...

        I have an application which includes a form for companies, and a form for contacts. Each company can be assigned 1 technical and 1 administrative contact. I have this working okay so far, but I want to copy the scripts used so far to a new empty application. When I import the scripts it fails with a message that says: Problem encountered while creating the application Error in resolving form dependency:Cyclic dependency among the forms:[Company, Contact] What can I do to resolve this? After all,

      • Zoho API to create ticket

        I'm developing an integration to create tickets via API, but, locally it works (send and recieve requests). In production it also works sending requests, but, my file don't recieve any response data. My URL is available in Zoho API Console and I have

      • Automate Timesheet Approvals with Multi-level Approval Rules

        Introducing Approval Rules for Timesheets in Zoho Projects. With this automation, teams can manage how timesheets are reviewed and approved by setting up rules with criteria and assigning approvers to handle submissions. Timesheet, when associated to

      • Labels Part 2

         Hey Zoho Mail Team, On the labels window on the left-hand pane, alphabetize label name display, rather than displaying in order created.  This one should be easy. Thanks, Drew

      • Building Toppings #1 - Serving your needs with Bigin Toppings

        Hey Biginners! We're excited to kick off our Developer Community series on building toppings for Bigin, and our goal is to provide an accessible, beginner-friendly, and relevant path for every developer. Imagine creating tiny pieces of software that unlock

      • Can we create Sprint with tasks from Multiple projects?

        Hi Team, We were using Zoho Sprints for quite sometime. Currently we have started the process of Sprint method. We couldnt create the active sprint board with the tasks from multiple projects. I would like to know whether this is possible or Any timeline

      • Tip of the Week #74– Create automated workflows in MS Power Automate

        Zoho TeamInbox now connects directly with Microsoft Power Automate, letting you streamline everyday routines tasks such as from sending emails to managing threads, with automated workflows. About the integration Zoho TeamInbox integrates with Microsoft

      • Account validation

        Hello everyone, I registered my account on ZeptoMail to use the system, but the problem is that the verification period on Zepto's end has already passed and I have limited functionality.

      • Paste issues in ZOHO crm notes

        Hi, since a week or so I have issues with the paste function in ZOHO CRM. I use "notes" to copy paste texts from Outlook emails and since a week or so, the pasting doesnt function as it should: some text just disappears and it gives a lot of empty lines/enters.....

      • Is it possible to add a gradient color to a newsletter im designing?

        From where i sit it looks like you can only choose a single color but not combine 2 colors?

      • New Feature: Audit Log in Zoho Bookings

        Greetings from the Zoho Bookings team! We’re excited to introduce Audit Log, a new feature designed to help you track all key actions related to your appointments. With Audit Log, you can maintain transparency, strengthen security, and ensure accountability.

      • Account disabled

        I have an issue I need help with. Whilst trialing ZOHO CRM I created the following: Account1 (-------------) using m__ame@m__rg___s__i__.___.__ and 2 personal emails Account2 (-------------) using a personal email and 2 users _al__1@______________._o_.__

      • Blocked Email

        We are a Zoho One subscriber and use Yahoo as our MX provider. A few times each year, for the past four years, CRM blocks one or more of my Zoho One users from receiving internal email from CRM. This includes "@mentions" in all modules, and emails from

      • message var is empty in bot mention handler

        Hi, I'm encountering a problem: in my bot's mention handler, I want to retrieve the text the user typed when mentioning the bot. Example: On the #tests-cyril channel, I send this message: “@Donna hello how are you ?” I expect the system variable "message"

      • Remembrance Day to Remember – Recalling Values

        The phrase “at the eleventh hour” refers to the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, when the hostilities of World War I came to an end—but it still holds meaning today. Remembrance Day (Veterans Day in the US) is observed on November

      • 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

      • How to display two measures (sales and price) divided by categories on one line chart

        Hi everyone, I’m having trouble figuring out how to display two columns on a line chart with category breakdowns. What I need is a line chart where one line represents Sales and the other represents Price. However, the Price data is divided into around

      • Create custom rollup summary fields in Zoho CRM

        Hello everyone, In Zoho CRM, rollup summary fields have been essential tools for summarizing data across related records and enabling users to gain quick insights without having to jump across modules. Previously, only predefined summary functions were

      • Introducing the locking option for CRM records

        Last modified on 06/04/2023: Record locking option in CRM is now available for all Zoho CRM users in all DCs. Note that it was an early access feature available only upon request. Hello All, Hope you're doing well! We're thrilled to introduce our latest

      • Two new enhancements in Zoho CRM: Introducing new criteria for user fields and displaying group information in users page

        Announcement moderated on 14th June, 2023. Dear All, These enhancements are opened for all users in all DCs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear All, Hope you're well! We are here with two useful

      • Tip #49- Navigating the Remote Support Dashboard in Zoho Assist- 'Insider Insights'

        The Remote Support dashboard in Zoho Assist is designed to help technicians quickly access, manage, and monitor all their support sessions from a single, intuitive interface. Whether you’re starting a new session, managing ongoing connections, or reviewing

      • BMI formula

        I've been trying for hours to calculate BMI using height and weight as my only inputs. It's a simple calculation and I even went to ChatGPT to help me figure this out in Zoho Forms, but it led me down a path of "try this" and "try this". None of my attempts

      • SEO on blogs

        Hello, google is not able to find my blogs. Can you advice me if I need to change some settings or anything else to make it retrievable via SEO many thanks, hans

      • Duplicated Notebooks

        Out of the blue, almost all of my notebooks got duplicated and the different copies contain different information. Some seem like older copies than the others. I use the linux desktop app and sometimes the Android app. I assume that the sync failed at some point and was unable to merge the two versions together. But I'm afraid to add anything else to my notebook because if it can't properly sync 5 notebooks with only a handful of notes each, what will happen when I have hundreds of notes and I lose

      • Mind mapping in Zoho Projects

        Good morning,   I would like to congratulate the Zoho team for building such an inovative and responsive application that fits in the daily challenges of so many work groups. I would like suggest you another functionality that helps a lot in project planning and development: mind mapping. Mind mapping would be of great help for brianstorming, knowledge management and other needs in online collaboration.   Thanks and wish you all the best! George Maha Empresa Júnior Multidisciplinar do Instituto de

      • Retainer invoice in Zoho Finance modlue

        Hello, Is there a way of creating retainer invoices in the Zoho Finance module? If not can I request this is considered for future updates please.

      • Documents don't sync properly

        Hello, My team recently moved to Zoho workDrive, some of my team, work remotely so we believed Zoho would be the best way to share and edit files as well as access files withing the team. However we are experiencing sync issues, when a file is uploaded in the file explorer and shows sync complete, same file can be seen on the Zoho web app but other team members can't see the said file because it is not syncing properly. i figured out that if i were to go to preferences in settings and resync the

      • We are looking for an experienced Zoho Developer

        Hi Everyone! We’re on the lookout for a skilled Zoho Developer with hands-on experience in the Zoho Developer Platform (The Vertical CRM Platform) and if you don't know what that is, then you are not the person we are looking for. You would also need

      • Initiate approval workflow after "on edit --> on success"

        Dear Community,  currently I am working on a initiative tracker which should handle approval workflows based on different initiative status. As far as I understand, an approval workflow can be triggered (only?) when data is entered for the input form to the database.  Example: A new initiative is created and submitted. --> Approval Workflow triggered Here comes my question: Is it also possible to trigger an approval workflow if the form was "simply" updated? (on edit --> on success) Imagine the initiative

      • Tax Deductible Donations to a Charity Organisation

        For Australia, what's the best/proper method for entering an expense that is a tax deductible donation to a charitable organisation. And thus is appears correctly in Accounts and BAS as a GST payable deduction?

      • Simultaneous use of WhatsApp Account in SalesIQ and ZohoDesk

        Hi, We have only one number registered in Meta, it's possible use same account for two apps? All times here we try is stopping in SalesIQ. Regards,

      • Next Page