Kaizen 159 - Configuring Telephony Extension Widget in Zoho CRM

Kaizen 159 - Configuring Telephony Extension Widget in Zoho CRM




Hello Developers! 

Welcome back to the Widgets fold in our Kaizen series.

In this post, we will learn how to build a custom telephony extension widget for call centers and deploy it within a Zoho CRM organization. This helps in establishing unified communication support without leaving the platform.

Why configure a Telephony?

Telephony integration with Zoho CRM is vital for businesses that rely heavily on customer communication and sales. Following are a few key reasons for its vitality:
  • Centralized Communication: Make and receive calls directly within the CRM, streamlining the communication process.
  • Automatic Call Logging: Calls are automatically logged, helping businesses track communication history without manual effort.
  • Enhanced Collaboration: Sales, marketing, and customer service teams can access shared communication logs for improved teamwork.
  • Automated Follow-Ups: After each call, you can trigger follow-up tasks or emails, ensuring no lead is forgotten.
While the Zoho Marketplace within Zoho CRM offers a variety of telephony extensions, we will look at how to create a private extension that allows you to customize the integration to suit your specific needs.

Info
Note:

For this demonstration, we will use RingCentral as our telephony platform. Although RingCentral is available in the marketplace, we will assume it is a private connected app in this scenario.

Business Scenario

Imagine that you are running a sales agency and you want a widget that lets your sales reps make calls directly from Zoho CRM while tracking all call details seamlessly within CRM records.

The private extension should allow you to control the user interface, customize call-related actions, and manage data flow directly into the CRM, optimizing your sales process.

Creating a Private Telephony Extension

Start by logging into your Zoho CRM account and follow the below steps to build a private extension powered by Zoho Sigma. 

Set Up a Private Extension

1. Navigate to Setup > Marketplace > Extension Builder.

2. Create a workspace in the new tab and click on the New Extension button.Provide the necessary details as shown in the image and choose the service as Zoho CRM.


3. Provide the necessary details as shown in the image and choose the service as Zoho CRM.



4. Click Create.

5. The private extension that you have created will be listed in the Extensions page. Choose your extension and click the edit icon. 
You will be redirected to the Zoho Developer Console. 



Configure the Telephony Widget 

6. In the console, go to Utilities > Connected Apps on the left-side menu.

7. Follow the steps provided in this kaizen to create a new Zoho CRM widget for this use case. 

8. Fill in the details of the application as shown in this image. 



We have chosen External Hosting for the demo, as our sample widget code is hosted on Amazon Web Service (AWS).

Refer to the 'Code Logic for Integration' section below to see how the widget code should be handled.

9. Click Save.

Code Logic for Integration

10. Here is the core logic for handling telephony events like Dial and DialerActive using the Zoho CRM JS SDK:

DialerActive Event Listener:
  • This listener is triggered when the softphone icon at the bottom of your screen is toggled.
  • It makes a call to the dialed number using Ring Central SDK.
Dial Event Listener:
  • The listener is activated when a user initiates a call from a Zoho CRM record using the phone icon next to the Phone fields.
  • The phone button passes the specific record data to the widget, allowing Ring Central to display the record name and dial the number. Following it, the Ring Central SDKs play the role to execute call related functions.
Call Completion and Notes Update:
  • Once a call ends, the widget opens a note section.
  • The text added to the widget is fed to the Notes Related List of the corresponding record using the Add Notes SDK.
For detailed instructions and to get started, the demo code is available on our GitHub page. Ensure to replace your telephony app credentials, SDKs, and its versions in the rc.js and handler.js files to suit your production needs.

Configure the Call Center

11. Navigate to Build > Telephony in the left menu. 

12. Provide a Name and the Resource Path of your widget. 



13. Click Save.

Packaging and Publishing

14. Go to Package > Publish on the left-side menu and publish the extension. 

15. You will receive a prompt asking if you would like to submit your extension to the Marketplace and avail it like other telephony platforms. 
Once submitted, the review process will take from three weeks to one month for approval.



Instead of waiting for approval, we will proceed with deploying the extension using the private plugin deployment link.

Deploy in your Organization

16. Log into your Zoho CRM organization.

17. Replace the URL of your Zoho CRM page with the deployment link from the Developer Console to install the widget extension.

18. Approve the addition of this extension to your CRM.

19. Once installed, refresh the page and check for the softphone icon at the bottom of your screen.



Click the icon to log in to your telephony platform, such as RingCentral.

Try it Out! 

Once the softphone is installed, try out the following features:
  • The softphone icon opens an iframe dialer pad.
  • You will see a phone icon near the Phone data fields, enabling quick calls directly from the record.
  • After calls, you can take notes and log them as a related list for the CRM record.

Additional Components

Consider adding these components to enhance the functionality of your telephony extension widget:
  • Call Recordings Widget: Create a related list widget that automatically stores all call recordings for future reference. Refer to this page for help. 
  • Call Analytics: Using Ring Central SDKs support users can integrate call duration, frequency, and outcomes into a CRM dashboard Widget for performance tracking.
  • Custom Workflow Triggers: With the help of Insert Records SDK in the extension widget, you can automatically log the call details into the Calls module. This enables you to trigger workflow rules for follow-up tasks, notifications, or actions based on call outcomes. 
From managing call center operations to automating task follow-ups, the potential of widgets is vast and adaptable to a variety of business needs. We encourage you to explore the complete potential of widgets to build custom solutions that elevate your workflows. 

For further assistance, explore our Widget fold in the Kaizen collection or reach out to us at support@zohocrm.com. You can also drop your questions in the comments below. 

Cheers! 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Related Reading

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    • Sticky Posts

    • Kaizen #197: Frequently Asked Questions on GraphQL APIs

      🎊 Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – We want to hear from you! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

    • Kaizen #198: Using Client Script for Custom Validation in Blueprint

      Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – 1 More to the Big Two-Oh-Oh! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

    • Celebrating 200 posts of Kaizen! Share your ideas for the milestone post

      Hello Developers, We launched the Kaizen series in 2019 to share helpful content to support your Zoho CRM development journey. Staying true to its spirit—Kaizen Series: Continuous Improvement for Developer Experience—we've shared everything from FAQs

    • Kaizen #193: Creating different fields in Zoho CRM through API

      🎊 Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – We want to hear from you! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

    • Client Script | Update - Introducing Commands in Client Script!

      Have you ever wished you could trigger Client Script from contexts other than just the supported pages and events? Have you ever wanted to leverage the advantage of Client Script at your finger tip? Discover the power of Client Script - Commands! Commands

    • Recent Topics

    • Power of Automation :: Automated 'Delayed & Closed' Status Update Based on Due Date

      Hello Everyone, A custom function is a software code that can be used to automate a process and this allows you to automate a notification, call a webhook, or perform logic immediately after a workflow rule is triggered. This feature helps to automate

    • Lead Blueprint transition in custom list view

      Hi, Is It possible to insert the Blueprint transition label in a custom Canvas list view? I am using Lead module. I see the status, but it would be great if our users could execute the Blueprint right from the list view without having to enter the detailed

    • Range names in Zoho Sheet are BROKEN!

      Hi - you've pushed an update that has broken range names. A previously working spreadsheet now returns errors because the range names are not updating the values correctly. I've shared a video with the support desk to illustrate the problem. This spreadsheet

    • Has anyone integrated SMS well for Zoho Desk?

      Our company does property management and needs to be able to handle inbound sms messages which create a ticket for Zoho Desk. We then need to be able to reply back from Zoho desk which sends the user an sms message. This seems like a fairly common thing

    • populate email address and name in zoho desk?

      Is it possible to populate the email address and name in the zoho desk widget? We only use it in the context of an authenticated user, so we already know the user's name and email. Thanks,

    • Are there default/pre-built dashboards in Zoho Desk?

      Hi, I am looking for some pre-built dashboard templates in Zoho Desk, similar to what we can find in CRM/Projects, etc Thank you

    • SAP S/4 HANA to CRM Integration - change the SAP Client ID

      Hi I am trying to push the business partners from SAP S/4 HANA to ZOHO CRM module. The SAP Client ID is 421 in my case....kindly let me know how do I specify the sap client because it's a dropdown with specific values as of now. Thanks Ravi Aswani

    • Enable Locations for Expense

      Hi, please enable Locations (ex Branches) for Zoho Expense so that there is consistency between this app and Zoho Books. Thanks in advance.

    • Adding branded signature to tickets reply

      Hi, i am unable to figure out how to add signatures with logo to tickets reply. please advice .

    • Zoho Marketing Automation 2.0 - Landing Page function not working

      Dear Zoho Team, I am working on implementing Zoho Marketing Automation 2.0, and am now looking into the section "Lead Generation". If I open the "Landing Pages" section, I immediately get an Error code: Error: internal error occurred. Can you help me

    • Zoho Mail Android app update: Manage folders

      Hello everyone! In the latest version(v2.9) of the Zoho Mail Android app update, we have brought in support for an option to manage folders. You can now create, edit, and delete folders from within the mobile app. You can also manage folders for the POP

    • How to share ticket numbers across different ticket types

      I'm running an event and have three different ticket types. Add on Event + Main Event - Early bird Main Event only - Early bird Add on Event only - Early bird And Standard class - shown but not available until early bird finishes Add on Event + Main Event

    • How to keep track of bags, cans, drums of inventory?

      We buy and sell products that are packaged in bags 🛍️, cans🥫, drums🛢️, etc. with batch numbers. When we get a shipment of one of the products, how do we track we received (say) 10 cans each of 5L of a product and maybe we received 10 cans of another

    • Adding Social Media Buttons to Basic Campaigns

      Hi, I'm quote new to using Zoho Campaigns and I can't work out how to add Social Media Buttons into my basic campaign? In MailChimp there's a button that brings the icons into your campaign for you. I've tried adding the social media icons as 'buttons' in Zoho but it's not looking great. Can anyone help? Thanks!

    • Hide Inactive Social Sign-In Providers from Login Screen

      Hello Zoho Team, We hope you are doing well. Currently, Zoho One allows admins to configure security policies and enable or disable Social Sign-In options for third-party providers such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Yahoo, Twitter, Facebook,

    • [Free Webinar] AI Agents in Zoho Creator - Creator Tech Connect

      Hello Everyone! We welcome you all to the upcoming free webinar on the Creator Tech Connect Series. The Creator Tech Connect series is a free monthly webinar that runs for around 45 minutes. It comprises technical sessions in which we delve deep into

    • Download All Attached Files

      It would be extremely useful to have "download-all" functionality for downloading files attached to a task, subtask, comment, forum post or hosted in the "Documents" section etc. We've instructed our users to zip multiple files prior to uploading, but of course they forget all the time. Having to download lots of files one-at-a-time off a comment or task wastes a lot of time.

    • Ship via Carrier Not Working Since Commerce Update

      Since the recent update to the Commerce platform, I can no longer use the ship via carrier function. It will take me to the address screen and let me verify them but when I go to save and move tot he next screen it will not do anything. This is happening

    • automations: Can I execute a step on a specific date?

      I have created a form in Zoho forms, and created a contacts list. I have also begun setting up an automation with the intention of sending the form to the contact list on a specific date every month (via email) for the entire year (essentially sending

    • Zoho Expense - The ability to add detail to a Trip during booking

      As an admin, I would like the ability to add more detail to the approved Trips. At present a requestor can add flights, accommodation details and suggest their preferences. It would be great if the exact details of the trip could be added either by the

    • Adding Folders in Android App

      Is it possible to create a new email folder within the Zoho Mail Android app?  Or can this only be done from the desktop version of Zoho Mail? Cheers!

    • Schedule Exports for Regular Project Updates

      Tracking project data often means exporting data at regular intervals. Instead of manually exporting data every time, users can schedule exports for Phases, Tasks, and Tasks in Zoho Projects. These exports can be set to run once, daily, weekly, or monthly

    • Question about custom fields using Pivot Tables.

      I have created a pivot table showing annual revenue of a client and how much payment that client is paying my company. Is there a way using pivot table to add an additional field that subtracts those to fields / shows me a percentage of that difference?

    • Request for Light/Dark Mode

      Would love the ability to switch between Light and Dark mode similar to Zoho CRM. https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/introducing-dark-mode-light-mode-a-new-look-for-your-crm

    • Signature field is showing black

      Hello, When customer signed the service form, it is showing as below picture Phone model: iPhone 16 Pro We tried delete and install application, but it not solved. This has on phone of a few person. There is any advice to solve this?

    • Journey Email - Ignored Contacts

      I have a journey setup which simply sends a string of emails over time. For some reason I am getting large amounts of the contacts who enter the first email being ignored and I can't find anywhere in reports or audit logs why these contacts are not

    • Involved account types are not applicable when create journals

      { "journal_date": "2016-01-31", "reference_number": "20160131", "notes": "SimplePay Payroll", "line_items": [{ "account_id": "538624000000035003", "description": "Net Pay", "amount": 26690.09, "debit_or_credit": "credit" }, { "account_id": "538624000000000403", "description": "Gross", "amount": 32000, "debit_or_credit": "debit" }, { "account_id": "538624000000000427", "description": "CPP", "amount": 1295.64, "debit_or_credit": "debit" }, { "account_id": "538624000000000376", "description":

    • Zoho Books - Include Payment Terms as a Custom View filter

      It would be great if you could created a custom view based on Payment Terms. This would be really handy for seeing a list of customers who have credit terms. A workaround is not required. I could do something with a creditor checkbox, but it would be

    • How to update changed purchase account of item in invoice

      I have selected the wrong purchase account for various articles and created invoices. I had to adjust the purchase account in the article afterwards, but the old purchase account is still posted in the transaction-journal of the invoice. To adjust the

    • Help - Zoho CRM notification on mobile (IOS/Android)

      Hello Community! Can I get the IOS/Andoid CRM app to notify me of events, calls, etc. due as I can with MANY other apps?   I am running the free Zoho I would like this to be native to the Zoho CRM app. I do not want to write a sep. mobile app

    • Zoho Books Idea - Include another field in Bank Details for Address

      Hi Books team, Currently use the Description field in the Bank Details to store the bank's address. This works fine but it would be great if you could add another field for Bank Address, so that other notes about the bank account could be stored in the

    • a question about the COQL API v8

      When I specify eight or more values in a WHERE IN clause and execute it, an error occurs. Is there a limit to the number of values that can be specified in a WHERE IN clause? ↓Error select * FROM Vendors WHERE (id in (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)) ↓Success

    • Zoho Books Idea - Bank Details Button on Banking

      Hi Books team, Sometimes I'm asked to share bank details with a customer or a colleague. So I go to the Banking Module, find the correct bank account, click Setting > Edit, then copy and paste the bank details. Wouldn't it be great if there was a button

    • JS SDK 8.0 – TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'getCacheStore') with sample code

      Hello Zoho Support Team, I’m integrating the Zoho CRM JavaScript SDK v8.0 and I’m getting the error below when running your official sample. I tested directly from: https://github.com/zoho/zohocrm-javascript-sdk-8.0/blob/main/samples/create_records_sample/create_records.js

    • Function #55: Convert multiple quotes to single SO using Custom Button

      Hello everyone, and welcome back to our series! In Zoho Books, after a quote is accepted by your customer, it can be converted into a sales order or an invoice. Often, a customer might have multiple quotes, and for easier billing or upon the customer's

    • Zoho One - Syncing Merchants and Vendors Between Zoho Expense and Zoho Books

      Hi, I'm exploring the features of Zoho One under the trial subscription and have encountered an issue with syncing Merchant information between Zoho Expense and Zoho Books. While utilizing Zoho Expense to capture receipts, I noticed that when I submit

    • Rich Text For Notes in Zoho CRM

      Hello everyone, As you know, notes are essential for recording information and ensuring smooth communication across your records. With our latest update, you can now use Rich Text formatting to organize and structure your notes more efficiently. By using

    • Time based workflow without edit/action

      Hello I need help solving this problem if possible. We have Deals come into the CRM via Live Transfer which have the field properties: Stage = New Channel = Inbound Some of them don't get answered so we want these to automatically go into our Outbound

    • What's New - August 2025 | Zoho Backstage

      Every month, Zoho Backstage grows with you. These updates aren't just features and fixes, they're about making your workday smoother, your events more impactful, and your attendees happier. We’ve listened, learned, and shaped this release to keep things

    • prevent selling expired items

      Hello. I need to make a constraint on expired batch items not to be sold. Is it possible in Zoho Inventory? if so, then how? Thanks for further help.

    • Next Page