Ask the Experts 18: Supercharge Self-Service: Simplify Support, Empower Customers!

Ask the Experts 18: Supercharge Self-Service: Simplify Support, Empower Customers!


Welcome to the Ask the Experts Session 18 focusing on Zoho Desk’s Self-Service features! With the AI buzzing around like busy bees, ever thought of how you can incorporate AI into Self service? Explore how Zoho Desk's Help Center, Knowledge Base (KB), Guided Conversations, ASAP, and Community can supercharge support with AI-powered solutions.

What's Ask the Experts (ATE)? 

Ask the Experts Session is a monthly online text-based discussion where you get the opportunity to connect with Zoho Desk technocrats and discuss the key modules and features related to the topic.
This time, we're looking forward to have a more interactive and insightful discussion. 
More than providing insights or answering questions, we want to hear from you too! Take this opportunity to meet the creators of Zoho Desk's Self Service modules.  

Delve deeper into the realm of Self service with AI 

Start the discussion with your ideas and real-time experiences.  Whether you seek advice on incorporating AI into your knowledge base, address hiccups, require implementation strategies, or want to learn new ways to enhance customer experience, Ask, Explore and Elevate your self-service game!

What Makes This Session Special?

Beyond the consistent support, we give you a chance to connect with the masterminds behind Zoho Desk’s self-service solutions. Our expert panelists have been the brains behind the making, building, and upgrading of these features to help your businesses offer efficient and smart support.

Meet the Minds Behind the Expertise!

Rajaram Iyyankalai
Rajaram, the mastermind behind Self-Service at Zoho Desk, drives success through his leadership, teamwork, and resilience, inspiring peers and empowering customers.
Kannapiran
A hands-on cricket coach for his son and a passionate badminton player, Kannapiran finds inspiration in innovating Zoho Desk's self-service features and driving AI into Self Service.
Chaya Jayasankar
Chaya Jayasankar, Tech Builder of Guided Conversation, specializes in building block for chatbots and conversations within Zoho Desk.
John Joshua
John Joshua is a seasoned expert in product training, data migration, and implementation, ensuring compliance with EU data regulations and processes.

Why Self-Service?

From self-checkout to online banking, self-service is now essential. In customer support, AI has made self-service smarter: powering chatbots, virtual assistants, and knowledge bases for instant, 24/7 support. AI-driven systems boost efficiency, reduce agent workload, and personalize interactions, creating happier, more empowered customers.
Join the Conversation! Live Expert Panel on March 20,2025 | 9:30 AM - 7:30 PM GMT
Start your discussions today. Our experts will be live on March 20 to connect, discuss, and brainstorm with you!

Live time slots corresponding to different time zones.
  • PST: March 20 ,2025,  01:30 AM - 11:30 AM
  • CET: March 20  2025, 10:30 AM - 08:30 PM
  • GST: March 20 , 2025, 01:30 PM - 11:30 PM
  • IST: March 20 , 2025,   03:00 PM - 01:00 AM (March 21, 2025)
  • AEDT:March 20 , 2025, 08:30 PM - 04:30 AM (March 21 ,2025)
Tell us how you use the Help Center, Knowledge Base, and Community in Zoho Desk. How has self-service improved your operations? What challenges have you faced?

Drop your questions, ideas, and experiences in the Comments below. Let’s simplify support and empower customers together!

    • Sticky Posts

    • Ask the Experts 10: A 5-hour online Q&A on Zoho Desk Best Practices

      Welcome to Zoho Desk's Ask the Experts session! This is a monthly discussion on our forums; wherein a panel of experts will take on questions specific to topics related to Zoho Desk. The panel will be available for a 5-hour period and will answer any

    • Ask the Experts 7: A 5-hour online Q&A on Telephony and Call Module

      Welcome to Ask the Experts session! This is a monthly discussion in forums; each session, a panel of experts will take questions on specific topics related to Zoho Desk. The panel will be available for a 5-hour period and answer any questions posted here.

    • Ask the Experts 5: Online Q&A on Zoho Desk Extensibility

      Welcome to Ask the Experts session! This is a monthly discussion in forums; each session, a panel of experts will take questions on specific topics related to Zoho Desk. The panel will be available for a 5-hour period and answer any questions posted here.

    • Ask the Experts 4: A 5 hour online Q&A on agent productivity

      Welcome to Ask the expert session! This is a monthly discussion in forums; each session, a panel of experts will take questions on specific topics related to Zoho Desk. The panel will be available for a 5-hour period and answer any questions posted here.

    • Ask the Experts 3: A 5 hour online Q&A on reports and dashboards

      Welcome to Ask the expert session! This is a monthly discussion in forums; each session, a panel of experts will take questions on specific topics related to Zoho Desk. The panel will be available for a 5-hour period and answer any questions posted here.

    • Recent Topics

    • Workdrive Oauth2 Token Isn't Refreshing

      I have set up oauth for a bunch of zoho apis and have never had a problem with oauth. With workdrive i am using the exact same template i usually use for the other zoho apps and it is not working. All requests will work for the first hour then stops so

    • How can I import OLM to Yandex Mail easily?

      For migrating Mac Outlook OLM data to Yandex Mail efficiently, the Aryson OLM Converter is a reliable professional tool that ensures complete data integrity throughout the process. Unlike manual methods, which can risk inconsistent formatting or missing

    • Introducing Radio Buttons and Numeric Range Sliders in Zoho CRM

      Release update: Currently out for CN, JP, AU and CA DCs (Free and standard editions). For other DCs, this will be released by mid-March. Hello everyone, We are pleased to share with you that Zoho CRM's Layout Editor now includes two new field formats—

    • Is it possible to setup bin locations WITHOUT mandating batch tracking?

      Hi fellow zoho users, I'm wondering if anyone else has a similar issue to me? I only have some products batch tracked (items with shelf life expiry dates) but I am trying to setup bin locations for my entire inventory so we can do stock counting easier.

    • Implementing Inventory Process

      I am just starting to create an inventory system through Zoho for a nonprofit. We receive in-kind donations of items for kids, and utilize them in 2 or 3 different programs. Then families come in and take the items. I'm thinking of this structure: Our

    • Best way to start zoho inventory with bulk openning stock

      We are already using zoho book since long time for cars trading company. Now to streamline more, would like to import the excel data of closing stock of inventory to zoho inventory and to start on. Since we need to track each VIN (unique vehicle id number)

    • Service Reports.

      Hello Team, I have a requirement to create multiple service reports for a single AP. That means, in one AP I have 5 service line items, and all line items are linked to assets. Once I complete the AP, I want to generate 5 individual service reports, one

    • Blueprint enhancements - Parallel and multiple transitions, and more

      Last modified on Sep 4, 2023: All Zoho CRM users can now access these enhancements. Initially, these features were available only on an early access basis and by request. However, as of August 2, 2023, they have been made available to all users in all

    • Item Bulk Edit - Allow for Reorder Level

      We're implementing a process for using the Reorder Level field for Items, and I have to go through and add this value to a huge chunk of our Items. It's driving me bonkers that I have to do this individually through the UI rather than bulk updating. It

    • Zoho CRM || Unable to Bulk Assignment of Territories for Contacts

      Dear Zoho CRM Support Team, I hope this email finds you well. We recently performed a bulk upload of Contacts into Zoho CRM using the official sample Excel template downloaded from the CRM. The upload itself was completed successfully; however, we encountered

    • What's New in Zoho Inventory | August – October 2025

      Hello customers, The last quarter has been incredibly productive! We've released a powerful slate of new features and enhancements in Zoho Inventory designed to give you better control, greater efficiency, and expanded functionality across your inventory

    • Disable Zoho Inventory Tracking / Delink Zoho Books & Inventory

      We have integrated zoho inventory with zoho books? Now after a long time, we want to disable inventory tracking and delink these 2 modules. Zoho says we cant do it. Anybody else going thru the same ? Any possibility at all? Why does zoho not allow to

    • Allocating inventory to specific SO's

      Is there a way that allocate inventory to a specific sales order? For example, let's say we have 90 items in stock. Customer 1 orders 100 items. This allocates all 90 items to their order, and they have a back order for the remaining 10 items which could

    • Work Order wont mark as Completed

      I have a couple of work orders that won't mark as completed even when I've marked the Service Appointments as completed fully.

    • Tracking Non-Inventory Items

      We have several business locations and currently use zoho inventory to track retail items (sales and purchase orders). We were hoping to use zoho inventory to track our non-inventory items as well (toilet paper, paper towels, etc). I understand that we

    • Price Managment

      I have been in discussions with Zoho for some time and not getting what I need. Maybe someone can help explain the logic behind this for me as I fail to understand. When creating an item, you input a sales rate and purchase rate. These rates are just

    • Set Warehouse based on Vendor

      Greetings. I would like to set automaticaly the Warehouse based on the Vendor. Context: I am working on an adaptation of a Purchase Order to be used as a Quotation. I have defined that when a user has to raise a quote the Vendor will be "PROCUREMENT" I would like to set the Warehouse to a predefined value when "PROCUREMENT" is set as Vendor. I have tried to do with the Automation feature using the Field Update option, but Warehouse does not is listed as a field. Can you help? Thanks in advance.

    • How to add interviews through API

      I'm trying to add an interview without much luck. The documentation gives examples of adding just about everything except an interview. However, the issue might be the way I'm formatting it, because the documentation is unclear to me. It seems as if the xml should be passed in the url, which seems unusual. I've tried the data as both plain and character escaped, but nothing seems to work, nor do I even get an error response. https://recruit.zoho.com/recruit/private/xml/Interviews/addRecords?authtoken=***&scope=recruitapi&version=2&xmlData=<Interviews> <row

    • Deprecation of the Zoho OAuth connector

      Hello everyone, At Zoho, we continuously evaluate our integrations to ensure they meet the highest standards of security, reliability, and compliance. As part of these ongoing efforts, we've made the decision to deprecate the Zoho OAuth default connector

    • Auto tagging

      Some of the articles I enter into Notebook get there when I enter them in Raindrop.io and IFTTT copies the articles in Notebook. When this happens the notes are tagged but instead of useful one word tags with topic the tag pertains to the specific article

    • How do I save audio files to my PC that I record into Zoho Notebook from my phone?

      I was thinking of using Zoho Notebook as a way to store composition ideas, as well as for other things if it can handle this. For this to be useful for me though, I need to be able to have an easy way to download those audio files to my PC, either individually

    • Search mails in shared mailbox

      Hi everyone, is there a way to search mails in shared mailbox's? Search in streams or mail doesn't return anything from mails in shared mailboxes. Thanks! Rafal

    • Kaizen #186 : Client Script Support for Subforms

      Hello everyone! Welcome back to another exciting Kaizen post on Client Script! In this edition, we’re taking a closer look at Client Script Support for Subforms with the help of the following scenario. " Zylker, a manufacturing company, uses the "Orders"

    • Writing SQL Queries - After Comma Auto Suggesting Column

      When writing SQL Queries, does anyone else get super annoyed that after you type a comma and try to return to a new line it is automatically suggest a new column, so hitting return just inputs this suggested column instead of going to a new line? Anyone

    • Introducing Multiple Sandbox Types and Support for Module's Data Population

      Register here for the upcoming Focus Group webinar on Multiple Sandbox | Help documentation to learn more about the new enhancements Hello everyone,  Sandbox in CRM is a testing environment for users to create and test new configurations like workflow

    • Is It Possible to Convert a Custom Module to a Quote?

      I recently created a custom module in our CRM environment for RFQs so that our sales team can submit quote requests directly in Zoho rather than by email/phone. This allows for a cleaner overall process, minimizing potential errors and potentially encouraging

    • Convert invoice from zoho to xml with all details

      How to convert an Invoice to XML format with all details

    • Importing into the 'file upload' field

      Can you import attachments into the file upload field. I would expect it to work the same way as attachments do, But can't seem to get it to work.

    • Sync your Products Module for better context.

      In customer support, context is everything. The integration between Zoho Desk and Zoho CRM helps your sales and support teams function as one, delivering better customer experiences. With the latest update to this integration, you can now sync the Product module in your Zoho CRM with your Zoho Desk portal. This feature enables products from Zoho CRM to reflect in the "product" field in Zoho Desk. This can save your support team valuable time and effort.    Some things to note when syncing the two:

    • Where is the desktop app for Zoho Projects???

      As a project manager, I need a desktop app for the projects I manage. Yes, there's the web app, which is AWESOME for cross browser and platform compatibility... but I need a real desktop app for Projects that allow me to enter offline information where

    • CRM verify details pop-up

      Was there a UI change recently that involves the Verify Details pop-up when changing the Stage of a Deal to certain things? I can't for the life of me find a workflow or function, blueprint, validation rule, layout rule ect that would randomly make it

    • Does Zoho Writer have Dropdowns

      I want to add a drop down field in Zoho writer. Is this possible?

    • Optimum CRM setup for new B2B business

      Can some advise the most common way to setup Zoho CRM to handle sales for a B2B company? Specifically in how to handle inbound/outbound emails. I have spent hours researching online and can't seem to find an accepted approach, or even a tutorial. I have

    • using the Client script on the load of the form if service no is empty means then i want to make issue relate to is Service

      using the Client script on the load of the form if service no is empty means then i want to make issue relate to field is Service if Purchae no is empty means then i want to make issue relate to is Purchase

    • Multiple header in the quote table???

      Hello, Is it possible in Zoho CRM to add multiple headers or sections within the Quote product table, so that when the quote is printed it shows separate sections (for example “Products” and “Services”)? To clarify, I’m asking because: This does not appear

    • openUrl in blueprints

      My customer wants to open a URL at the end of a blueprint transition. Seems this isn't possible right now but it would be very useful. In this thread, https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/openurl-not-working the Zoho agent said that it's logically

    • Dropshipping Address - Does Not Show on Invoice Correctly

      When a dropshipping address is used for a customer, the correct ship-to address does not seem to show on the Invoice. It shows correctly on the Sales Order, Shipment Order, and Package, just not the Invoice. This is a problem, because the company being

    • Prepayment of a sales order

      How does everyone handle this common (at least it is common for us!) situation? We require all our orders to be fully prepaid before shipment since we manufacture made to order, custom products. Since ZOHO does not allow a sales order to be prepaid, we are forced to create an invoice at the time an order is placed to allow the customer to pay it. Our sales category is therefore skewed, since the sale was actually booked at the time an order was placed, rather then at the time it is shipped, which

    • Access to Specific Zoho Desk layout for external parties

      Hi, We have a partner who handles for us sales requests from specific markets. He is not a Zoho Desk user. But we want him to b part of a specific Zoho Desk layout to handle inquiries.  How to achieve it in the easiest way possible?

    • Deposit on a Sales Order

      Good day, 100% of my business is preorders, no inventory. I am trying to run away from QB for one of my businesses, but I require two options that I don't seem to find with Zoho Books. 1 - If there is a way to apply a deposit on a sales order, as with

    • Next Page