Using Zoho One to manage two (or more) businesses

Using Zoho One to manage two (or more) businesses

We are one company that operates two business, a scenario that Zoho One doesn't really seem to handle very well, and one which I can't imagine is at all unique to us!  (It is basically designed to facilitate branding and use for one business only per subscription).

A bit of background ....

In terms of Zoho One apps, our business operations mostly centre on using Inventory / Books.  Back in the beginning of our time using Zoho, when things were a bit smaller scale, I thought we might be able to run it all under one subscription, by doing such things as disabling the logo and organisation name and addresses, creating separate templates for all documents relating to each business and associating them, using reporting tags in Books so that we could run separate P&Ls for each business etc etc etc ....

BUT it became apparent fairly quickly that this was going to become complicated and messy (especially as we grew to more users etc,) and it would be better to separate the two businesses out into each having their own subscription.  A big, tear-your-hair-out kinda job that I wouldn't wish on anyone, especially having to go through Books with a fine tooth comb and separate out all the transactions!  : / 

Anyway, fast forward and now and the situation is ...

I have two separate super admin accounts, just for myself as the owner for each business.  (Annoying, but that's the way it goes ... and don't even get me started on the whole issue of having to have two separate mobile phone numbers as one individual person to open another account!  Beyond ridiculous, but Zoho appear determined to remain steadfast and not able to see any semblance of reason on that front.) 

Because I also keep an eye on the emails of our main user account at each of our locations, I am basically working across four accounts a lot of the time.  I use Firefox Multi-Container to be able to keep multiple accounts open at the same time, and that works well, but working this way can certainly get a bit higglety-pigglety!

For the most part though, it has worked out ok,  keeping the Inventory / Books separate for each business and then combining the figures when it comes to BAS tax time etc. (as, of course, one company means ONE entitiy in the eyes of the Tax Office). 

It did mean we lost the ability to do certain things like transfer stock between the two businesses, ie by having each one as a 'warehouse' under the one subscription, but we are able to fairly easily work around this by using inventory adjustments at each end instead. 

HOWEVER, the main issue that lingers is on the communications side.  We use the Workplace apps, Mail, Cliq etc within the businesses.  With Cliq as an example, it's ok if I am at my computer, because I have all the accounts open as described above, therefore I can receive / see all messages intended for me.  BUT, on my mobile phone app, because I can only be logged in to one of the Orgs at once, I'm only able to receive messages from one half of my employees!  (Depending which business's Org I am logged in to.)

And because we are one company, there are times when it would be beneficial for users in one of the businesses to be able to directly message users in the other business.  But the way it is at present they are two separate 'silos'.  

Is there anyone else out there with this situation?  If so, how do you deal with it?  With Cliq, could this problem be alleviated by adding the users from one of the Orgs as 'external' users in the other Org? 

Sometimes, I wonder if it would be better to set up a separate 'company-wide' Workplace subscription and we all use that instead of / over the top of Workplace associated with the separate Zoho One Org's but I suspect that could lead to its own set of problems. 

If anyone has any words of wisdom related to this, please let me know!

    • Sticky Posts

    • How to Add Users to your Organization in ZohoMail?

      A better clarity so you can create other users to start using Zoho Mail. You can directly Add Users from the Control Panel to your Organization. You can invite users with the existing email address. If the person (user) already uses ZohoCRM, then you can import users from Zoho CRM. You can also import them using a .csv file. (if you are planning to add them in Bulk)  In this topic, We will be discussing on how to Add and Invite users only.  The Import options are self explanatory. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


      • Recent Topics

      • 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
      • 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
      • 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 Map integration tasks

        Hello everyone, We're excited to announce enhancements to the Zoho Map 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
      • 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
      • 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
      • 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.
      • Delete a department or category

        How do I delete a Department? Also, how do I delete a Category? This is pretty basic stuff here and it's impossible to find.
      • Organization Emails in Email History

        How can I make received Org Emails to show up here?
      • How to setup pricing in Zoho

        Hi everyone, I am relatively new here and have just moved from my old inventory system to the Zoho one. I am trying to get my head around how it all works. I am mostly setup connected to a shopify store, but I do manual sales also For manual invoicing,
      • Prefilled Date fields auto-changed and then locked when using “Edit as new”

        If a document out for signature has date fields (not SignedDate fields) that were pre-filled before sending, and then you use “Edit as new” to create a new version of the same document, the value of those date fields gets automatically changed to today
      • Is there a way to update all the start and end dates of tasks of a project after a calendar change?

        Hi! Here's my situation. I've built a complete project planning. All its tasks have start dates and due dates. After completing the planning, I've realized that the project calendar was not the right one. So I changed the project calendar. I now have
      • Access Phone Field Components (Country Code) Directly

        Hello everyone, I'd like to propose an enhancement for the Phone field in Zoho Creator. The Problem: The Phone field captures the country code and local number separately, but stores them as a single string (e.g., +1234567890). To get the country code,
      • Send mass messages through WhatsApp from the Tickets module

        Hi Everyone! Effective communication is key to delivering prompt and reliable customer support. Because WhatsApp is one of the most widely used and familiar messaging platforms, it's an effective channel for agents to reach customers who have submitted
      • Lead Owner Signature Merge Field

        I want to automatically insert a signature (i.e. contact info usually found at the bottom of an email) into an email template, depending on who the lead owner is. What is the merge code for the Signature from a Users profile? CRM > Settings > Customization > Templates There is a popup near the bottom of the edit screen which says: "You can insert a Signature, which is available as a merge field in the users section." It is also referenced on this page: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/crm/customize-crm-account/customizing-templates/articles/template-builder#Merge_Fields
      • How do I create a time field?

        I want a field that only records time. I can only see how to create a date-time field. If I do that and enter a time, without a date, nothing is recorded. If I create a number or decimal field, I cannot use it in time calculations. All I want is a field
      • Next Page