Discussions from Ask The Experts 19: Inside Zoho Desk Spring Release 2025 : Zia in Focus

Hello everyone,  
We had insightful discussions in both the sessions of Ask the Experts(ATE) 19, diving deep into engaging conversations around Zia and the spring release. Your enthusiastic participation and thought-provoking questions brought the sessions to life!  
In this post, we’re spotlighting the Q&A highlights focused exclusively on Zia.

1. Why are Zia Answer bots not performing as intended after integrating them with the internal Knowledge Base (KB)? Why is the bot unable to provide relevant answers when questions are asked in natural language?

Zia's Answer bot's response is based on how closely the user's query matches the content of your Knowledge Base(KB) articles. Zia operates using Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) technology, which combines AI search and AI-generated responses. For AI search, we use AI training models specifically implemented for your knowledge base, while ChatGPT/Zia is used for generating the responses based on the service you select. Refer Setting up Generative AI Services: Zia or ChatGPT.

A. To improve this, we recommend following our best practices for training Zia Answer Bots. These include:
      i. Use simple and commonly-used phrases rather than jargons/isolated keywords in your help documents.
      ii. Include clear headings or sub-titles within your help documents to improve searchability and matching accuracy.
B. If you still do not receive relevant answers, we offer an improved Zia search powered by a new training model. If you would like to use it, please drop your request to support@zohodesk.com.

Additionally, we have introduced Generative AI powered by Zia, that is powered by open-source and run in Zoho's environment. To enable this, go to Setup(S) >> Zia >> Generative AI >> Services >> select Zia, under Choose service.  This is hosted entirely within Zoho's environment and is included at no additional cost and works with the Enterprise edition or Zoho bundles supporting Enterprise features.

 

2. How to optimize and incorporate the Zia bot within the Professional Edition?
Zia offers its complete range of functionalities exclusively within Zoho Desk Enterprise Edition and Zoho's bundle services.
However, there are specific Zia features available on the Professional Edition:
  a. Zia powered by ChatGPT: This integration is accessible within Zoho Desk, enabling responses based on open-domain data. In the Professional edition, Zia will  respond using information from the public domain, and the "Reply with Knowledge Base" feature is not available.

Additionally, Zia supports enhanced ticket handling through features like Ticket Summary, Zia Insights, Writing Assistance, and AI-generated content.
  b. Content Analysis: Launched in the recent spring update, this feature improves upon the existing spell-check capability and is accessible across all paid editions..

 

3. Is it possible to train Zia to provide answers based on resolutions from closed tickets rather than solely relying on the Knowledge Base?
Currently, Zia can only be trained using your Knowledge Base and not from tickets or their resolutions.
Tickets often contain sensitive customer data and personally identifiable information (PII), which should not be accessible to all agents or customers. Due to this privacy constraint, we currently do not train Zia using ticket data.
However, there's an option to add information from the Resolution under the Ticket tabs. While creating a resolution, the agent can select "Save And Add Article" to add the resolution to the Knowledge Base thereby giving Zia an option to train on the article. 
 

We plan to introduce a feature allowing agents to generate replies based on similar tickets. In this approach, Zia will reference similar tickets and their corresponding responses to suggest an answer. Instead of directly training Zia on potentially sensitive ticket data, this reply assistance feature will help agents by leveraging responses from comparable tickets.

4. Will Zoho offer additional AI models beyond Zia and OpenAI?  

Yes, we plan to introduce more AI models, primarily those hosted and managed by Zoho, considering the B2B nature of our services and ensuring data security and privacy.

5. How is data currently handled with OpenAI and Zia?  

Currently, when using OpenAI, fields marked as PII  are masked on the User Query or KB articles before sending them to Open AI for response generation alone and not for training. Similarly, Zia, powered by open-source models like Lama 3.1, uses data strictly for generation purposes. We've fine-tuned Lama 3.1 specifically for Zoho Desk requirements.

6. Which additional open-source models does Zoho plan to support in the future?  

Besides Llama, we plan to soon support additional models such as Qwen, and Mistral.

7. Will Zoho Desk allow users to integrate their own AI models?  

Yes, we are working towards creating a platform within Zoho Desk that allows users to bring their own open-source models or custom LLMs for various features.

 

8. How do we use the Zia GenAI-powered chat? Do we need to set it up with predefined answers?
To create an Answer bot, navigate to Setup > Zia > Answer Bot.The Answer Bot operates by learning from your existing knowledge base data. The Answer Bot leverages generative AI, which can either be powered by Zia using open-source technology or through OpenAI's ChatGPT integration, for which you would need an API key. In our recent spring release, we extended the availability of the Answer Bot across instant messaging (IM) channels. You can now deploy the generative AI-powered Answer Bot, trained specifically on your knowledge base, across IM channels such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Line, WeChat, Facebook Messenger, and your own website. You can also deploy the Answer Bot through ASAP within your Mobile App (SDK). The AI-powered Self-Service with Answer Bot can be powered with Zia(Llama) or ChatGPT.

9. I'm using Zia to predict the"Issue Theme" field automatically, and it shows as successful. However, when I open a ticket, it doesn't suggest any value for me to confirm. Why is this happening?
Regarding Zia's field predictions, there are two available options:
     i. Auto-update predicted value.
     ii. Allow agents to confirm the predicted values manually ("Let me confirm predicted value manually" option).
        To enable Field predictions, navigate to Setup (S) >> Zia >> Field Predictions >> Create A Field Prediction. In the Field Update mode field, you can choose to  predict the field automatically or confirm the predicted value manually.
If you're using the "Let me confirm" option, you need to manually confirm the predicted values. To do this, navigate to the Field Prediction section within the Ticket Detail View. You'll find a wand (star) icon in the sidebar (ibar). Click this icon to view the predicted values from Zia. Here, you can either confirm or reject the suggested value, and your choice will help improve Zia's training data.
We're actively working on integrating this feature directly into the ticket properties, so that Zia's recommended values will appear directly within the field itself.

 

10. Does Zia learn from our responses to tickets as well?
Currently, Zia does not learn from the responses you send. It does not have the capability to learn from the messages you type and send. We are working on expanding the capability for Zia to respond in the business tone based on the custom instructions added by agents for each feature.

11. Do I need to upgrade all licenses to Enterprise to use the new Zia LLM if I'm currently on Zoho One?
Yes, you have to upgrade Zoho Desk to the Enterprise edition to use Zia powered by open-source models. Zia is available by default in the Enterprise plan and all Zoho bundles supporting the Enterprise edition of Zoho Desk.
 

12. How does Zia determine that an agent needs to intervene in a ticket? Does it instruct the user to contact support, or can it notify agents to own the ticket?
Currently, Zia cannot request an agent to intervene in a ticket.
However, we have a feature called Field Predictions, which uses your historical ticket data to predict and assign ticket ownership. When a customer replies, Zia analyzes the customer's message and, based on its training data, assigns the ticket to an appropriate agent who has previously handled similar conversations. Currently, we do not have a feature that proactively prompts an agent to intervene.

13. While managing multiple departments, can we enable Zia Reply Assistance for just one department?
Currently, the Zia Reply Assistance is configured at the organization level, meaning it applies to all the departments. However, we are actively working on making it department-specific.

14. As I understand, does Zia use ChatGPT for translation purposes?
No, Zoho uses its own translation model. In our recent spring release, we introduced a feature called Writing Assistance. This feature allows you to draft replies in your preferred language (for example, English) and translate them into other languages like Spanish or Italian using Zia. In this scenario, Zia does not utilize ChatGPT. However, for summarizing content or providing reply assistance, we rely primarily on ChatGPT to generate responses directly in languages such as Spanish or Italian.
Additionally, Zia uses open-source models without any associated charges.

 

15. How can we utilize AI to analyze data and generate reports?
Currently, Zia is not available for the Reports module. We do have Zia dashboards to monitor Zia's performance, however, we are developing a feature that will allow you to interact with Zia conversationally to create reports on the go.
If you have a subscription to Zoho Analytics, you can already leverage AI to generate reports. Zoho Analytics integrates with Zoho Desk, allowing you to ask questions in natural language and receive AI-generated reports.

16. Can we obtain customer tone reports from Zia Insights?
Currently, Zia Insights, powered by open-source models, is in its initial phase and does not yet support sending insights directly to reports.
Another way to obtain customer tone reports from Zia insights is using Zia API. Identify the tone and record it on a custom field. Generate reports based on the custom field to get insights on customer tones. We are working on this capability to send Zia Insights results from individual tickets to reports and dashboards. 

17. Could you please clarify how Zoho ensures the protection of personally identifiable information (PII) in relation to data retention and Zia’s learning processes?
Regarding data retention, Zoho does not retain your data for training the generative AI models. Zia and ChatGPT utilize your data temporarily for generating responses. For other features, such as field predictions, all data remains within our Zoho ecosystem and does not share data externally for training purposes. Zoho complies with GDPR and HIPAA and sends data to Open AI only after masking Personally Identifiable information.

18. What permissions can be configured when creating knowledge base articles for use with the Answer Bot?  
The Answer Bot operates on two channels: one for agents and the other for customers, and uses permission-based generation. When creating knowledge base articles, you can set permissions such as "All Users," "Agents Only," or "Registered Users." Agents accessing the Answer Bot through the Ticket Detail view will have access to all articles, while end-users accessing via ASAP will only see articles marked for "All Users." Currently, the "Registered Users" permission is supported only for agents. Based on these permissions, the Answer Bot determines which articles it can use to generate responses.
We also have a private beta available for a new AI training model: New Retrieval System. If you're interested, please email us your details, and we can enable this feature to further enhance your Answer Bot's accuracy.

 

19. I currently have Generative AI enabled. What is the difference between ChatGPT and Zia? Should I switch to Zia under Generative AI?
ChatGPT is an integration with OpenAI, where you need your own API key and add credits to your wallet. With ChatGPT, your Zoho Desk data is sent outside Zoho servers to OpenAI for generating responses. On the other hand, Zia is powered by open-source language models, such as Llama, and your data remains within Zoho's servers.
If you switch to Zia under Generative AI, it will be included in your existing Enterprise plan without any additional cost. Zia also offers greater contextual intelligence regarding your data. For example, ChatGPT supports summarizing only up to five conversations per ticket, whereas Zia can summarize up to 30 conversations. Refer here for details. 

Here are the recordings from our Ask the Experts 19 sessions: 

ATE19 Zoho Desk Spring Release 2025 Session 1 | ATE 19 Zoho Desk Spring Release 2025 Session 2

Stay tuned on the Ask the Experts Community for more updates as we gear up for the upcoming sessions focussed exclusively on Zia and AI in Zoho Desk. 
Regards, 
Lydia | Zoho Desk

• Topic Participants

• Lydia | Zoho Desk

  

• 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

• Contacts Don't Always Populate

  I've noticed that some contacts can easily be added to an email when I type their name. Other times, a contact doesn't appear even though I KNOW it is in my contact list. It is possible the ones I loaded from a spreadsheet are not an issue and the ones

• Cannot add zoho email to gmail acc

  I'm trying to set up my zoho mail to connect to my gmail acc but no matter what I try I always get this problem. What should I do now? Password is up-to-date. Authentication failed. Please check your username/password. [Server response: 535 Authentication

• 553 Relaying disallowed - Invalid Domain

  I have this error "553 Relaying disallowed. Invalid Domain" when sending an email to any email address. But I still receiving email from other emails. I checked MX, DKIM, SPF and it's ok. Could you check and help? Thanks

• Turn off Organization Contact List

  We need to be able to turn off the Organization Contact list for some of our staff. Once the Organization Contact list is turned off for a user, we would then like to be able to create a list of contacts on per user basis that would not be editable by

• Unable to send massage Reason 553/ Relaying Disallowed. Invalid Domain

  Cant sed massages from my email. All massages from my domain received the same issue Unable to send massage Reason 553/ Relaying Disallowed. Invalid Domain

• Kaizen #194 : Trigger Client Script via Custom buttons

  Hello everyone! Welcome back to another interesting and useful Kaizen post. We know that Client Scripts can be triggered with Canvas buttons and we discussed this with a use case in Kaizen#180. Today, let us discuss how to trigger Client Script when a

• Make record entry more organized with the Sections component in Wizards

  Hello everyone! Wizards in Zoho CRM have always helped you break long record-detail pages or large sets of fields into multiple screens, making data entry smoother and more user-friendly. Now, we’re taking a major step forward with a new Sections component—giving

• GSTIN Public Search API

  Does zohobooks have an api using which i can search GST numbers and get their details?

• External @zoho.com mail stopped working today, yesterday no issues

  Hello, Over a sudden mail stopped being delivered to inbox. Domain is standard zoho.com worked no problem yesterday, today nothing in inbox. Sent several test emails from corporate account & from gmail.com, logs show acceptance by zoho mail server, but

• Suggestion: Smart Purchasing Module for Zoho Inventory and Zoho Books

  Suggestion: Smart Purchasing Module for Zoho Inventory and Zoho Books As an active user of Zoho Inventory and Zoho Books, I’ve noticed that the suite already provides valuable tools for managing inventory, analyzing trends, and processing purchase orders.

• Adding bank details to the contact through API

  How to add bank-related information to the contact while creating it using API? The account number needs to be encrypted before sending it through API but not sure how to encrypt and get those values. Please guide me in this.

• average cost display

  Hello there, I'm using the average cost valuation method, and the cost price shown in the Items menu should reflect the latest WAC (Weighted Average Cost). However, it doesn't update automatically. Is there a way to display the current average cost without

• Apple Mail issues

  Dear Sir or Madam, I am trying to configure my Zoho mail account to Apple Mail. It is not working. It seems to need more information (perhaps a path prefix?) than is shown in your tutorial (<www.zoho.com/mail/help/apple-mac-imap.html>). After plugging

• Assistance Required for Migrating Data from Odoo Inventory to Zoho Inventory

  Hi Team, I previously used Odoo Inventory to manage my stock and transactions, and I’ve now moved to Zoho Inventory. I’d like to migrate my data from Odoo—including product details, stock, purchase, and vendor information- into Zoho Inventory for continuity

• I need my entire Zoho Account (mail/organization) deleted!

  Hey! I used zoho for my email aaron@aaronglass.me with domain forwarding/mx all that. I got rid of the mx info on my godaddy account and still Google won't let me sign up with my aaron@aaronglass.me email. (I'm moving to Google for business) SO! I was

• Error: "Invalid Element warehouse_id" when sending order to Zoho

  i'm getting the error "Invalid Element warehouse_id" when trying to send an order to Zoho via API. Has anyone faced this issue before? How can I fix it?

• No way to sell individual and case units smoothly in Zoho

  Currently, Zoho Inventory handles inventory primarily at the case level, which can be challenging for businesses that frequently need to break down cases into individual units for retail sales or smaller shipments. Although Zoho Inventory currently supports

• How to handle multiple languages (Resume parser, Job opening, job board, career site) ?

  We are looking to bring Zoho Recruit to a market that needs to support 2 languages. The first thing we need to make sure is that the Candidate be flag with the language they speak. This is easy enough make a custom field that as the desire languages.

• Shipping Labels

  Hi, Can we generate Packing Labels for manual shipping same as the format as Airway Bill in zoho books or inventory?

• Unit Measurement Sign,

  Dear Zoho Support Team, I hope you are doing well. We recently purchased Zoho Inventory based on recommendations of your team that “it would be a great fit for our Shopify operations”. However, we are currently facing several urgent issues that require

• Leadchain into a custom module

  Hello ZOHO Community ! is it possible to put the leads collected by leadchain into a custom module instaed of leads module ? Best wishes Niels

• Urgent: How to Bulk Upload Images in Zoho Inventory? Any Workarounds?

  We are currently onboarding 5,000+ items from Shopify into Zoho Inventory, but we’re struggling with the lack of a bulk image upload feature. Right now, we have to manually upload and assign images one by one, which is extremely time-consuming and inefficient.

• Can I automatically update COGS and Inventory account when creating an item?

  I have been trying to get Zoho to update the other two fields when I update one (Sales Account, COGS account, and Inventory Account). I know this seems like not a huge time saver, but I am all about efficiency and being an independent taproom, I create

• I'm looking for a Microsoft List alternative in Zoho One to manage large lists of repetitive tasks

  I've used Microsoft Lists to manage lots of tasks that need to be completed several times for different users. We started with a large spreadsheet and then discovered lists, which worked pretty well. I was wondering if there is a similar products in Zoho,

• Zoholics Europe and UK Awards 2025: Honouring our loyal customers!

  We're excited to announce that at this year's Zoholics events across Europe, we're holding customer awards for the first time ever! This is your chance to shout about the amazing things you've created, connected, or achieved with Bigin! And if you win,

• Fillable template with dynamic tables?

  Is there a way to build a fillable template so that users can add rows to a table? To describe what I'm trying to accomplish the table has 3 sections; a header row, some number of rows with custom information, and a summary row with totals. I can't figure

• How to store API keys in zoho?

  Hi everyone, I'm currently building an integration using Zoho Flow and I need to securely store several API keys that will be used to make external service calls from my flows. I would not like to hardcode the values in the code of custom function. What's

• Zoho RPA is now available in your Zoho One bundle!

  Hello All! Of late, it's been quite a stint of new app integrations in Zoho One. This announcement pertains to the addition of another Zoho application, the most sought-after Zoho RPA - Robotic Process Automation, to the bundle. What is Zoho RPA? Zoho

• is there an easy way to embed a zoho analytics report into a widget (or inside the "account" page) of Zoho CRM

  Hi, I have built a report that is specific to an account in Zoho CRM but I would like this to be built into the Zoho CRM front-end. I have looked at the widget concept but it seems quite complicated (see attached screenshot but I need to filter this view

• Bigin iOS app update - Introducing Card Scanner and initiating WhatsApp conversations using pre-approved templates.

  Hello everyone! In the latest iOS (v1.11.3) version of the Bigin app, we have introduced the following features: Card Scanner Initiating WhatsApp conversations. Card Scanner: Our new Card Scanner feature extracts contact information from business cards.

• Introducing card scanner in Bigin Android app

  Hello everyone! We are excited to introduce the card scanner feature on the latest Android version(1.7.26) of the Bigin app as well. Card scanner extracts contact information from business cards and allows you to save them as contacts in Bigin. You can

• Full RTL and Hebrew Translation Support for Zoho Creator User Portal (Including All System Pages, Templates, and MFA Screens)

  Dear Zoho Creator Team, We kindly request comprehensive support for right-to-left (RTL) languages, particularly Hebrew, across the entire Zoho Creator user portal. This includes system-generated pages, templates, and multi-factor authentication (MFA)

• ZUG real estate virtual meetup 2025: Sign documents, collect payments, and automate workflows with Zoho Sign

  Hi there! Are you in real estate and looking for a secure, compliant way to manage all your paperwork? In such a fast-paced industry, timing, compliance, and client trust are everything. Handling paperwork has always been a challenge, whether you're finalizing

• OCR (Optical Character Recognition), automatisation des PDF et autres améliorations de Zoho RPA

  Zoho RPA est une plateforme d'automatisation des processus robotiques conçue pour accélérer et simplifier vos workflows. Elle permet de connecter facilement vos applications cloud à vos systèmes existants, même ceux qui ne disposent pas d’API, afin d’automatiser

• 📞 Call + 💬 WhatsApp + 📲 SMS in Zoho CRM – All in One Place!

  We’re excited to introduce HelloSend, a powerful communication extension for Zoho CRM that brings SMS, WhatsApp, and Voice Calling directly into your CRM workspace. Whether you're in sales, support, or service delivery, HelloSend helps you connect with

• Automation#24: Auto-Update custom field from Accounts to Tickets

  Hello Everyone! Welcome back to the Community Learning Series! This episode dives into how Zylker Techfix streamlines account-related ticket references. Previously, employees had to manually check account details to retrieve specific customer information,

• Product Updates in Zoho Workplace applications | May 2025

  Hello Workplace Community, Let’s take a look at the new features and enhancements that went live across all Workplace applications this May. Zoho Mail Increased Preset Limit for Reminder and Snooze Options Preset limits for the Reminder and Snooze options

• Outlook 365 ('classic') won't connect to Zoho email

  New computer, fresh install of Office desktop. On the old computer Outlook was working fine with Zoho, retrieving/sending mail, etc. On the new one I can't connect the accounts in Outlook--Outlook just keeps popping up the box asking for a password. All

• login email

  Never logged into email says last log in never loged into

• Installment plans

  Hi I am looking for a way to allow my customer to make equal monthly payments. For instance if I create an invoice for customer Y for $1000 I want to allow them to make equal monthly payments for the next 6 months. I need those payments to be auto charged

• Next Page