Introducing Connected Records to bring business context to every aspect of your work in Zoho CRM for Everyone

Introducing Connected Records to bring business context to every aspect of your work in Zoho CRM for Everyone

Hello Everyone,

We are excited to unveil phase one of a powerful enhancement to CRM for Everyone - Connected Records, available only in CRM's Nextgen UI.

With CRM for Everyone, businesses can onboard all customer-facing teams onto the CRM platform to provide the best services for their customers. Teams work in their own designated spaces on the platform, and more often than not, business context gets lost as tasks transition from one team to another. To address this challenge, we have introduced Connected Records, a powerful feature that will help multiple teams coordinate seamlessly. Connected records enable teams to focus on their processes while the CRM handles coordination, delivering the right customer context to the right team at the right time.

So what are connected records? 

Connected records help users link records between two modules. This feature helps improve coordination across teams and eliminate the need to rely on email and chat for task coordination. 

Whether it's linking a deal to a product demo request and then linking the same deal to an onboarding request when the deal is closed won or linking a deal directly to a contract request or to a customer advocacy request if the onboarding is successful, this feature ensures all teams have the right context at the right time to execute their work. (See image below)


From the above image, we can understand that the connection for each record will differ depending on the specific task or use case, making it unique to that record.

How can you create connected records?

You can create connected records in two ways :
  • Manual creation : Create connected records manually from within an organization module linking it to a record in the team module or from within a team module linking it to another team module.

    For instance, we can create a product demo record in the pre-sale team module directly from a new deal in the deals module or create a customer advocacy record in the advocacy team modules directly from an onboarding record in the onboarding team module.

  • Auto-connect records using workflows : When you have a clear outline of the various steps in your sales process, you can connect records from one step to another automatically using a workflow rule.

    For instance, we can automatically create an onboarding record in the onboarding team module when the deal stage is marked as closed won or create a win/loss analysis record in the marketing team module when the deal stage is marked as closed lost. This will help maintain continuity between the two steps and also provide the teams working on these records at both steps with clear customer context.      

What else do connected records offer? 

With connected records, requesters can raise requests from any module instead of navigating to the My Requests tab every time.
When records are linked between two modules, users can use public fields to display record details to team members who are not part of the module, so essential information is available for those members to complete their process efficiently. 

Use Case: Managing a Deal in CRM with Connected Records  

A prospect has inquired about a product for their business, leading to the creation of a deal record named Zylker Deal in the CRM system. To ensure the deal progresses smoothly and is closed successfully, multiple teams need to collaborate and access relevant data to execute their processes for this deal. Imagine the number of emails or chat messages required to coordinate this process across teams. This is precisely where connected records come into play.

With connected records, the Zylker deal record can be connected across various modules managed by different teams within the CRM platform, enabling the deal to be closed successfully. This eliminates the need to rely on emails and chats, providing a seamless way to link and share critical information across teams.

Let's see how this can be done:

Step 1 : Linking the Deal to the Case Study Module

The first step involves connecting the Zylker Deal record with the Case Study module managed by the Marketing team. This allows the sales team to access the relevant case study to persuade the prospect and strengthen their decision to purchase the product.

The sales executive can manually create a connected record from the Zylker Deal record of the Deal module directly to the Case Study module. Thereby, requesting the marketing team for a relevant case study and creating a connection from an org module to a team module.


Step 2 : Connecting the deal record to the Demo Module

If the prospect is convinced and is moved to the second step, they will require a demo of the product. So, the deal record can be linked to the Demo module managed by the Pre-sales team.

The sales executive can manually create a connected record from the Zylker  deal record from the Deals Module directly to the Demo module. Thereby raising a request to the Pre-sales team to conduct a demo for the prospect and creating a connection between two team modules.



From Step 1 and Step 2, we understand that each record's connection will be different. They will differ on a record level based on the use case or task at hand. Connected records will achieve connections between org modules and team modules or between two team modules.  

Step 3 : Onboarding After the Deal is Closed (Won)

The prospect likes the demo and decides to purchase the product. Once the Zylker Deal is successfully closed as won, the deal record can be linked to the Onboarding module managed by the onboarding team. This facilitates the transition from sales to onboarding, and most often, manually creating an onboarding request for every record that reaches the Deal won stage can be time-consuming and repetitive for the sales team. So they can simply automate this process.

This can be done by setting up a workflow rule to automatically connect records from one module to another. So the sales executive can set up a workflow rule saying whenever a new record is created with the deal won stage, create a new connected record in the onboarding team module, thus automatically raising a request to assist the customer in setting up their account.


Thus, when you know your sales pipeline, you can create a connected record from within a workflow to link a record from one step to the next.

Step 4 : Linking to the Training Team for Ongoing Assistance

Finally, after the customer completes the onboarding process, they can choose to receive training to use the product efficiently. So the Zylker deal record can be connected to the Training module managed by the Training team.

Here, the sales executive being assigned as the requester for the Training team can raise a request directly from the Zylker Deal record of the Deals module to the Training module instead of navigating to his My Request tab to do so. This step ensures that the customer receives proper guidance in using the product’s features through training sessions, enhancing their overall experience and satisfaction.

Why is connected records more suitable than a lookup relation?

One may argue that linking of modules can be achieved by a lookup relation as well. However, the key difference between a Look-up and Connected Record relationship is flexibility. Connected Records are dynamic and flexible and can link any two modules anytime, whereas Look-up relationships are not dynamic and should be configured by the admin during the CRM configuration.  


We hope this new enhancement brings you as much excitement as it does to us, and that your work is simplified as you navigate through the new version of CRM. Please reach out to us in the comments below if you have questions about this enhancement.


 

    • Recent Topics

    • No practical examples of how survey data is analyzed

      There are no examples of analysis with analytics of zoho survey data. Only survey meta data is analyzed, such as number of completes, not actual analysis of responses, such as the % in each gender, cross-tabulations of survey responses. One strange characteristic of Zoho analytics is that does not seem aware of how Zoho Survey codes 'multiple response' questions. These are questions where more than one option can be selected from a list. Zoho Survey stores this data as text, separated by commas within

    • Zoho Creator as LMS and Membership Solution

      My client is interested in using Zoho One apps to deploy their membership academy offer. Zoho Creator was an option that came up in my research: Here are the components of the program/offer: 1. Membership portal - individual login credentials for each

    • Adding Chargebee as a Data Connector

      Is it possible to get Chargebee added as a Zoho Analytics data connector?

    • Webform & spam

      Hi, We set up 2 webform on our website, fowarding the content to Zoho CRM. Since it has been opened up, we are getting lot of spam message (for now about 20 a day). To lower the  amount of false new leads we added the captcha field and new enquieries are send to the Approval Leads list. However we still get some spam. Is there any "anti spam" mechanism built in Zoho CRM, or how is the best way to avoid these kind of spam ? Thanks

    • Dropbox to Workdrive

      Namaste, Trust you all are doing well. Wanted to check how this can be done with Zoho flow. I typically receive dropbox links from my clients. Is there a way where I can provide the link to Zoho flow and it downloads the files from dropbox link to a work

    • Deals by Stages Funnel not showing in correct order

      Using the Stage-Probability Mapping for the Deals module we have created a steps our deals will pass through, RFQ, Closed/Lost, Declined/No-Go, Pricing, Submitted, Negotiations, Won. However when I view the Deal By Stages Funnel it does not show in the

    • Adding a developer for editing the client application with a single user license

      Hi, I want to know that I as a developer I developed one application and handed over to the customer who is using the application on a single user license. Now after6 months customer came back to me and needs some changes in the application. Can a customer

    • Turning off the new UI

      Tried the new 'enhanced' UI and actively dislike it. Anyone know how to revert back?

    • Attention API Users: Upcoming Support for Renaming System Fields

      Hello all! We are excited to announce an upcoming enhancement in Zoho CRM: support for renaming system-defined fields! Current Behavior Currently, system-defined fields returned by the GET - Fields Metadata API have display_label and field_label properties

    • Confirmation prompt before a custom button action is triggered

      Have you ever created a custom button and just hoped that you/your users are prompted first to confirm the action? Well, Zoho knows this concept. For example, in blueprint, whenever we want to advance to the next state by clicking the transition, it is

    • Cost of good field

      Is there a way we can have cost of good sold as a field added to the back end of the invoicing procedure and available in reports?

    • How to create auto populate field based on custom module in Zoho CRM?

      Hello, i'm still new to Zoho CRM and work as administrator in my company. Currently, I'm configuring layout for Quotes Module. So, the idea is, I've created a read-only field in Quotes called "Spec". I want this field automatically filled with Specification

    • 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

    • Change Last Name to not required in Leads

      I would like to upload 500 target companies as leads but I don't yet have contact people for them. Can you enable the option for me to turn this requirement off to need a Second Name? Moderation update (10-Jun-23): As we explore potential solutions for

    • Office 365 and CRM mail integration: permission required

      Has anyone run into this weird problem? My email server is Office 365. When I try to configure Zoho CRM to use this server, a Microsoft popup window opens requesting user and password. After entering that, I get a message in the Microsoft window saying

    • Tables improvement ideas / features

      Heya, I've been using Zoho Tables for a few months now and wanted to post some features that I think will be greatly beneficial for the tool: 1. Ability to delete a record in automation or move a record in automation. - Usecase: I move a record from one

    • Deluge - Can't get phone number SalesIQ

      Hey folks, I’m building a custom plug for SalesIQ that’s supposed to register leads into Zoho CRM. The SalesIQ chat is being implemented on WhatsApp, and in my plug I’m using this line: mobile_clean = session.get("phone").get("value"); From what I understand,

    • how to differentiate if whatsapp comes from certain landing page?

      I create a Zobot in SalesIQ to create a Whatsapp bot to capture the lead. I have 2 landing pages, one is SEO optimized and the other want is optimized for leads comes from Google Ads. I want to know from which landing page this lead came through WhatsApp

    • Zoho Desk - Community

      As a regular user of Zoho Cares Community I would really love to see the publish date of articles. For example, when I look at Announcements, it would be very beneficial to see which ones were posted recently, over those which have just and a recent comment.

    • access to quartz for my customers

      Hi how can I have access to the application quartz you use for us to send you screen rocording, this feature would be immensely useful for our customers support https://quartz.zoho.com/

    • Issue with Inline Images in Email Reply via Zoho Desk API

      Hi, I am attempting to send inline images in an email reply using the Zoho Desk API, but the images are not being displayed inline for the recipient. I have followed this documentation: https://desk.zoho.com/DeskAPIDocument#Uploads https://desk.zoho.com/DeskAPIDocument#Threads#Threads_SendEmailReply

    • How to search a value stored in a subform?

      Hello, We store serial numbers in subforms but now we would like to be able to search the values to be able to easily find the record with the serial number. I saw that it's not possible to search such values through global search but is it possible to do it an other way? Thank you,

    • Field Dependency Not Working on Detail Page in Zoho Desk

      Hi Support Team, I’ve created field dependencies between two fields in Zoho Desk, and they are working correctly on the Create and Edit layouts. However, on the Detail page, the fields are not displaying according to the dependencies I’ve set — they appear

    • How do the keyword critera work?

      Hi, I'm working on automated assignment of tickets based on keywords. How does this feature work? Where does this criteria look for keywords - email address, subject, email body? Can you please clarify this as I want to avoid overlapping with criteria

    • Error: Unsupported content type: text/html;charset=UTF-8 after tryeing to get the token for n8n automation

      I am working on ZOHO Desk automation and need to get the ZOHO auth token for n8n I have created the app in ZOHO Desk API, got client id and client secret. Added all data required to get a token in n8n. After I sign in with my ZOHO credentials in ZOHO

    • Improving Collaboration Features in Zoho Portal

      Hello Zoho Community, I’ve recently started exploring Zoho services and I’m really impressed with the wide range of features. However, I feel there is still room for improvement in the collaboration area. For example, it would be really helpful if we

    • Automated Shopify Emails Not Being Delivered

      I have an ecommerce store with Shopify. I recently set up my email to be served through Zoho. Since doing this, customers are not receiving some of our automated emails from Shopify itself. Our initial email that confirms their purchase goes through but our Shipping Notification that is automatically sent out upon fulfillment is not going through. Sometimes we get a notice that it's been classified as spam, sometimes nothing. I can send/receive email via Outlook on my desktop and I can send/receive

    • I can't log in to my account on Thunderbird

      I've just had to rebuild my PC (calamitous mess from Microsoft with Win10/Win 11 'upgrade' - they confirmed I had to start with a new build). I have used Zoho mail for years via Mozilla Thunderbird, but now I've had to download the latest version of TBird,

    • Send a campaign to one recipient.

      Very often I speak to a customer and they say they didn't see my email (maybe it went in Junk, maybe they deleted it). Anyway, I just want to go into the Campaign and send it to one person. You already have a feature very close to this - when sending a Test. While developing a campaign, I can send tests to anyone. Why can't we have this AFTER  the campaign has been sent? I know, there's a caveat, and that's in the use of merge tags. Most of the time I only use FNAME, but maybe you could check if

    • Try FSM again for our business

      We already have our customers individual equipment in CRM with serial numbers, install dates, warranty length and importantly next service which is generally 2 years. a month before the service date is due we get get a report and send out service reminders.

    • Use Zoho Books to bill for work done in Zoho Desk??

      I'm trying to see if something is possible (and if yes, how). We use Zoho One to manage our business. We have a lot of clients that will put in a ticket (via portal) to have work done. Out techs will pick up the ticket, do the work, and then log the time

    • Get Cliq Meetings in my O365 calendar

      Hi, we are currently evaluating to replace the Teams Messaging and Meetings with Cliq. We currently still have all our email and calendars in O365. What i want to achieve is, to create a (ZOHO) meeting from Cliq and have this meeting added to my Outlook/O365

    • Issue with Zoho Help Portal – Tickets Missing or Not Answered

      Hi, How are you? I think there may be an issue with the Zoho Help Portal. I opened a few tickets directly in the help portal a some time ago but never received any response I also opened ticket 148356451 by email. I did receive a reply to it, but the

    • No bank feeds from First National Bank South Africa since 12 September

      I do not know how Zoho Books expects its customers to run a business like this. I have contacted Zoho books numerous times about this and the say it is solved - on email NO ONE ANSWERS THE SOUTH AFRICAN HELP LINE Come on Zoho Books, you cannot expect

    • DUNS & Bradstreet and Credit risk monitoring integration with Zoho books

      Small businesses not being paid by bigger clients and clients of all sizes is a huge problem. It will be nice if Zoho develops integration with DUNS & Bradstreet(D&B) and Credit risk monitoring integration with Zoho books. That have small businesses can

    • Zoho Forms - Form Rules based on attachment fields

      Many businesses use forms to collect documents and images from customers. In many cases, you may want to trigger a notification or other automation based on whether or not an attachment was added. I've noticed that attachment fields do not appear in Rules

    • How to sync from Zoho Projects into an existing Sprint in Zoho Sprints?

      Hi I have managed to integrate Zoho Projects with Zoho Sprints and I can see that the integration works as a project was created in Zoho Sprints. But, what I would like to do is to sync into an existing Zoho Sprints project. Is there a way to make that

    • Add multiple users to a task

      When I´m assigning a task it is almost always related to more than one person. Practical situation: When a client request some improvement the related department opens the task with the situation and people related to it as the client itself, the salesman

    • Can't open draft email for editing

      Last night I started composing an email and I let it save in drafts. This morning I want to continue working on the email. It is in my Drafts folder but it will not open. The only option there is to delete it. This is not the first time it has happened. On previous occasions I have just deleted the draft and started afresh, but I really want this one back. Windows 10 with Pale Moon 28.10.0 browser.

    • Failing to generate Access and Refresh Token

      Hello.  I have two problems: First one when generating Access and Refresh Token I get this response:  As per the guide here : https://www.zoho.com/books/api/v3/#oauth (using server based application) I'm following all the steps. I have managed to get

    • Next Page