Zoho—Features, Improvements and Everything New in the Latest Update

Zoho CRM’s intuitive design, enhanced features, and third-party tool integration have made it quite popular among business enterprises of all sizes. In fact, today, Zoho CRM enjoys a market share of nearly 3% in the CRM market.

The Zoho CRM tool has gone through significant changes in 2021. What’s new in Zoho? Let us explore the latest Zoho features, improvements, and everything else you need to know about the latest Zoho update.

What is New in Zoho CRM?

Firstly, let us look at what is new in Zoho? Since 2020, Zoho CRM has gone through continuous improvements and UI changes to streamline the CRM workflow for smaller businesses. The latest Zoho CRM updates ensure better capabilities and security for businesses to improve their operational efficiency.

Also Read: Why Should You Choose Zoho CRM?

Zoho Features and Enhancements

Here are some of the latest Zoho features that have enhanced its reputation as an exceptional CRM product:

1. Zia Vision

The AI-enabled Zia tool can now be used to identify and validate uploaded images and objects into the Zoho CRM system. With Zia Vision, users can upload images and train the Zia tool to identify their types.

2. Zia Prediction Builder

Introduced in June 2020, users can now use the Zia tool to predict business outcomes based on existing data. For instance, how likely would the sales team be in converting a sales lead, or winning a business deal, or a product being purchased?

3. Online Meetings

With this new feature, business executives can now smoothly create and schedule online meetings even in a remote working environment. Additional features include audio or video conferencing along with screen sharing capabilities.

4. Zone Analysis

Zone Analysis is a new dashboard enhancement that is used to interpret and understand business data. Using comparative analysis, this tool identifies and differentiates between the parameters that are performing as expected and those that need more attention and improvement.

5. Colour Coding of Tags

Introduced in August 2021, CRM records in Zoho can now be easily identified and differentiated using colour codes for the tags. Using this feature, CRM tags can be coloured from a predefined colour set at any time during or after creation. Colour code marking enables users to highlight a particular record, its importance, department, and its current state.

6. Prediction Analytics

The AI-powered Zia tool now features prediction analytics that can understand and analyse business metrics and predict possible outcomes. Some of the highlights of prediction analytics are:

o Number of active predictions for a module

o Accuracy of the predictions

o Number of involved records

o Graphical representation of the predictions

7. Webform Analytics

With the new Webform analytics feature, enterprises can track the performance of multiple web forms used for sales lead generation. Some of the parameters that can measure performance include the number of submissions, regions that generate the maximum submissions, number of visitors to online web forms, and form fields that are mostly filled in by visitors.

Download Pdf: Automate your Sales Processes with Zoho CRM

8. Sales Pipeline

Introduced in June 2020, the sales pipeline is a visual representation of the sales process including where prospective clients are in the sales cycle. The sales pipeline can track and monitor the prospect through multiple stages starting from prospecting, nurturing and qualifying, defining their needs, and finally negotiating and closing the deal.

Also Read: Benefits of cycle counting using SAP Business One

These are some new Zoho features that are worth talking about. Next, let us look at the major Zoho improvements in the latest versions.

Zoho Improvements

Here are some of the latest Zoho updates and improvements as mentioned in the Zoho CRM release notes for 2021:

1. UI Improvements

● Visual improvements in the Zoho CRM setup page including a page heading and search bar.

● Ability to expand (or collapse) smart filters in both List and Kanban views.

● Aesthetic changes in the CRM Calendar including Day, Month and Week views, a blue capsule outline for navigation arrows, and user activity count on every profile page.

● Text wrapping within text input fields.

● Dashboard UI changes including the ability to resize KPI components and background grid size changes.

● Addition of labels in date or time workflow triggers.

2. Zoho Creator

Among the major Zoho Creator update, the Zoho team announced the discontinuation of the Zoho Creator version 1 from February 2021 and migration of its users to version 2.

Going by the latest update on Zoho Creator, here are some of its enhancements:

● Ability to pull (or push) data from external apps using widgets.

● Payment integration with the Paytm service.

● Enhancements in export settings including specifying file name and format, along with included columns.

3. Security Updates

Security update for Zoho CRM includes controlled access for CRM data, which is possible only through secured networks. Further, new sign-ups on Zoho CRM can only be configured through allowed IP addresses fetched from the Zoho directory. With this feature, only those users whose IP addresses have been added by the Zoho administrator can now sign in to the Zoho CRM account.

4. Automatic Assigning of the Record to the Owner

Using the Workflow rule, records can now be automatically ascribed to an owner, if it satisfies the workflow criteria. This owner assignment is triggered only for the first matched workflow rule. Records are assigned to different user groups based on the user category, user criteria, or assignment rules.

5. Email Status Changes

The advanced filter for the “Latest Email Status” functionality now features the new “Responded” status option that will capture all email recipients who have responded to the sent message. Additional status options include emails that have been opened, received, or clicked by the recipients.

6. Canvas Builder Enhancements

The Canvas Builder tool in Zoho CRM has been enhanced to allow customization of the record detail page according to the user’s preference. This includes adding a background colour to each field, using customized buttons in place of field names, and changing the font style.

Based on Zoho’s latest news, these are the overall improvements in its CRM tool for 2021:

● Improved customer segmentation that is based on their RFM-modelled purchasing patterns.

● Enhanced Webforms analytics that is based on the latest sales lead statistics.

● Improved marketing insights for identifying marketing campaigns with the best ROI.

● Cohort analysis for identifying useful sales/marketing data patterns across multiple groups.

Conclusion

No matter what stage is your business in, this CRM tool is designed to improve customer relationships as well as propel your business growth and sales revenues.

As a long-standing partner with Zoho, Praxis Info Solutions has enabled its customers to implement this CRM tool in a minimum time to enjoy maximum benefits. Further, we make sure to provide adequate training to your workforce to leverage the capabilities of Zoho CRM more productively and efficiently.

If you are looking for additional help in Zoho CRM implementation, we could be the right consulting partner for your business. Please Contact us if you need our assistance.