Zoho Corporation is making another bold move to redefine customer relationship management by deepening its Customer Experience (CX) platform with advanced generative AI and workflow orchestration features. With today’s global launch of “CRM for Everyone,” the tech firm is positioning itself as a key player in the democratization of CRM technology—aiming squarely at businesses looking to unify customer data and experience across departments without overwhelming their teams with technical hurdles.
Zoho’s in-house AI engine, Zia, takes center stage in this rollout, offering a range of intuitive, no-code tools designed to simplify how teams interact with and build on their CRM systems. This isn’t just about giving sales teams better tools; it’s about extending those capabilities to everyone involved in customer service—from marketing and onboarding to legal and finance.
“Multiple people in an organization need access to customer information, yet historically, CRMs have been relegated to only sales teams,” said Mani Vembu, CEO of Zoho. “As we democratize CRM with the launch of CRM for Everyone, we also need to build in capabilities that make it easy for anyone to build and extend CRM with simple prompts, without having to be an expert in the system.”
One of the most significant updates is Zia’s new “agentic” capabilities, such as Ask Zia, which allows users to generate custom reports, modules, and workflows using natural language prompts. Users can issue a prompt, visualize the report build in real-time, pause for edits, and resume the task—all without touching a line of code. The AI even supports an “Image to Canvas” feature, enabling users to transform images into visual CRM components, offering a fresh layer of customization.
For small business owners, these tools could mean quicker onboarding for new staff, fewer dependencies on IT departments, and the ability to respond more rapidly to customer needs. These features also offer the promise of breaking down data silos—a persistent challenge for growing companies with disjointed systems.
“A lot of enterprises look at their CX progress and wonder why they have trouble coordinating multiple processes across isolated departments,” said Keith Dawson, Director of Research, Customer Experience at ISG Software Research. “The promise of generative AI was that it would be able to prune away many of the old barriers to progress. Happily, AI capabilities like Zoho’s are delivering on that promise.”
The platform’s new Connected Records and Connected Workflows tools further bolster its utility. Connected Records automatically links work across team modules, ensuring consistent context throughout the customer journey. Connected Workflows provide a powerful orchestration engine to streamline handoffs and updates between teams. This level of automation and coordination could be particularly valuable for small businesses juggling growth and resource constraints.
Pricing remains competitive. Non-sales team licenses start at $9 per user per month, and AI capabilities are included with existing licenses—eliminating surprise costs for AI features, which is a key concern for smaller organizations weighing the long-term ROI of AI adoption.
Zoho has also made it clear that its AI tools respect user privacy. The models aren’t trained on consumer data and don’t retain customer information, which may ease concerns among business owners wary of data misuse.
By blending usability, privacy safeguards, and cost-effective AI tools, Zoho’s enhanced CX platform offers a compelling solution for small businesses aiming to deliver more consistent, personalized customer experiences without requiring deep technical expertise or expensive integrations.
Image Via Envato: bernardbodo
