Zoho unveils advanced AI agents to boost productivity

Zoho Corporation has announced the expansion of its AI capabilities with the introduction of Zia Agents, Agent Studio, and Agent Marketplace, intended to enhance the accessibility, creation, and distribution of intelligent autonomous digital agents across various organisational functions.

Pre-built, task-specific Zia Agents will be previewed by Zoho and ManageEngine, with deployment across over 100 products planned in the upcoming weeks. This marks a significant development in Zoho's AI offerings, reflecting its decade-long investment in AI technologies.

Sridhar Vembu, Zoho Corporation's Co-founder and Chief Scientist, emphasised the strategic focus on AI. "The speed of disruption and quality of innovation we're seeing in our industry right now has encouraged me to focus on my passion area, technology. I will devote more time to hands on technical work for the company, spearheading several deep R&D initiatives, beginning with AI," he stated. Vembu further highlighted the integration of Zoho's engineering expertise, proprietary data centres, and data models into creating solutions that maintain a balance between customer value, flexibility, and data privacy.

Zoho's AI journey began with the launch of Zia in 2015, which forms the foundation of intelligent and contextual actions across Zoho's ecosystem. Ask Zia, introduced in 2018, extends these capabilities into a conversational assistant that aids employees in tasks such as analysing customer interactions, summarising helpdesk tickets, and planning customer engagement, all within a centralised interface.

The newly unveiled Zia Agents include pre-built roles such as Account Manager Agent, SDR Agent, HR Agent, Customer Support Agent, IT Help Desk Agent, and SalesCoach Agent. These agents are designed to enhance operational efficiency across various business functions.

Zia Agent Studio, a key component of the new platform, allows users to build autonomous agents using a no-code and low-code approach, accessing a wide range of pre-existing Zia Skills and tools. This studio supports the creation of cross-functional agents, aiming to boost productivity by streamlining workflows within and across departments.

The Agent Marketplace will serve as a distribution channel for these AI agents, where organisations can obtain pre-built agents or those developed by Zoho's partners and developers. This system encourages the widespread application of customisable automated solutions in diverse sectors.

Zoho Corporation's recent growth reflects its successful approach, having gained 110,000 new customers globally in 2024. The company's AI solutions, based on extensive functional data, provide a competitive edge, positioning Zoho effectively in the technology landscape.

With a comprehensive tech stack, including a shared data model and global data centres, Zoho Corporation leverages its infrastructure to offer secure, privacy-compliant AI agents. Its commitment to high-value, usable technology underpins its expansion strategy in artificial intelligence.

These new features will be gradually made available to selected customers, with plans for broader distribution over time. The announcement highlights Zoho's ongoing dedication to enhancing business solutions through responsible and effective AI technologies.