News Analysis
Zoho has been chipping away at its main competitors in the collaboration space, Microsoft and Google, since it first entered the market in 2007 through its breadth of functionality and lower price point.
So it was inevitable that the company would build on its existing AI investments and throw its hat into the generative AI ring in 2023 with the launch of Zia, its homegrown AI engine. Earlier this month, it built on that launch of Zia Agents, an AI platform designed to support autonomous agents across Zoho Corporations' combined portfolio of over 100 products. The news comes soon after the October announcement of its collaboration with NVIDIA to develop custom large language models (LLMs) tailored for business applications.
What Zoho's Zia Agents Includes
The new platform includes Zia Agents, Agent Studio and Agent Marketplace, all designed for enterprises to create, deploy and distribute autonomous digital agents. With the tools, customers have the option to deploy pre-built agents or design custom ones to perform specific tasks across various functions.
- Zia Agents — The pre-built Zia Agents include an Account Manager Agent, SDR Agent, HR Agent, Customer Support Agent, IT Help Desk Agent and a SalesCoach Agent.
- Zia Agent Studio — Zia Agent Studio helps users build custom autonomous agents using either a no-code or low-code development environments. Customers have access to pre-existing Zia Skills, tools from the Zoho ecosystem, data from a unified data platform and a range of language models to create their agents. These agents can be deployed on any Zoho application and can be summoned using Ask Zia.
- Agent Marketplace — True to its name, the marketplace facilitates distribution and reuse of agents created using Zia Agent Studio. Zoho and its partners can offer pre-built agents, and the marketplace allows organizations to deploy specialized AI agents.
The Next Step in Zoho's AI Progression
The launch of Zia Agents marks a significant expansion of Zoho's AI capabilities, building on its decade-long investment in AI. Zoho's in-house AI has evolved from proactive to prescriptive, generative and now agentic. The Zia Agents rollout will begin with a limited set of customers and expand monthly.
Given the growing use of generative AI, particularly in the form of agentic AI, Zoho’s recent AI developments are a logical next step to meet the needs of its customers. The company claims to have added 110,000 new customers globally last year, bringing the total to over 850,000 paying customers.
The new release marks not just a step forward for Zoho’s workplace offerings but for the wider productivity space, Zoho director of AI Ramprakash Ramamoorthy told Reworked in an email interview.
Zoho’s AI Agents mark a shift from passive AI-powered assistants to truly autonomous digital agents that execute tasks end-to-end with minimal human intervention, he said. "By embedding deep contextual intelligence across business applications, these agents not only enhance efficiency but also introduce a layer of proactive decision-making."
Moving Beyond a Support System to an Enabler
The difference between Zoho's approach and other standalone AI tools is the former integrates agents directly into its vast ecosystem, allowing businesses to automate workflows without disrupting existing processes, Ramamoorthy continued. This seamless integration, combined with enterprise-grade security and privacy, positions Zoho’s AI agents as a compelling alternative to a reliance on fragmented AI solutions.
When discussing productivity and the impact of AI-driven agents, Ramamoorthy highlights Zia, Zoho's AI assistant. Zia is designed to optimize various business operations across Zoho’s suite of applications — more than 50 as it now stands — leveraging data mining and machine learning to deliver key business insights.
According to Ramamoorthy, Zia helps eliminate friction in daily workflows by automating repetitive, high-volume tasks, which leads to significant time savings, reduced operational bottlenecks and a more agile workforce. "More than just improving productivity," he said, "Zia enhances the overall employee experience, functioning as a true enabler rather than merely a support tool."
AI agents shift the role of employees from task execution to strategic oversight, he continued. Instead of manually handling data processing, communication or routine decision-making, employees can now focus on creativity, problem solving and innovation. Ramamoorthy argues these agents augment human capabilities rather than replace them, ensuring that employees work alongside AI to achieve better outcomes.
Zoho's products, including these new offerings, are designed for ease of use including the no-code/low-code approach of Zia Agent Studio. The deep integration within Zoho’s suite further reduces the learning curve, making AI adoption intuitive.
What's Next for Zoho and AI?
The productivity space is currently getting flooded with agents to support all manner of tools. Ramamoorthy notes that unlike generic AI models that require extensive customization, Zia is pre-equipped with industry-specific intelligence and contextual awareness. Its foundation in Zoho’s unified data platform means it can provide richer insights and more effective automation. Additionally, with the introduction of the Agent Marketplace, businesses can deploy specialized AI agents instantly, making AI-driven efficiency accessible at scale.
This is only the beginning. Ramamoorthy said Zoho’s AI evolution will continue toward more sophisticated, collaborative and cross-functional agents that not only automate tasks but also make intelligent, high-level business decisions. Future iterations of Zia Agents will feature greater interoperability with third-party applications, enabling businesses to extend AI-driven automation beyond the Zoho ecosystem.
Additionally, the next phase of development will focus on AI-powered collaboration, where multiple agents can work together dynamically to manage end-to-end business operations. As AI becomes more autonomous, Zoho will maintain its focus on making AI explainable, transparent and aligned with real business needs, he concluded.
Why AI in the Workplace, Why Now?
Organizations need AI if they want to keep up, Movadex co-founder Salome Mikadze told Reworked. Agents can predict inefficiencies, recommend process improvements and optimize workflows without human intervention, which translates fewer operational bottlenecks and more time for innovation for smaller businesses.
"In my experience, AI shifts employees from reactive to proactive. Instead of being buried in reports, repetitive tasks and admin work, people can focus on problem-solving, strategy and customer experience," she said. "The companies that thrive are the ones that train their teams to work alongside AI, rather than resist it."
She believes the best use of AI is to eliminate cognitive overload. It’s not about replacing employees — it’s about elevating their roles.
"Zoho is making a strong move with its AI-powered workplace tools, but the real shift won’t come from technology alone," she said. "The businesses that truly benefit will be the ones that embrace AI as a partner, not just another tool.”
The release of Zia Agents comes at a time when many organizations struggle with fragmented systems, complex technologies and distributed teams, making it difficult to provide seamless support, said Adam Holtby, principal analyst with Omdia. He sees AI-powered agents as one solution to the challenge, offering businesses a way to improve employee support while driving efficiency.
The AI Money Is Flowing
AI support systems may have once sounded like something out of the Jetsons, but it's no longer a futuristic concept — it’s actively transforming how businesses handle employee inquiries, IT support and workflow automation. Unsurprisingly, ivestment in AI-driven solutions is surging, with the market for employee support virtual agents expected to reach $34.5 billion by 2029.
Recent research from Omdia noted the significant cost savings and productivity gains that AI-powered virtual agents can deliver. Depending on the size of the business, companies could save between $524,000 and $7 million annually, while AI-enhanced support systems could handle 20,000 to 265,000 additional employee requests per year. These figures illustrate the potential impact AI can have in augmenting traditional employee support roles.
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"But beyond the numbers, the real value of AI lies in its ability to improve both technical and emotional support for employees," Holtby said. "In a world where businesses are increasingly focused on enhancing workplace experiences, AI is helping organizations respond to issues more efficiently, reduce frustration and create a more supportive work environment."
Read more about agentic AI:
- Rethink Your HR Strategy to Include AI Agents — As AI agents make their way into our workforce, HR is called to adapt its workforce strategy.
- The AI Agent Explosion: Unexpected Challenges Just Over the Horizon — The coming wave of AI agents raises both potential and challenges in the technical, business and human domains.
- Salesforce Brings an End to the 'Work of Work' — With Agentforce 2.0, Salesforce envisions a future of work where thousands of agents pick up the slack in Slack and beyond.