Zoho Corporation Limited

Zoho Desk : A context aware help desk ticketing software

Zoho Desk is a cloud-based ticketing system that helps you uncomplicate customer support with multichannel communication, knowledge base, community, in-app service portals, and AI-assisted ticket assignment and resolution. Businesses can organize, monitor, analyze, automate and extend your support with Zoho Desk.

Features

• Ticket management across multi-channel, multi-department, multi-lingual and multi-brands.
• Knowledge Base: Create a self-service library for FAQs and guides
• Efficiently manage tasks with customizable work modes and automated workflows.
• SLA Management: Set and monitor service level agreements: timely resolutions.
• Enhance agent efficiency through insights, prioritization, collaboration, and automation tools.
• Customise helpdesk modules, layouts, fields. Personalise with Accessibility Controls.
• Pre-built analytics with actionable insights. Supports custom reports and dashboards.
• Custom roles and profiles, data sharing, Field-level security, Audit Logs.
• 350+ Marketplace extensions, Rest APIs, Web and Mobile SDKs
• Dedicated mobile apps for business users and managerial staff(iOS, Android)

Benefits

• Resolve issues faster, enhance customer happiness, and boost retention.
• Streamline support experience with the centralised omni-channel ticketing interface.
• Empower customers with self-service solutions, reducing support ticket volume.
• Augment users proactive strategies with predictive analysis of AI/ML features.
• Automates repetitive and complex processes to minimise agent workload
• Adapt to the needs of organisations for scalable support solutions
• Comprehensive Reporting: Gain valuable insights with customizable analytics and metrics.
• Ensures high levels of customer satisfaction with prompt issue resolution
• Intuitive user experience, faster deployments, higher adoption and transparent pricing.
• Effortlessly integrate with third-party apps through powerful REST API.

£16 to £40 a user a month

• Free trial available

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at zohouk-gcloud@eu.zohocorp.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 14

Service ID

965419701323261

Contact

Sreyas Benjamin
+44 2038072092
zohouk-gcloud@eu.zohocorp.com

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: No
• Cloud deployment model: Public cloud
• Service constraints: Only cloud-based deployment and no support for an on-premise setting. Basic prerequisites includes a good network connection for easy access, and recommended browser and machine specifications for avoiding uninterrupted compatibility concerns
• System requirements:
  • Stable internet connectivity
  • Chrome (v90+), Firefox (v80+), Safari (v13+), Edge (v80+), Opera (v90+)
  • Mobile Apps - Android 5.0(API Level 21 & above)
  • Mobile Apps IOS (14.0 & above)

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: We provide free technical support eight hours per workday, as well as Premium and Enterprise support tiers that make our experts available 24/5 and 24/7, respectively. The response time for Premium would be 3 hours and as of Enterprise would be 1 hour.
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: Yes
• Online ticketing support accessibility: None or don’t know
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 24 hours, 7 days a week
• Web chat support: Web chat
• Web chat support availability: 24 hours, 7 days a week
• Web chat support accessibility standard: None or don’t know
• How the web chat support is accessible: Our web chat is accessible right from our home page. Users can chat regarding any support requirements or any queries they have regarding Workplace. ; Our support team is available 24*7 via chat, email, or call. ; ; For ease of access; a) No time based responses required for web chat.; b) Supports 200% of zoom without loss of content and functionality in our web page.
• Web chat accessibility testing: We are currently assessing and in the progress of making our web chat compliant to accessibility standard WCAG 2.1 AA . In this journey, we are yet to do the testing with the actual users of assistive technology. It will be done when the product becomes compliant to WCAG standard.
• Onsite support: Yes, at extra cost
• Support levels: We provide support at 4 levels i.e., basic, classic, premium, and enterprise. Basic support is free for everyone. ; Classic support is free for buyers who subscribe to any one of the paid editions of Zoho Desk. ; Premium support plan incurs charges; it offers shorter response times, 24/5 support, remote assistance, onboarding, and configuration assistance. ; The enterprise support plan, in addition to the above perks, provides a enterprise account manager and 24/7 support. ; Buyers with at least 25 user licenses are eligible to purchase the enterprise support plan. Buyers can avail on-site support separately.
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: Zoho Desk is a turnkey help desk tool with minimum setup required. Users, after signing up, can experience a free trial. We have help documentation and videos to help users get started on their own. Or they can reach out to our support team. For enterprise level deployment, users can purchase the premium or enterprise support plan to get dedicated onboarding and configuration assistance. We also do online training, and online webinars.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats: HTML
• End-of-contract data extraction: Zoho Desk offers versatile export options, empowering users to extract crucial data for analysis, backup, or migration. With its user-friendly interface, exporting data is intuitive and hassle-free. Users can export various elements such as tickets, contacts, accounts, knowledge base articles, and more. The platform provides flexible export formats including CSV, XLS, and JSON, catering to different analytical and operational needs. Additionally, Zoho Desk supports scheduled exports, enabling users to automate the export process and ensure data consistency and accessibility.
• End-of-contract process: Users in paid edition of Zoho Desk will be moved to the free edition if their contract (subscription) terminates and remains un renewed. There will not be any data loss; however, the features exclusive to paid editions will become inaccessible. If there is no activity in the user's Zoho Desk account for over 120 days, we will delete it along with all the data. Users cannot export their data after this.

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Supported browsers:
  • Internet Explorer 11
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
  • Opera
• Application to install: No
• Designed for use on mobile devices: Yes
• Differences between the mobile and desktop service: Zoho Desk web app responds seamlessly on mobile browsers. It is developed with mobile-first designs and is responsive on different form-factors. However, for an enhanced, mobile-optimized experience, users can download the Zoho Desk app. In addition to the features from Zoho Desk web, the app incorporates mobile specific functionalities like push notifications and customer metric widgets to facilitate support from anywhere. Buyers can also download the Radar for Zoho Desk app to keep critical insights close and get anomaly alerts. Both apps have features specifically tailored for IOS and Android devices.
• Service interface: Yes
• User support accessibility: WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
• Description of service interface: Zoho Desk has a highly intuitive ticketing interface that enables users to organise, prioritise, and resolve customer issues efficiently. List views bring visibility to ticket details like status, priority, due date to help users decide which ticket to handle first. Work modes makes it possible to answer tickets in meaningful queues. The ticket interface is populated with adequate context like customer history, ticket timeline, related interactions, and information pulled in from the knowledge base to facilitate complete, satisfactory resolutions. Users can schedule their responses, use canned messages to speed up response times, and collaborate in real-time via private comments.
• Accessibility standards: WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
• Accessibility testing: The Zoho Desk ticketing interface is accessible using screen readers. It meets the screen reader compatibility standards specified by the WCAG. It is tested for screen reader's on Mac, Windows, and Linux devices. ; The development and testing of screen reader accessibility was carried out in co-ordination with Zoho Desk customers who have differently abled users in their workforce. We also use external tools like WebAIM, WAVE and contrast-checker to asses accessibility and WCAG standards.
• API: Yes
• What users can and can't do using the API: Zoho Desk APIs facilitate integration with other Zoho applications and third-party tools by adhering to RESTful principles. These APIs enable you to programmatically fetch and edit data in the different modules in Zoho Desk. All the APIs follow HTTP rules and error codes. Users track API usage and receive notifications when the consumption reaches a set limit via the API dashboard.
• API documentation: Yes
• API documentation formats: HTML
• API sandbox or test environment: Yes
• Customisation available: Yes
• Description of customisation: Zoho Desk is customisable end-to-end. Starting from the forms that collect customer requests to the modules that store them, all support processes can be customised. Users can build customer portals with their own domains and even create separate bespoke service portals for each of their brands. For precise business intelligence, they can create custom dashboards and reports. Zoho Desk also flexes to accommodate individual needs and working styles using personalisations, preferences, and accessibility controls.

Scaling

• Independence of resources: Zoho Desk infrastructure scales horizontally and vertically to meets increasing demands by adding more servers or resources. Load balancing techniques are in place to evenly distribute incoming requests across multiple servers. Stability in performace is achieved through continous monitoring of real time metrics such as response times, server load, and error rates. For flexible fault tolerance, redundant components and failover mechanisms are used to ensure high availability. In the event of a failure or outage, redundant systems seamlessly take over, minimizing downtime and ensuring uninterrupted service for our users.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: Yes
• Metrics types: Zoho Desk comes with inbuilt analytics in the form of dashboards and reports. There are 12 standard dashboards in Zoho Desk and 7 predefined reports; each dedicated for a specific help desk functionality. For an in-depth view of help desk activities users can count on the API dashboards and audit logs. To meet organisation specific monitoring needs, users can create custom dashboards. The HQ (Headquaters) in Zoho Desk gives a birds eye view of key service metrics and agent KPIs. Proactive monitoring is made possible via anomoly alerts from the Radar app.
• Reporting types:
  • API access
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Regular reports

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Other security clearance
• Government security clearance: Up to Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS)

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations: European Economic Area (EEA)
• User control over data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Datacentre security standards: Managed by a third party
• Penetration testing frequency: At least once a year
• Penetration testing approach: In-house
• Protecting data at rest:
  • Physical access control, complying with SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
  • Physical access control, complying with another standard
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Data sanitisation type: Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
• Equipment disposal approach: A third-party destruction service

Data importing and exporting

• Data export approach: To export their data, users can use native export tool from within the application, use the data export APIs, or send an export request to our support team. Users can also make data subject export requests (DSR) from within the application.
• Data export formats: CSV
• Data import formats: CSV

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks: TLS (version 1.2 or above)
• Data protection within supplier network: Other
• Other protection within supplier network: Network traffic is encrypted when it traverses over the public network and when replicating to the DR data centre. The complete Datacenter stack is under our control. We use firewalls to prevent our network from unauthorised access. Our systems are segmented into separate networks to protect sensitive data from unauthorised access.

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: Our monthly service uptime is 99.9%. The live service availability status can be seen online. Upon customer request, Zoho will, as per the terms and conditions of its Service level agreement, provide service credits. A copy of Zoho SLA can be shared upon request.
• Approach to resilience: Application data is stored on resilient storage that is replicated across data centers. Data in the primary DC is replicated in the secondary in near real time. In case of failure of the primary DC, secondary DC takes over and the operations are carried on smoothly with minimal or no loss of time. Both the centers are equipped with multiple ISPs.; ; We have power back-up, temperature control systems and fire-prevention systems as physical measures to ensure business continuity. These measures help us achieve resilience. In addition to the redundancy of data, we have a business continuity plan for our major operations such as support and infrastructure management.
• Outage reporting: Planned Outages & Maintenance:; The planned outages would be announced/informed to the customers through several channels:; Blog post in community forum, Business emails and Banners in respective services.; Generally, annual maintenance activities would be planned during non-business hours to avoid impact to the services.; Unplanned Outages:; Major unplanned outages will be posted in social media forums & also will be informed to customers through emails. Customers can always refer to the following link on the health status of each service & update on outages.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: We employ technical access controls and internal policies to prohibit employees from arbitrarily accessing user data. We adhere to the principles of least privilege and role-based permissions to minimize the risk of data exposure.; ; Access to production environments is maintained by a central directory and authenticated using a combination of strong passwords, two-factor authentication, and passphrase-protected SSH keys. Furthermore, we facilitate such access through a separate network with stricter rules and hardened devices. Additionally, we log all the operations and audit them periodically.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Management access authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Username or password

Audit information for users

• Access to user activity audit information: Users have access to real-time audit information
• How long user audit data is stored for: At least 12 months
• Access to supplier activity audit information: No audit information available
• How long system logs are stored for: Between 1 month and 6 months

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: BSI (British Standards Institution)
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: 22/08/2022
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: ISO/IEC 27001 is one of the most widely recognized independent international security standards. This certificate is awarded to organizations that comply with ISO's high global standards. Zoho has earned ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certification for Applications, Systems, People, Technology, and Processes
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: Yes
• CSA STAR accreditation date: 28/6/2021
• CSA STAR certification level: Level 1: CSA STAR Self-Assessment
• What the CSA STAR doesn’t cover: Not applicable
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: No
• Cyber essentials plus: No
• Other security certifications: Yes
• Any other security certifications: ISO/IEC 27701

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Security governance certified: Yes
• Security governance standards:
  • ISO/IEC 27001
  • Other
• Other security governance standards: ISO 27001 , ISO 27701 , ISO 27017 , ISO 27018 , IS0 9001 + WCAG 2.1 AA , SOC Type II + HIPAA
• Information security policies and processes: Zoho shall maintain an information security program in accordance with the international standard ISO 27001, which includes technical and organisational security measures, physical measures, as well as policies and procedures to protect customer data processed by Zoho against accidental loss, destruction, or alteration, unauthorised disclosure or access, or unlawful destruction. Zoho maintains documented information security and data privacy policies and requirements, and periodically communicates them to employees responsible for various controls. The policies are reviewed annually to keep them up-to-date. This policy is verified during our third-party audits such as ISO and SOC.

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Configuration and change management approach: We have the Change Management procedures in place that includes the following but not limited to all the changes to the Organization, Applications, Systems, People, Technology, and Processes, information processing facilities that affect information security/privacy. For every change the security impact is analysed. We maintain Audit logs as evidence for all the changes. Fall-back procedures, including procedures and responsibilities for aborting and recovering from unsuccessful changes and unforeseen events are documented and communicated. Zoho shall notify the customer of any changes that may affect the customer in an adverse manner.
• Vulnerability management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Vulnerability management approach: We have a dedicated vulnerability management process that actively scans for security threats using a combination of certified third-party scanning tools and in-house tools, with automated and manual penetration testing efforts. Our security team actively reviews inbound security reports and monitors public mailing-lists, blog posts, wikis to spot security incidents that might affect the company’s infrastructure.; ; Once we identify a vulnerability requiring remediation, it is logged, prioritized according to the severity, and assigned to a owner. We further identify the associated risks and track the vulnerability until it is closed by either patching the vulnerable systems or applying relevant controls.
• Protective monitoring type: Undisclosed
• Protective monitoring approach: We monitor and analyse information gathered from services, internal traffic in our network, and usage of devices and terminals. We record this information in the form of event logs, audit logs, fault logs, administrator logs, and operator logs. These logs are automatically monitored and analyzed to a reasonable extent that helps us identify anomalies such as unusual activity in employees’ accounts or attempts to access customer data. We store these logs in a secure server isolated from full system access, to manage access control centrally and ensure availability. Zoho Desk also has an Audit log feature.
• Incident management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example, CSA CCM v3.0 or ISO/IEC 27035:2011 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Incident management approach: We notify you of the incidents in our environment that apply to you, along with suitable actions you may need to take. We track and close the incidents with appropriate corrective actions. Whenever applicable, we identify, collect, acquire and provide you with necessary evidence in the form of application, audit logs regarding incidents that apply to you. We implement controls to prevent recurrence of similar situations.; ; We respond to the security or privacy incidents you report to us through our official email address with high priority. For general incidents, we will notify users through our blogs, forums, and social media.

Secure development

• Approach to secure software development best practice: Independent review of processes (for example CESG CPA Build Standard, ISO/IEC 27034, ISO/IEC 27001 or CSA CCM v3.0)

Public sector networks

• Connection to public sector networks: No

Social Value

• Social Value:

  Social Value

  • Fighting climate change
  • Covid-19 recovery
  • Tackling economic inequality
  • Equal opportunity
  • Wellbeing

  Fighting climate change

  Zoho Corporation Limited have committed to working towards achieving Net-zero by 2050. Some initiatives for this:; Energy initiatives at Zoho UK’s workspace at Bletchley - The energy supply for the UK office is derived from renewable sources, accounting for 21% of total power consumption. LED retrofits have been implemented to enhance energy efficiency throughout the building.; Renewable energy: We've built a 5 megawatt on-grid solar energy farm at Abinimangalam near Trichy, India. This farm offsets the electricity consumption of our Chennai headquarters and data centre. Designed with a focus on energy efficiency, data centres that support Zoho UK are powered by renewable energy. Further, these data centres are progressing towards integrating with a solar grid to reduce environmental impacts.; Green Energy Procurement - All purchased energy for the data centres is sourced from green energy providers. This enables us to minimise the carbon footprint associated with our operations.; Emissions - The United Kingdom has committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Supporting this pledge, we have taken steps to monitor greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from our operations and implement measures to mitigate them. We account for Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions and exclude Scope 1 emissions as our work does not involve fuel combustion within operational boundaries.; e-mobility: We've switched completely to electric vehicles for movement within the campus.

  Covid-19 recovery

  During the COVD-19 pandemic, Zoho worked to minimize the impact of COVID on our customers, other business and our local community.; Supporting remote work: At the start of the pandemic, Zoho created and distributed a Secure Remote Access Toolkit to help organizations quickly adapt to and work securely during the pandemic. This toolkit was made free for the first 100 days.; Discounts and waivers: To assist organizations impacted by the pandemic, Zoho offered free licenses of flagship products, and offered discounts and waivers on licenses on a case-by-case basis.; Food to the underprivileged: While most of our employees worked from home, we kept the kitchen at our Chennai headquarters running with a skeletal staff to provide food to underprivileged people in the local area, many of whom were impacted due to a loss of employment during the lockdown.; Infrastructure support: We converted one of our office buildings into a temporary COVID-19 ward to accommodate citizens who were required to quarantine.; We ran Covid vaccination camps to our employees, their dependents and the support staff who worked in Zoho.

  Tackling economic inequality

  Zoho has always aimed to tackle economic inequality and give back to the community. This is reflected in the following:; Transnational localism: Coined by our CEO, transnational localism is the philosophy that underpins our staffing and office location plans. Instead of focusing on crowded urban centres, we've been opening spoke offices in smaller towns and villages. The goal is to improve local infrastructure, boost the economy of these smaller towns and villages, and provide more employment opportunity. ; Local hiring: As part of our philosophy of transnational localism, we believe in hiring locally for each spoke office. This helps promote local talent and bring high-paying jobs back to the villages and towns where we are based.; Zoho Schools of Learning: Started in 2004, Zoho Schools of Learning (formerly Zoho University) provides training and employment for high school students and those holding or pursuing diplomas. Those inducted into Zoho Schools are trained by industry experts in the fields of their choice - technology, business, or design. The students are also trained in social skills. The course is completely free and students are paid a monthly stipend throughout its duration. Graduates from this program are automatically inducted into Zoho Corp.

  Equal opportunity

  As part of our efforts to tackle inequality, Zoho Corporation Limited have made efforts to provide equal opportunities and tackle workforce inequality.; Helping women restart their careers: Zoho Schools of Learning has begun a program called Marupadi. Aimed at helping women restart their tech careers after a break, Marupadi is a 3 month program comprising a mix of lectures, experiential learning and internships. At the end of the program, the candidates who've successfully completed training get to sit for exclusive face-to-face interviews for jobs at Zoho Corp.; Diversity and inclusion in hiring: All roles at Zoho Corporation are open to all people irrespective of gender, sex, race, ability, or religion. We hire solely based on skill and have a diverse team.; We eschew discrimination on any grounds, including age, colour, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, and other unique characteristics that define our associates. Instead, we espouse, fairness, striving to ensure that a merit-based approach allows wage parity among associates with comparable experiences and responsibilities, irrespective of their gender.; Accessible campus: Our campus has been designed to be accessible to all, including differently-abled colleagues. The layout design includes ramps and lifts in every building, allowing ease of mobility and access to all.; On-campus crèche and daycare: In our India office, we support new parents within the organization by providing them with on-campus creche, day-care and play school. ; Apart from the usual shuttle facilities, special cab service covering a certain distance is given for women during their third trimester.

  Wellbeing

  Zoho Corporation Limited adheres to industry standards in remuneration, ensuring that compensation is equitable across genders. Recognising the diverse needs of our people, we provide essential support such as parental leave, aligning with our efforts to build an organisation that values and cares for every individual.; We have trained medical practitioners and a dedicated medical clinic available on all days of the week. Employees can freely avail their services.; The Hazard Identification & Risk Assessment (HIRA) Framework is followed rigorously at the premises.; We provide in-house counselling to our employees for free via our team of trained and qualified therapists. ; We organize free medical check-ups for our employees on an annual basis.; We organize regular blood donation camps in association with various blood banks.; We have open house sessions conducted by the CEO periodically where employees can raise any concerns.; Day Care facilities for employee kids; The compliance monitoring framework involves ongoing reviews and enhancements of occupational health programmes, guided by feedback, data analysis, and emerging best practices.

Pricing

• Price: £16 to £40 a user a month
• Discount for educational organisations: No
• Free trial available: Yes
• Description of free trial: The Zoho Desk free edition can accommodate 3 agents for unlimited period. It provides access to the email, help center, feedback widget, and web forms. Users can handle customer tickets, automate repetitive tasks with macros, collaborate with colleagues, monitor agent KPIs, and set up a customer portal at zero cost.
• Link to free trial: https://www.zoho.eu/desk/signup.html

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at zohouk-gcloud@eu.zohocorp.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.