How to use IBM App Connect with Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM is a cloud-based customer relationship management solution that helps you manage all aspects of customer relations.

Supported product and API versions

To find out which product and API versions this connector supports, see Detailed System Requirements on the IBM Support page.

Connecting to the Zoho CRM

Complete the connection fields that you see in the App Connect Designer Connect > Applications and APIs page (previously the Catalog page) or flow editor. If necessary, work with your Zoho CRM administrator to obtain these values.

Zoho CRM connection fields:

OAUTH 2.0 AUTH CODE: Server URL: Select the URL for the API server that makes runtime calls.
Tip: To determine the domain you're accessing Zoho CRM from, go to the Zoho CRM web app and check the URL. For example, if the URL contains crm.zoho.com, then you're accessing it from the .com domain.; Token base URL: The token URL value relative to the server URL. Select a server URL to use as the base for the token URL.
Note: The domain extensions for the server URL and the token base URL must remain the same.

BASIC OAUTH: Server URL: Select the URL for the API server that makes runtime calls.
Tip: To determine the domain you're accessing Zoho CRM from, go to the Zoho CRM web app and check the URL. For example, if the URL contains crm.zoho.com, then you're accessing it from the .com domain.; Token base URL: The token URL value relative to the server URL. Select a server URL to use as the base for the token URL.
Note: The domain extensions for the server URL and the token base URL must remain the same.; Application client ID: Specify the unique client identifier to use for authentication.; Application client secret: Specify the client secret to use for authentication.; Access token: The access token that is generated from the application client ID and client secret.; Refresh token: The refresh token that is generated from the application client ID and client secret.; Allow self-signed certificates: Set to true or false. Set to true if you want to be able to accept self-signed certificates that are trusted and used only in a nonproduction environment. The default is false.; Override server URL: Required if you want to connect to an endpoint in a private network by using the private network client, or if you want to override the server URL. Specify an override value for the host and port for the connector in the format <http or https>://<host_name>:<port>. If you are not using the private network client or do not require an override, leave this field blank.

To obtain the connection values for Zoho CRM, see Obtaining connection values for Zoho CRM.

To connect to a Zoho CRM endpoint from the App Connect Designer Applications and APIs page for the first time, expand Zoho CRM, then click Connect. For more information, see Managing accounts.

Tip:

Before you use the account that is created in App Connect in a flow, rename the account to something meaningful that helps you to identify it. To rename the account on the Applications and APIs page, select the account, open its options menu (⋮), then click Rename Account.

General considerations

Before you use App Connect Designer with Zoho CRM, take note of the following considerations:

You can see lists of the trigger events and actions that are available on the Applications and APIs page of the App Connect Designer.
For some applications, the events and actions depend on the environment and whether the connector supports configurable events and dynamic discovery of actions. If the application supports configurable events, you see a Show more configurable events link under the events list. If the application supports dynamic discovery of actions, you see a Show more link under the actions list.
If you are using multiple accounts for an application, the set of fields that is displayed when you select an action for that application can vary for different accounts. In the flow editor, some applications always provide a curated set of static fields for an action. Other applications use dynamic discovery to retrieve the set of fields that are configured on the instance that you are connected to. For example, if you have two accounts for two instances of an application, the first account might use settings that are ready for immediate use. However, the second account might be configured with extra custom fields.

Events and Actions

Zoho CRM events

These events are for changes in this application that trigger a flow to start completing the actions in the flow.

Show more configurable events: Events that are shown by default are pre-configured by using optimized connectivity. More items are available after you configure events that can trigger a flow by polling this application for new or updated objects.

Zoho CRM actions

Your flow completes these actions on this application.

Objects	Action	Description
Accounts	Retrieve accounts	Retrieves accounts
	Retrieve accounts with advanced filters	Retrieves accounts with more search filters
	Create account	Creates a new account
Campaigns	Retrieve campaigns	Retrieves campaigns
	Retrieve campaigns with advanced filters	Retrieves campaigns with more search filters
	Create campaign	Creates a new campaign
Contacts	Retrieve contacts	Retrieves contacts
	Retrieve contacts with advanced filters	Retrieves contacts with more search filters
	Create contact	Creates a new contact
Deals	Retrieve deals	Retrieves deals
	Retrieve deals with advanced filters	Retrieves deals with more search filters
	Create deal	Creates a new deal
Leads	Retrieve leads	Retrieves leads
	Retrieve leads with advanced filters	Retrieves leads with more search filters
	Convert lead	Converts the existing contact to a lead
	Create lead	Creates a new lead
	Retrieve lead conversion options	Retrieves options for converting the lead
Organization	Retrieve organization	Retrieves organization information
Users	Retrieve users	Retrieves users information

Examples

Dashboard tile for a template that uses Zoho CRM

Use templates to quickly create flows for Zoho CRM

Learn how to use App Connect templates to quickly create flows that complete actions on Zoho CRM. For example, open the Templates gallery, and then search for Zoho CRM.

Learn more

Use IBM® App Connect to build flows that integrate with Zoho CRM.

Read the blog in the IBM Community to learn how to create a deal in Zoho CRM for each new paid customer in Square. Click Read the blog to go to the blog.

Read the blog