Configuring built-in telephony in Zoho CRM

This guide covers the information needed for a CRM admin to set up the built-in Telephony feature in Zoho CRM.

Built-In Telephony does not support outgoing calls to China.

Once you've identified your company's telephony needs, you can compare telephony providers based on key features, Zoho CRM integration, cost, and support. Alongside the many great options available, Zoho CRM offers a built-in telephony system that allows you to handle calls, payments, and recordings without relying on external providers.

If you've decided to use our built-in telephony system, the following sections will help you set it up in your CRM account.

Availability

Users with Administrator permission can set up this feature.

Setting up built-in telephony

Built-in telephony in Zoho CRM is powered by Twilio's telecommunication infrastructure.  

Setting up built-in telephony consists of the following steps:

1. Buying a number
   
2. Adding telephony users and configuring outbound calling
   
3. Setting up incoming call routing
   

Step 1: Buying a number

The CRM admin must first purchase a number to get started. To do this, the admin will have to enter details like:

1. country
   
2. region
   
3. number type (Local, mobile, or toll-free)
   

These details will determine the cost of buying a number.

To get an idea of the pricing of phone numbers, see Built-in Telephony Voice Pricing.

To buy a number

1. Navigate to Setup > Channels > Telephony.
   
2.  In the How would you like to Proceed? page, click Set Up Now.
   
   
3.  In the Getting started page, click Buy a number.
   
   
4.  In the Buy a number pop-up:
   
1. Choose the Country.
   
2. Select the Number Type as Local, Mobile, or Toll Free from the dropdown list. Please note that all options may not be available for the country you've chosen.
   
3. Depending on the number type, you may have to select a Region or fill in an Address.
   
4. Choose a number from the Available Phone Numbers dropdown and click Next.
   
   
5. Verify the purchase summary and click Proceed.
   
   
6.  In the Confirm Your Purchase pop-up, click Buy Phone Number.
   
   
   

Note

1. Each organization can buy and maintain multiple phone numbers. The purchase and maintenance of each number will be charged monthly.
   
2. Each built-in telephony transaction (purchase of number, making a call, or upgrading recording storage) will be charged in credits.
   
3. The value of 1 credit is 1 USD. The price for purchasing credits will be converted into your local currency. Click here to learn more about pricing.
   
4. To get started with built-in telephony, admins will have to buy credits. Credits will then be deducted from the organization's built-in telephony wallet for each activity. You can auto-recharge credits if you wish.
   
5. You can track the number of remaining credits on the Built-In Telephony page.
   
   
   

Step 2: Adding telephony users and configuring outbound calling

Once you've purchased a number along with the credits to use it, you'll see the Built-In Telephony page. Different aspects of the feature are neatly organized into tabs for easy access and configuration.

These tabs include:

1. Telephony Plan Details: This is where you manage credits and storage. You can:
   
1. Purchase additional credits and set up auto-recharge
   
2. Access credit usage analytics
   
3. View the history of your credit purchases
   
4. View recording storage usage and manage your storage plan (for your call recordings)
   
2. Phone Numbers: This tab holds the list of all your purchased numbers. You can add and delete phone numbers and associate them to call flows from here.
   
3. Call Flows: A call flow is the process through which an incoming call is handled. The Call Flows tab will list all such flows configured for your organization. You can create, modify, and delete call flows from here.
   
4. Telephony Users: All the CRM users who need to use the Telephony service can be managed here. You can add and remove telephony users. You'll also be able to filter them by telephony groups (collections of telephony users).
   
5. Telephony Groups: You can group your telephony users into groups to make it easier to route incoming calls to the right person. This is the tab where you manage such groups.
   
6. Calls History: All the incoming, outgoing, and missed calls will be listed here. You can download this list as a csv file.
   

For now, let's add users who can receive and make calls using the number you've just purchased. This step lets you determine who can make outgoing calls using which number. There is no limit to the number of users who can be associated with a phone number.

Note: If you do not want to display the phone number during an outgoing call, you can mask the number using a custom caller ID so that if the prospect or customer calls you back, they will be redirected to the dedicated support number.

To add a telephony user

1. In the Built-In Telephony page, click the Telephony Users tab.
   
2. Click Add User.
   
   
   
   
3. In the Create Telephony User popup, select the User.
   
   
4. If you want to add this user to a Telephony Group, you can select the group from the dropdown list.
   
5. If you want the user to be able to make outbound calls, select the Allow to make outgoing calls checkbox.
   
6. If you want to record calls made by this user, select the Record outgoing calls made by this user checkbox.
   
7. Select the Outgoing caller IDs that must be available for this user.
   
8. If you want to allow the user to add custom caller IDs, select the Allow to add custom outgoing caller IDs checkbox.
   
9. Click Save.
   

You've successfully added the first telephony user in the CRM! Repeat the same set of steps for other users.

Step 3: Setting up incoming call routing

When a call is received in a number, it is automatically routed to the right person on your team based on its associated call flow. Call flows are powerful as they help you route incoming calls through well designed routes that minimize hold times, add layers of self-service using IVRs, make announcements, queue customers, and so on. To learn more about call flows, see Call Flows in Built-in Telephony.

If a number is not associated with a call flow, incoming calls will be rejected for that number.

To create a call flow

1. In the Built-In Telephony page, click the Call Flows tab.
   
2. Click Create Call Flow.
   
   
   
   
3. In the Create Call Flow popup, enter the Name for the flow and add a Description.
   
   
4. Select the Associated Phone Numbers from the dropdown list. Calls coming in to these numbers will adhere to the process you establish for this flow.
   
5. Click Next.
   
6. You are now in the Call Flow builder. This is where you design the routes your incoming call should take.
   
   
   
   
7. Drag and drop the required states from the left pane, configure them, and connect them. To learn more about the available states, see: States in call flows.
   
   
8. Click Publish.
   

The flow is now enabled for the associated numbers.

Note

1. You can save the flow as a draft by clicking the Save as Draft button.
   
   
2. If you've already published a flow, you can compare the draft with the published version by selecting their respective tabs in the Call Flow builder.
   
   
   
   
3. To deactivate the flow, toggle the Status in the Calls Flow tab.
   
   
   

You can integrate multiple vendors with your CRM. To learn how to do this, see Integrating Multiple Telephony Providers in an Organization.

See also

1. Telephony - an Introduction (For a general introduction to telephony in Zoho CRM)
   
2. Working with built-in telephony (For admins who've to maintain the built-in telephony system)
   
3. Using built-in telephony (For non-admins who use the telephony system as part of their work)
   
4. Workflows for calls (For admins looking to automate follow-ups and other actions based on calls)
   
5. Call analytics (A dashboard in the Voice of Customer feature)
   
6. Zia for calls (For call transcription, sentiment analysis, and more)

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