Microsoft Teams integration

Microsoft Teams integration

Discussions happen before, during, and after joint tasks to maintain alignment on objectives. A sales team's discussions can take various forms, such as in-person meetings, forum announcements, emails, notes in CRM records, and chat tools.

Zoho CRM's integration with Microsoft Teams enhances collaboration for sales and customer-facing teams, allowing for record sharing, real-time notifications, and staying informed on sales trends to aid in closing deals.

With this integration, you can:
  1. Share CRM records with a user or a channel in Microsoft Teams
  2. Distribute charts from your dashboard to users or channels in Microsoft Teams
  3. Get automatic notifications via Microsoft Teams for events in CRM
  4. Access CRM data within Microsoft Teams
Availability
Permission Required
Users with the administrator profile can set up this integration.


Enable Microsoft Teams Integration

Admins can enable Microsoft Teams integration in Zoho CRM to allow CRM users to share data to conversations and channels in Microsoft Teams.

To enable Microsoft Teams integration in Zoho CRM
  1. Navigate to Setup > Marketplace > Microsoft.
  2. Click the Teams tab.
  3. Click Enable.


Note
  1. Only users with Microsoft work accounts will be able to use this integration. Microsoft personal accounts cannot be used here.
  2. Once the admin has enabled the integration, users will need to authorize it the first time they take an action, like sharing a record through Teams.

  3. At any point in time, a user can link their Zoho CRM account to only one Microsoft Teams account. You'll have to unlink the accounts before making a connection to a new account. Instructions for how to do so will be available in the popup itself.

Once enabled, users and admins can:

Collaborate with peers in Teams

Share CRM data with peers via Teams
You can provide context for a Microsoft Teams conversation by sharing CRM records with your colleagues or in channels. Records can be shared from any module that has a business card view.

To share a record with a user or a channel on Teams
  1. Click on a record that you want to share.
  2. In the record detail page, click the More options icon, then click Share via Microsoft Teams.

  3. In the pop-up, do the following:
  1. Enter the Message that needs to be posted along with the business card view.
  2. Choose if you want to Notify To Users or Channels.
  3. If you're notifying a user, select the required user.
    If you're notifying a channel, select the required team and channel.
  4. Click Send.

Share CRM dashboard components with peers via Teams
Sometimes, internal discussions go beyond specific contacts or deals and cover topics such as target achievement and pipeline status. To provide more context in these situations, you can share dashboard components with a user or to a channel.

To share a dashboard component with a user or a channel on Teams
  1. Hover over the dashboard component under the Analytics module.
  2. Click the More options icon, then click Share via Microsoft Teams.

  3. In the pop-up, do the following:
  1. Enter the Message that needs to be posted along with the dashboard component.
  2. Choose if you want to Notify To Users or Channels.
  3. If you're notifying a user, select the required user.
    If you're notifying a channel, select the required team and channel.
  4. Click Send.

Receive automated notifications via Teams

Automated CRM notifications assist users in staying informed about crucial events in real-time. This includes:
  1. Receiving immediate updates on leads for prompt follow-ups by sales teams
  2. Progress notifications on leads and opportunities for sales managers
  3. Task reminders for sales representatives to remember important actions like follow-up calls or meetings, and so on.
Through the Microsoft Teams integration, users can now receive these notifications via Teams. You can trigger notifications related to workflow rules, signals, zia anomaly detection, and CommandCenter.

Note
We use the CRM Bot in MS Teams to send automated notifications to the users. If the user unsubscribes the Bot, they will not receive further notifications.
Trigger notifications through Workflow Rules
Workflow rules can be utilized to automate regular actions. For example, you can configure a workflow rule to send email alerts when a deal reaches a specific stage. By integrating with Microsoft Teams, workflow rules can now send notifications to users and channels on Teams.

Note
  1. We use CRM Bot to send automated Microsoft Teams notifications to the users. If the user unsubscribes the Bot, they will not receive further notifications.
  2. You can configure up to five Microsoft Teams notifications/condition.
To send Microsoft Teams notifications as part of a workflow rule
  1. Navigate to Setup > Automation > Workflow Rules.
  2. In the Workflow Rules page, select a rule to which you want to add Microsoft Teams notification as an instant action.
  3. Under Instant Actions or Scheduled Actions, click + Action > Notify > via Microsoft Teams.

  4. In the pop-up, enter the following details:
  5. Enter the Message that needs to be posted.
  6. Choose if you want to Notify To Users or Channels.
  7. If you're notifying a user, select the required user.
    If you're notifying a channel, select the required team and channel.
  8. Click Save.

Enable Signals notifications via Microsoft Teams
Customers reach out through various channels, such as email or surveys. With Zoho CRM and Microsoft Teams integration, you can receive real-time Signals notifications on both platforms. This allows for efficient customer follow-up while collaborating on Teams or working in the CRM.

To enable Signals notifications via Microsoft Teams
  1. In Zoho CRM, navigate to Setup > Channels > Signals.
  2. In the Signals Settings tab, under the Microsoft Teams column, select or clear check-boxes for the respective communication services.

    For example, if you select the Missed checkbox under Call, you will begin receiving notifications on Microsoft Teams for every missed call in Zoho CRM.
  3. Once you have completed the settings, click Save at the bottom of the page.

Enable CommandCenter notifications via Microsoft Teams
Journey Builder in CommandCenter allow you to model the journeys that customers take with respect to your business and allow you to automate actions based on what the customer does. One of these actions is notifying users via different channels. After enabling the Microsoft Teams integration, you can receive these notifications via Teams.

To enable Journey Builder notifications via Microsoft Teams
  1. In Zoho CRM, navigate to Setup > Experience Center > CommandCenter.
  2. Click on
    1. an existing journey or
    2. Create Journey if you want to create a new customer journey.
  3. Click on a state or transition for which you'd like to receive notifications via Teams.
  4. Click the Actions tab in the menu on the right.
  5. Depending on whether you've selected a state or a transition, click Add/Add Action under Instant Actions.
  6. Select Microsoft Teams Notification.
  7. In the popup that appears, enter the following details:
    1. Enter the Message that needs to be posted.
    2. Choose if you want to Notify To Users or Channels.
    3. If you're notifying a user, select the required user.
      If you're notifying a channel, select the required team and channel.
    4. Click Save.

Enable Zia notifications via Microsoft Teams
Zia, Zoho CRM's AI assistant, offers a range of AI-powered features to enhance CRM user productivity and business strategy. Zia can send notifications for anomalies, such as alerting you to a notable decrease in closure rates. With the integration of Microsoft Teams with CRM, you can receive Zia notifications within Microsoft Teams.

To enable Zia notifications via Microsoft Teams
  1. In Zoho CRM, navigate to Setup > Zia > Notifications.
  2. Click the tab whose notifications you want to receive via Microsoft Teams.
  3. Hover over the notification and click the Edit icon that appears under the Notify Via column.
  4. In the Select Channel popup, enable the Microsoft Teams checkbox.
  5. Click Save.
Note
You can create custom anomaly detectors (available as dashboard components). If you subscribe to notifications for an anomaly detector, you can choose to receive those notifications via Microsoft Teams.

Use commands to fetch CRM information within Microsoft Teams

During a conversation with your peers, you might need to access a specific CRM record.

By integrating Zoho CRM with Microsoft Teams, you can easily retrieve the necessary record without leaving the chat. Commands can be used within Microsoft Teams to fetch CRM records in the Leads, Contacts, Accounts, and Deals modules.

The syntax for these commands is Module [keyword] where:
  1. Module can be Leads, Contacts, Accounts, or Deals.
  2. Keyword is the record name.
Following are the chat commands that can be entered on Teams:
Purpose
Command
Example
Fetch a record from Leads module
Leads [value]
Leads Smith
Fetch a record from Contacts module
Contacts [value]
Contacts Watson
Fetch a record from Deals module
Deals [value]
Deals Trulhar
Fetch a record from Accounts module
Accounts [value]
Accounts Zylker

To enter a command
  1. Go to the CRM bot's window in Microsoft Teams or to a channel.
  2. In the message box, enter one of the commands seen above. For example,
    Leads [value]. If you are posting in a channel, you'll have to tag the CRM bot first.
  3. You will be offered a list of matching results to choose from. A business card view of the record is displayed.



Note
  1. Commands are only supported in the Leads, Accounts, Contacts, and Deals modules.
  2. Only 10 results will be shown.
  3. Note that the name of the module has to be in the plural form. For example, "Leads", "Contacts", "Accounts". The singular form of the module name is not supported in the commands.

Disable Microsoft Teams Integration

You can deactivate the entire integration by clicking on the Disable button. On deactivating, all the options in Zoho CRM to share via Microsoft Teams will no longer be available.

To deactivate the Microsoft Teams integration
  1. Log in to Zoho CRM with Administrator privileges.
  2. Go to Setup > Marketplace > Microsoft.
  3. Click the Teams tab.
  4. Click Disable.
Note
  1. All authorizations between CRM & Microsoft Teams will be removed when you do any of the following actions:
    1. Disable the integration in the CRM
    2. Uninstall the CRM bot in Teams
    3. Invoke the Revoke option in Teams
  2. When you disable the integration in any of the above ways, some Teams-related configurations will be removed completely. These will have to be reconfigured when you re-enable the integration. These include:
    1. Workflow notifications
    2. CommandCenter notifications
  3. Other Teams-related configurations will not be available when you disable the app. However, when you re-enable the integration and authorize the Microsoft Teams account, they will be restored to the state they were in at the time of disabling the integration. These include:
    1. Signals
    2. Zia notifications
    3. Anomaly detector notifications

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