Zia Models FAQ — Zoho CRM AI Writing and Productivity Features Explained

Zia Models — Frequently Asked Questions

Zia Models brings generative AI into Zoho CRM — supporting your team with email drafting, content rephrasing, translation, and productivity tasks such as prospect research and data validation. This article addresses the questions administrators and users most commonly raise when evaluating or deploying the feature.

General Availability

Which Zoho CRM editions include Zia Models?

Zia Models is available on the Professional edition and above — this includes Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate plans.

Which data centres support Zia Models?

The feature is supported across the US, EU, IN, AU, CA, and JP data centres. Organisations hosted in any of these regions can activate Zia Models.

Can portal users access Zia Models?

No. Zia Models is available exclusively to internal CRM users. Portal users do not have access to any of the generative AI capabilities within the feature.

Setup and Configuration

Who can enable or disable Zia Models?

Only CRM administrators have permission to enable or disable Zia Models for the organisation. The configuration path is Setup > Zia > Models. Individual users cannot override the administrator's setting.

How do I enable the Zoho Hosted LLM option?

From Setup > Zia > Models, select Yes, Deploy under the Zoho Hosted LLM option. No external API key or third-party account is required — Zoho's own infrastructure powers the model.

Where do Zia Models suggestions appear for users?

Suggestions surface in two places within the CRM:

  • Descriptive text fields — long-form fields such as descriptions and notes on record detail pages
  • Email compose and reply windows — when drafting or responding to emails from within Zoho CRM

Capabilities

What can Zia Models help with?

The feature covers two broad areas:

  • Communication assistance: composing emails, rephrasing content, translating text, summarising long passages, and adjusting grammar and tone
  • Productivity enhancements: researching prospects, extracting structured data from unstructured text, and validating that records are complete and accurate

Can users control the style and length of the generated content?

Yes. Users can select a tone from six options — professional, casual, humorous, descriptive, narrative, or sarcastic — and choose from three length settings: short, medium, or long. Generated content can also be edited directly, regenerated with a fresh prompt, copied for use elsewhere, or repurposed into a different format.

Privacy and Data Handling

Does Zia Models send our data to third parties?

When using the Zoho Hosted LLM, no data is sent to any third-party provider. All processing occurs within Zoho's own infrastructure. This makes it the recommended option for organisations operating under GDPR — including UK and Irish businesses subject to UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Is conversation history stored?

No. Zia Models does not retain conversation history between sessions. Each interaction is treated as stateless — content generated in one session is not carried forward or used to train the model on your data.

Compliance

Is Zia Models GDPR-compliant?

Zoho's approach to GDPR includes not recording personal data without consent, giving administrators control over user preferences, and allowing organisations to request data deletion. The Zoho Hosted LLM option supports this posture by keeping all processing within Zoho's infrastructure. Organisations should review their own GDPR obligations with their Data Protection Officer to confirm how Zia Models fits within their specific compliance framework.

Is Zia Models available for health or HIPAA-regulated data?

No. Zia Models is not available for health-related fields, and it does not process fields that contain PHI (Protected Health Information) with encryption. Organisations operating under HIPAA should not enable Zia Models for records containing regulated health data.

Usage and Limits

Are there usage limits on Zia Models?

Usage limits may apply depending on your Zoho CRM subscription tier. Administrators should review their current plan details within the Zoho CRM setup area for information on any applicable limits for their organisation.

Need help? 1 Cloud Consultants can help you evaluate, configure, and deploy Zia Models within your Zoho CRM environment — ensuring it aligns with your data governance and compliance requirements. Book a discovery call with 1 Cloud Consultants.