VENDORiQ: Zoho Reveals the Shape of Things to Come with Agentic AI for Tier-Two ERP

Why It’s Important

Zoho’s announcement of an agentic platform strongly indicates where AI is heading and how organisations will develop and deploy AI capabilities in the coming 5 years.  IBRS has long predicted that most AI will be embedded in all core business solutions: no matter the size of the vendor or its position in the market.

Everything Zoho has announced is already well underway with tier-one CRM player Salesforce.  IBRS expects Salesforce to continue to outpace its tier-two competitors in the delivery of purpose-built industrial agents. This is due to the sheer size of the development community and robust marketplace. This will result in many more highly specialised industrial agents being developers across a wide range of industries. 

However, this does not mean that the gap between the platforms will be insurmountable. The Zoho platform looks – at least from the documentation – to offer most of the core technology capabilities that Salesforce and Microsoft are offering.  

In short, agentic AI will quickly move from being seen as a competitive feature to being a fundamental part of all core solutions. 

Zoho’s agentic strength lies in its developer-led, business-process-focused approach: pre-built agents for immediate deployment, a development studio for customisation, and a marketplace for the distribution of specialised agents. IBRS believes this will be the model by which more than 90 per cent of agentic AI solutions (which will include combinations of machine learning, generative AI and graph databases) will be accessed by staff by year-end 2027.

However, the immediate development of AI agents will be driven mainly by in-house teams. Zoho Agent Studio’s no-code/low-code approach will allow agent development by semi-professional and sole developers working inside mid-sized organistions. The studio allows organisations to create custom agents without extensive technical expertise. This is particularly significant as it enables businesses to develop industry-specific solutions while leveraging Zoho’s extensive data model and technology stack. 

Agent Marketplaces (from all vendors with these) serve as both a distribution platform and an ecosystem for AI innovation. It allows organisations to access pre-built agents while enabling partners and developers to create and monetise specialised AI solutions. This marketplace approach, integrated with Zoho’s broader ‘Zoho One’ ecosystem, provides a significant advantage over traditional AI implementations by offering ready-to-deploy solutions that can be customised for specific needs.

Of particular interest is Zoho’s unified core business solutions and data stack providing advantages in security and privacy compliance, crucial considerations for enterprise AI deployment. The platform’s ability to combine agents with complementary skillsets to create cross-functional agents capable of handling complex workflows is particularly innovative, enabling sophisticated process automation across organisational boundaries.

However, it should be noted that Zoho has a history of offering its customers products in ‘early release’, well before they are ready for production. Notable examples are Zoho LandingPage, Zoho Tables and Zoho RPA (robot process automation). Zoho customers looking to adopt Zoho Agent Studio should assume that many of the features needed for a comprehensive solution will take time to become available, and integrations may be lacking in the first and possibly second release.

This is a common issue with mid-tier core solution providers: while they offer excellent value for money for their well-established products, the execution of new features can sometimes challenge their clients.

Who’s Impacted

• CIOs: Evaluate available agentic platforms against existing AI investments, particularly focusing on the integration capabilities with your current technology stack and data security requirements. Consider adopting a ‘wait and watch’ position and allow core solution vendors and their partners to develop and refine agents, rather than investing in near-term development efforts.
• Enterprise Architects: Assess the potential of Agent Studio for developing custom AI solutions and establish governance frameworks for agent development and deployment.
• Development Teams: Explore the low-code/no-code capabilities of whatever Agent Studio is available in your core solutions and develop expertise in creating custom agents.
• Business Unit Leaders: Identify processes suitable for pre-built agents and plan for custom agent development using your core solutions agent studios.
• Security Officers: Review the security implications of deploying autonomous agents and establish appropriate controls and monitoring mechanisms.

What’s Next

• Conduct a comprehensive assessment of your core solution’s pre-built agents against your current business processes to identify immediate opportunities for deployment.
• If looking for a new core platform (CRM, analytics, etc) include tier-two vendors such as Zoho in the consideration. With agentic AI, these lower-cost platforms are rapidly evolving to streamline highly nuanced custom business processes.  In short, AI will help close the practical functionality gap between the leading core solutions and the lower-cost alternatives.
• Establish a centre of excellence for agent development using Agent Studio, focusing on industry-specific use cases and process automation opportunities.
• Develop a governance framework for agent deployment, including security controls, performance monitoring, and impact assessment mechanisms.
• Create a roadmap for transitioning from generic AI assistants to industry-specific agents, leveraging your core solution’s marketplace and agent studio development capabilities.