·
3 minute read
The Brief: Zoho Corporation has announced the expansion of its AI capabilities with the introduction of Zia LLM, a proprietary large language model developed in-house. The company also launched Zia Agents, which includes over 25 prebuilt AI-powered agents, and Zia Agent Studio, a no-code builder designed for deploying agents across Zoho’s ecosystem. Other updates include a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enhances interoperability and a dedicated Agent Marketplace. These developments are aimed at supporting agentic AI workflows while maintaining data privacy and operational flexibility.
Source: ZohoZoho Expands AI Portfolio with Zia LLM and New Agent Tools
Analyst Perspective: With the introduction of Zia LLM and expanded agent tools, Zoho is enhancing the operational impact of contextual AI. Zia LLM is trained with business applications in mind and benchmarks well against similar open-source models. Its local deployment across Zoho’s data centers enables companies to maintain control over their data while accessing modern AI services.
The addition of over 25 AI agents, available through the Zia Agent Marketplace, simplifies adoption for teams in sales, support, and analytics. Tools like the Revenue Growth Specialist and Deal Analyzer provide direct support for common business tasks. These developments collectively improve workflow efficiency while retaining user control and data privacy.
A particularly notable aspect of Zoho's recent announcement is the development of its proprietary Zia LLM. This strategic decision to build an in-house large language model, rather than relying on third-party solutions, is a distinctive move in the current market. It aligns with Zoho's historical commitment to long-term investment and vertical integration, providing a foundational technology that enhances contextual relevance across its extensive suite of over 55 applications.
This approach not only ensures tighter integration and data privacy but also serves to differentiate Zoho's offerings by providing a tailored AI layer that is deeply embedded within its ecosystem, ultimately setting its solutions apart from competitors. Below let’s dive a little deeper in multiple aspects of this solution's update from Zoho.
Zia LLM Developed In-House for Business Contexts
Zoho’s launch of Zia LLM introduces a proprietary language model built from the ground up using NVIDIA’s AI platform. It includes three versions - 1.3B, 2.6B, and 7B parameters - each optimized for specific contextual applications. The models are designed for tasks such as summarization, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), structured data handling, and code generation. This internal approach enhances model relevance for Zoho's app suite and ensures data remains within Zoho infrastructure, supporting user privacy and reducing external dependencies. Zia LLM will be deployed across Zoho's data centers in the U.S., Europe, and India, and is currently undergoing internal testing before wider availability.
Source: ZohoReady-to-Use Agents Support Business Workflows
Zoho has launched over 25 prebuilt Zia AI agents through the Agent Marketplace. These agents are embedded within existing products to support use cases across sales, customer service, data analysis, and hiring. Tools like the Revenue Growth Specialist, Deal Analyzer, and Candidate Screener help automate targeted tasks and decision-making. A redesigned Ask Zia now supports data engineers and analysts in building pipelines, analyzing reports, and creating dashboards interactively. These AI-powered agents provide an immediate operational layer that organizations can implement without customization, expediting deployment and reducing integration time.
Source: ZohoZia Agent Studio Enables Custom Agent Deployment
Zia Agent Studio allows users to build custom AI agents without code, while also supporting low-code development for more complex scenarios. It offers direct access to over 700 predefined actions from Zoho’s ecosystem. Agents can operate independently or be triggered through user interactions and automation rules. Once deployed, these agents can act as digital employees, maintaining the same access controls as human users. Admins are equipped to monitor performance, conduct behavioral audits, and manage impact. This self-service model extends agentic AI capabilities to end users and developers alike, regardless of technical skill level.
Source: ZohoMCP Support Enhances Third-Party Interoperability
Zoho’s implementation of the Model Context Protocol (MCP) provides a standardized method for third-party agents to interact with Zoho apps. The internal MCP server exposes a library of actions from over 15 applications, including Zoho Flow and Zoho Analytics. Access respects organizational permissions, enabling secure cross-application operations. As additional apps are onboarded, MCP will further streamline integrations between Zoho and external AI clients. Future roadmap elements include support for the Agent2Agent (A2A) protocol, allowing Zoho agents to collaborate with each other and with agents from other platforms.
Zoho’s Focus on Practical, Private AI Adoption
Zoho’s new AI developments highlight a clear focus on data privacy, user flexibility, and practical implementation. Through building its own language model, the company ensures tight integration with its suite of over 55 applications while retaining customer data within its own infrastructure. The Zia Agent Studio and Marketplace lower the barrier to AI adoption with both prebuilt and customizable agents available for immediate deployment. Support for MCP and future A2A capabilities signals Zoho’s openness to broader AI ecosystems while retaining user control and compliance.
This strategic and comprehensive investment in proprietary AI capabilities represents a bold market move, positioning Zoho and its customers for significant long-term benefits in contextual and privacy-preserving AI adoption.
The Collab Collective is bullish on this trajectory and will continue to closely monitor the evolution and real-world impact of these developments.
