Zoho rolls out AI model Zia to meet the data needs for businesses

Technology company Zoho Corporation on Friday unveiled its new Large Language Model (LLM) to support business needs in Kenya.

As part of the Zoholics conference, the Indian multinational company announced the rollout of Zia LLM, an AI model trained to meet the business needs of Zoho’s clients.

Zia LLM is designed to process data securely on Zoho’s servers, helping businesses get the benefits of AI without sharing data with third-party providers, hence securing businesses.

According to Zoho Corporation, Zia LLM can handle tasks like summarising data, extracting key information, generating code, and supporting decision-making.

Zoho says the model is “right-sized” to balance performance with efficiency, and future upgrades are already planned.

During the annual conference, Zoho also unveiled Zia Agent Studio, a no-code platform that will allow businesses to create their own AI “digital employees.”

These agents can automate tasks such as screening job candidates, analysing sales deals, or suggesting new revenue opportunities.

Zoho Corporation says over 25 agents are now available on the Zia Agent Marketplace, which businesses can deploy immediately. These tools aim to save time, improve accuracy, and let teams focus on higher-value work.

Zoho’s Country Head for Kenya, Veerakumar Natarajan, says the organisation has recorded a 39% rise in revenue from the Kenyan market.

 “Zoho’s growth in Kenya has been driven by demand from sectors like finance, telecommunications, manufacturing, real estate, and retail,” said Natarajan.

Its most popular products locally include Zoho One, Workplace, CRM Plus, CRM, Books, and Zoho Desk.

The company chief also remarked that Zoho has been investing heavily in Kenya by increasing its partner network by 83% and expanding its Kenyan workforce by 72% in the past year alone.

“By building AI technology in-house, we, Zoho, can maintain strict control over data privacy while offering affordable, powerful tools to businesses.” He adds, “Kenya is one of our key markets, our solutions are built to be both powerful and flexible, serving the unique needs of local businesses,” Natarajan noted.

Zia LLM will be available to customers in the coming months, while the Zia Agent Studio, Agent Marketplace, and supporting tools are already open to early adopters, with general release planned later in 2025.

Zoholics is Zoho Corporation’s annual user conference and networking event for customers, partners, and developers who use Zoho’s suite of business apps.

Zoho’s offers over 50 integrated apps under one account for its over 130 million global users.