Zoho Support Guidelines

Is there an issue with Zoho?

The first quick test that 1 Cloud Consultants does is ascertain if the issue is with Zoho or if it resides elsewhere. Some ways of checking are as follows:

Browsers can cause an issue, open a different browser and see if the issue is replicated in a different browser. If the issue is not replicated in a different browser potentially the issue relates to your browser. Clear your browsers cache / history and check again.
A similar way to point 1 is if you have a spare computer, logging in on that machine - or asking a colleague if you can quickly login on their machine.
It is also worthwhile asking a colleague if they experience the same issue - it can be useful for us to understand if the issue is User specific or not.
Is Zoho offline or slow to respond? When you login to a Zoho App look at the address in the browser bar; for example crm.zoho.com, crm.zoho.eu, crm.zoho.in. This tells you which region or data centre you are associated with and you can then check the status of that data centre - status.zoho.com, status.zoho.eu, status.zoho.in, etc.
If you have integrated your Zoho product with a third party application could this integration be impacting the functionality that you have an issue with? If yes, have you done similar tests with the the third party application and the integration?

How To Raise A Zoho Support Ticket

The easiest way to raise a Ticket is via the Zoho Form located at: https://www.1cloudconsultants.com/submit-a-zoho-support-ticket. You can also Email [email protected] which will also generate a Ticket in Zoho Desk.

Please do not Email individuals directly with your Support questions. Whilst you may have a good relationship with a 1 Cloud Consultant Employee they may be in a meeting, unavailable, sick or on leave. The fastest way to get a response is by using the online form or Emailing [email protected].

If the Zoho issue is critical please call us on 0117 313 7600 and we can prioritise your Zoho issue.

Ticket Information Required

When raising a support ticket, we recommend being as descriptive as possible. Please include only relevant information about the issue, and consider attaching screenshots or screencasts to provide additional context. This will help us understand and resolve your query more efficiently. The following information is requested on our web form and should ideally be included in your Email:

Contact Details - Email Address, First Name, Last Name - Who is requesting Zoho Support?
Super Admin Email Address - If different to the person raising and primary contact for the Ticket, what is the Super Admin Email address?
Subject - A brief summary of what the issue is, whilst being descriptive. This also helps if we ever need to search back on your history.
Description - A more detailed explanation of the issue. Things to include are the steps to replicate the issue, if it is impacting a single user or multiple users, what you should be expecting to happen, etc.
Type Of Support Required - Technical Support, Training, Upgrades, Sales related, Feature Request
Primary Zoho Product Impacted - Which Zoho Product is being impacted? Where multiple products are being impacted which is the Primary product?
How Is This Impacting Your Business - Critical / Moderate / Minimal

How Is This Impacting Your Business

This question determines the resource that 1 Cloud Consultants will apply to a Ticket and the response time associated with to a Ticket. By default, all Tickets raised are Severity Level 3 - Minimal Impact, so you need to inform us if there is a higher priority associated to a Ticket. The Severity Levels are as follows:

Severity Level 1 - Critical Business Impact. The Zoho service or feature does not work as expected and does not function without a fix being applied. The problem is having a significant impact on your business.
Severity Level 2 - Moderate Business Impact. The Zoho service can function, although the functions are providing incorrect results or its performance is inconsistent with the performance described in the documentation.
Severity Level 3 - Minimal Business Impact. The functionality of the Zoho service is not affected by the problem or can be achieved by using other features of the Zoho service or a workaround. The impact to the business is minimal.

Screenshots and Screencasts

What can really help us resolve your issue is either Screenshots of the issue or a short Screencast (video). Zoho provide a free browser plugin called Zoho Annotator which allows you to to capture either Screenshots or Screencasts. Note - Screencast functionality not available in all Browsers (we use Chrome with Zoho Annotator for Screencasts).

Zoho Support Response Times

First Response Time - The average time 1 Cloud Consultants take to respond to your Ticket.

Severity Level 1 - 2 Working Hours
Severity Level 2 - 4 Working Hours
Severity Level 3 - 8 Working Hours

Problem Determination Time - The average time 1 Cloud Consultants take to clarify, understand and define an appropriate action plan for your Ticket.

Severity Level 1 - 4 to 8 Working Hours
Severity Level 2 - 8 to 12 Working Hours
Severity Level 3 - 16 Working Hours

It is fairly common for an employee of 1 Cloud Consultants to combine First Response And Problem Determination into a single response.

What can impact Response and Resolution Times is if we need to engage with Zoho or another third party. Zoho have a SLA of First Response up to 3 working hours on a Severity 1 Ticket, and 3 working days on a Severity 3 Ticket. It is our experience, that Zoho do typically respond faster and as a Zoho Partner we do have escalation paths if required.

One Issue Per Ticket

A common issue we encounter is multiple problems reported within a single ticket. While we can split tickets in Zoho Desk, it's much simpler to address one issue per ticket from the outset. This approach helps us keep all related history in one place, ensuring clear and organised communication. Addressing multiple issues in a single ticket can lead to threaded and confusing responses, making it harder to review the history of each problem.

Access To Your Instance Of Zoho

As a valued Zoho Partner, we prioritise your security and privacy. Since we do not have direct access to your Zoho instance, access must be granted by you. While our preferred method is to have a unique login (which offers additional advantages), we understand that this may have cost implications. As a common practice, we can also manage access through password sharing, with all passwords securely stored in Zoho Vault.

When sharing passwords, there are two important considerations:

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): If MFA is enabled on your account, we need to coordinate a time to share the necessary codes. Temporarily disabling MFA is an option, but we recognize that it's not ideal for most customers.
One-Time Passwords (OTPs): Sometimes, when we log in from a location that Zoho doesn't recognize as your usual place of operation, a One-Time Password is sent to your email. These OTPs are time-sensitive, so we need to coordinate a suitable time for their use.

Do They Have Authority?

We often work closely with specific individuals or teams within your organization. Occasionally, a support Ticket may be created by a different employee. In such cases, we need to confirm whether the new person has the appropriate permissions to make changes to your configuration or access data. While these requests are usually valid, we kindly ask that you inform us whenever a new employee who will be dealing with your Zoho instance joins your team. This helps us ensure a smooth and secure support experience for everyone involved.