Zoho Unveils Zia Chat: AI Conversations to Transform Business Apps

Zoho has officially launched Zia Chat, an AI-powered conversational interface that unifies access to information, workflows, and tasks across its business applications. The tool is designed to solve the “interface crisis” by letting employees interact with systems through natural language instead of navigating multiple dashboards.

Key Highlights of Zia Chat

• Unified AI Interface: Employees can search, analyse, and act across Zoho apps like Zoho CRM, Zoho Books, Zoho People, Zoho Workplace, and Zoho One without switching platforms.
• Model-Agnostic Architecture: Supports multiple large language models, giving businesses flexibility to choose based on their needs.
• MCP Integrations: Extends beyond Zoho’s ecosystem to connect external systems into the same conversational experience.
• Vertical SaaS Expansion: Alongside Zia Chat, Zoho launched seven industry-specific apps for retail, automotive, BFSI, healthcare, education, real estate, and restaurants.
• Efficiency Gains: Reduces time spent navigating menus, lowers token consumption, and enables workflows like drafting emails, generating reports, and scheduling tasks directly in chat.

Industry-Specific SaaS Offerings

• Zoho RetailIQ: Point-of-sale, loyalty, inventory management.
• Zoho MedScribe: AI-powered clinical documentation for healthcare.
• Zoho AutoDMS: Dealership management for automotive.
• Zoho LOS: Loan origination for BFSI.
• Zoho EduFlow: Student admissions and academic workflows.
• Zoho RealtyIQ: Real estate lead pipelines.
• Zoho RestaurantOps: Restaurant operations management.

Why It Matters

• Solves “Interface Crisis”: Employees waste time navigating fragmented UIs; Zia Chat consolidates everything into one conversational layer.
• Boosts Productivity: Enables multi-step workflows, role-based profiles, and delegation to “Zia Agents.”
• Data Security: Information accessed is not used to train Zoho’s AI models, ensuring privacy and compliance.

Risks & Considerations

• Adoption Curve: Businesses must train employees to trust conversational AI over traditional dashboards.
• Integration Limits: While MCP extends reach, compatibility with third-party systems may vary.
• Competition: Positioned as a “Swadeshi” alternative to Microsoft and Google, Zoho must prove scalability in global enterprises.

Next Steps

• SEO Meta Descriptions: Craft exactly 150-character descriptions for this launch.
• Global Headlines: Generate catchy headlines tailored for mass audiences.
• CMS-Ready HTML Fragments: Prepare structured fragments for direct publishing.

KPMG India Partners with Zoho to Accelerate Cloud Transformation

KPMG in India and Zoho have announced a landmark strategic alliance (August 12, 2026) to accelerate enterprise digital transformation across India, combining KPMG’s advisory expertise with Zoho’s 60+ cloud applications. The partnership targets mid-market and large enterprises, offering integrated, AI-powered, and privacy-focused SaaS solutions.

With India’s tightening data protection laws, Zoho’s full-stack ownership ensures privacy and data residency compliance.

The KPMG alliance is expected to accelerate adoption of Zoho’s AI-driven enterprise stack across finance, manufacturing, and retail sectors.

Key Highlights of the KPMG–Zoho Alliance

• Announcement Date: August 12, 2026
• Scope: Advisory, strategy, implementation, and managed services
• Target Audience: Mid-market and large enterprises in India
• Technology: Over 60 cloud-based business applications, AI-driven and scalable
• Engagement Models: Alliance collaboration, managed services, reseller enablement

Strategic Objectives

• Integrated Transformation: Address fragmented digital ecosystems by combining Zoho’s end-to-end technology stack with KPMG’s advisory-led expertise.
• AI & Automation: Enable enterprises to scale AI initiatives by overcoming siloed data and disconnected tools.
• Governance & Compliance: Ensure privacy, data residency, and governance compliance amid tightening Indian regulations.
• Scalability & Value Creation: Support enterprises in modernising operations with long-term sustainability.

Areas of Collaboration

• Joint Go-to-Market: Collaborative marketing and opportunity identification.
• Co-selling & Co-delivery: Unified client engagement for seamless delivery.
• Managed Services: Integration of Zoho solutions into KPMG-led service models.
• Reseller Enablement: Combining Zoho’s SaaS offerings with KPMG’s consulting.
• Industry-specific Solutions: Tailored offerings for financial services, manufacturing, retail, and professional services.

Leadership Perspectives

Unaise Urfi (Partner, Digital Solutions & Strategy, KPMG India): “By bringing together our advisory-led expertise with Zoho’s scalable cloud solutions, the collaboration is intended to help organisations explore a more integrated approach to transformation initiatives.”

Bishan Singh (Director, Global Partner Program, Zoho): “Businesses in India are sitting on enormous potential to scale digitally, but disparate tools and siloed data hold them back. This alliance ensures enterprises won’t have to compromise on privacy, data residency, or governance.”

Quick Comparison Table

Aspect	Details
Announcement Date	August 12, 2026
Target Enterprises	Mid-market & large
Tech Portfolio	60+ Zoho cloud apps
Engagement Models	Alliance, Managed Services, Reseller
Focus Areas	AI, governance, scalability, compliance
Industries	Financial services, manufacturing, retail, professional services

Risks & Considerations

• Adoption Challenges: Enterprises may require training to fully leverage integrated SaaS solutions.
• Integration Complexity: Aligning Zoho’s stack with legacy systems could pose hurdles.
• Regulatory Compliance: Tightening Indian data protection laws demand strict adherence.

Zoho has recently deepened its enterprise partnerships with Big Four firms — notably KPMG India (2026) and PwC (2023) — to expand its footprint in digital transformation, AI, and cloud consulting. These collaborations signal Zoho’s growing integration into enterprise-grade ecosystems traditionally dominated by global consulting giants.

PwC India partnered with Zoho in July 2023 to deliver enterprise-grade digital transformation solutions, marking Zoho’s first major alliance with a Big Four firm.

Last year in March, Deloitte India announced a strategic alliance with Zoho to accelerate digital transformation for mid-market and enterprise firms, focusing on sector-specific solutions in healthcare, NBFCs, and e-commerce. The partnership combines Deloitte’s advisory expertise with Zoho’s 55+ interconnected cloud applications.

This Zoho–KPMG India alliance represents a pivotal step in India’s enterprise digital transformation journey. By combining Zoho’s scalable SaaS ecosystem with KPMG’s advisory expertise, the partnership aims to deliver integrated, AI-powered, and compliance-ready solutions that address the pressing needs of Indian enterprises.

Earlier in April this year, the Government of India has migrated 16.68 lakh official email accounts of ministries and departments to Zoho’s cloud platform. Later in June, the Sridhar Vembu promoted Zoho unveiled Nathu La, its in-house AI server cutting costs by 30% and power use by 18%, boosting sovereignty and efficiency in cloud infrastructure.

NTT DATA AI for Insurance Converts Complex Workflows into Governed, Repeatable AI‑Delivered Services

• Service-as-Software solution, powered by the NTT DATA AIVista platform, helps insurers improve productivity, decision quality and risk management across underwriting, claims and customer service through governed AI with enterprise-grade governance and human oversight.
• Solution combines NTT DATA’s recognized AI expertise with decades of insurance domain experience supporting large carriers worldwide.

NTT DATA, a global leader in AI, digital business and technology services, today announced NTT DATA AI for Insurance, an AI-native agentic solution that converts complex core insurance workflows into governed, repeatable services. Built for highly regulated insurance environments, the Service-as-Software solution combines configurable AI agents, insurance-specific data models, workflow orchestration and enterprise-grade governance to maintain auditability, regulatory guardrails and human oversight.

NTT DATA AI for Insurance helps carriers modernize underwriting, claims, customer service and other core insurance workflows while improving productivity across the enterprise. Powered by NTT DATA AIVista, the company's AI-native product platform, the solution combines a prebuilt insurance foundation with flexible configuration and targeted customization, enabling rapid deployment while adapting to each carrier's products, processes, operating model and regulatory requirements.

The solution is designed for open integration with existing carrier systems and enterprise technology environments, enabling insurers to deploy AI capabilities without core system lock-in. Its model-routing capabilities also help carriers avoid lock-in to any single foundation model.

“Insurance is built on human judgment that understands risk, prices fairly and stands behind promises when it matters most,” said Bruno Abril, Global Lead, Insurance Industry, NTT DATA, Inc. “AI strengthens the ability of insurers to meet that responsibility, and NTT DATA AI for Insurance supports human expertise with intelligent systems that work within a governed operating layer for enterprise-scale transformation. The result is that insurers can move from AI-enabled workflows to AI-delivered operations, at enterprise scale and with the governance that regulators and boards demand.”

Carriers need agentic AI built for insurance operations

Carriers are under pressure to increase underwriting capacity, accelerate claims and service workflow processing, reduce loss ratios and improve risk selection while meeting rising governance expectations. NTT DATA’s 2026 Global AI Report: A Playbook for AI Leaders in Insurance found that two-thirds of insurers want to use AI in front-office interactions, while 86% support AI use in back- and mid-office workflows, yet most have not industrialized agentic AI across their core operations. NTT DATA AI for Insurance is purpose-built to close that gap.

"The insurance industry is generating more data than ever before, but better outcomes depend on how effectively that information is translated into action," said Prashant Hinge, Chief Information Officer at MSIG USA. "AI can help insurers identify high-risk claims sooner, improve consistency throughout the claims process, and equip claims professionals with the insights they need to make faster, more informed decisions."

NTT DATA AI for Insurance provides a comprehensive agentic architecture that includes:

• Specialized models and agents purpose-trained on carrier and domain-specific data to improve reliability, accuracy and cost-effectiveness.
• Specialized guardrails that embed governance into every AI agent decision and support deterministic, auditable outcomes that help carriers meet regulatory and internal governance requirements.
• AI-native knowledge base and proprietary insurance data genome that embed agents into the systems, data and processes carriers already use, while providing the context agents need to interpret submissions, policies, claims and regulatory requirements.
• Prebuilt and configurable AI agents that enable 3X faster deployment into underwriting, claims, service and other insurance workflows.
• Cognitive and event-driven agent orchestration that coordinates AI agents, people, systems and processes around each carrier’s operating requirements.

NTT DATA is named as a leader in HFS Horizons: Agentic Services, 2026 Research Report as well as ISG Provider LensTM – Insurance Services – Strategic Capabilities (Insurance GenAI and Agentic AI Services). Worldwide, the company serves 10 of the world’s 25 top insurers, operates 16 delivery centers with insurance expertise and employs more than 12,000 insurance specialists.
Visit our website to learn more about NTT DATA AI for Insurance, access industry resources and meet some of our insurance experts. To learn more about the science and innovation behind our Service as Software platform for insurance, read our blog.

About NTT DATA

NTT DATA is a $30+ billion business and technology services leader, serving 75% of the Fortune Global 100. We are committed to accelerating client success and positively impacting society through responsible innovation. We are one of the world’s leading AI and digital infrastructure providers, with unmatched capabilities in enterprise-scale AI, cloud, security, connectivity, data centers and application services. Our consulting and industry solutions help organizations and society move confidently and sustainably into the digital future. As a Global Top Employer, we have experts in more than 70 countries. We also offer clients access to a robust ecosystem of innovation centers as well as established and start-up partners. NTT DATA is part of NTT Group, which invests over $3 billion each year in R&D.

our website to learn more about NTT DATA AI for Insurance, access industry resources and meet some of our insurance experts. To learn more about the science and innovation behind our Service as Software platform for insurance, read our blog.

MilikiRumah Breaks Barriers With World’s First AI-Powered Credit Intelligence SaaS in PropTech

• MilikiRumah’s AI-powered SaaS stack is currently made up of two components for its B2B2C end-users:
• VERO: Instant credit history verification
• TASYA: AI-powered smart customer profiling tool
• MilikiRumah has recorded exceptional usage traction – delivering financial and operational milestones across Indonesia.

MilikiRumah (“MilikiRumah”, “the Company”), operator of the world’s maiden artificial intelligence (“AI”)-powered software as a service (“SaaS”) credit intelligence and mortgage readiness tool and the first rent-to-own program, today announced the Company has delivered a raft of landmark performance milestones for its revolutionary SaaS solution specifically tailored for business-to-business-to-consumer (“B2B2C”) end-users.

In setting groundbreaking benchmarks in the PropTech space, Winston Lee (“Winston”), co-founder and chief executive officer of MilikiRumah states: “MilikiRumah cements its position as the world’s leading social inclusivity for good PropTech company; backed by our revolutionary technology capability – the likes of which have never been seen before.”

Adds Winston: “With real estate developers (“real estate developers”, “developers”) and their cohort of would-be homebuyers, as our valued B2B2C end-users, recording exponential growth in token usage of our proprietary SaaS solution, MilikiRumah is already demonstrating rapid scalability and clear categorical leadership in the PropTech sector; underpinned by the Company’s proven set of financial and operational results.”

FINANCIAL AND OPERATIONAL MILESTONES

• Real estate developer onboarding: 151 projects across 73 developers
• Sales orders: 48% average month-on-month growth; peak 159% in a single month
• Usage: 117% average monthly growth; peak 362% in a single month
• B2B2C end-user retention: 98% since October 2025
• Big data: 37,509 home-seeker data points collected, doubling from Feb 2026

SOLVING A MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR INEFFICIENCY

Indonesia's property sector faces a structural conversion problem: 50 to 70 per cent of leads fail bank eligibility checks, while manual credit history checking processes take up to 14 days!

Consequently, this legacy system results in significant wasted advertising expenditure, inefficient sales cycles, and foregone real estate developer revenue measured in the billions of rupiah each month. MilikiRumah's integrated B2B2C SaaS solution directly addresses this inefficiency by converting uncertain leads into verified, ready-to-buy homeowners – faster, more accurately, and at scale. MilikiRumah's B2B2C SaaS tool is currently available in Indonesia; with a planned expansion pipeline across the broader East Asia region.

“By combining AI-driven credit intelligence with real-time data integration, we are enabling faster, more accurate decisions, unlocking new opportunities for businesses and aspiring homeowners alike – and establishing a strong commercial baseline from a standing start,” according to Prasma Anindita (“Pras”), MilikiRumah’s director of technology.

"Simultaneously, we have rapidly scaled our proprietary data advantage, doubling our dataset of verified home seeker profiles sourced directly from banks and developers. This continuously strengthens MilikiRumah's AI engine and big data repository, reinforcing our barriers to entry and reflecting a rare product competency and mission-critical adoption among our end-users. Developer satisfaction and deep product adoption remain at their highest levels – and we are only just getting started," comments Pras.

UNLOCKING A MASSIVE UNDERSERVED MARKET

• DBS Bank: 96–97.7 million adults unbanked (~48% of adult population)
• Yusof Ishak Institute: 80% of Indonesia’s 275 million population unbanked/underbanked
• Housing backlog: 15 million units as of April 2025

Beyond B2B2C SaaS monetization, MilikiRumah is uniquely positioned to capture value from Indonesia’s large underbanked population and housing backlog; and the metrics are staggering:

According to Singapore multinational banking and financial services corporation DBS Bank Limited: “Indonesia has one of the world's largest unbanked populations, estimated at roughly 96–97.7 million adults, representing about 48 per cent of the adult population. While financial inclusion is rising, many in rural areas remain underserved, fuelling a rapid shift toward fintech and digital banking to reach these individuals,” – source: https://www.dbs.com/newsroom/Indonesia_Has_the_Fourth_Largest_Unbanked_Population_in_the_World_Heres_How_Bank_DBS_Indonesia_Promotes_Financial_Inclusion

In a far more seismic data point reported by Yusof Ishak Institute, and formerly Institute of Southeast Asian Studies which was established as an autonomous organisation by an Act of Parliament in 1968: “About 80 per cent of Indonesia’s 275 million population are unbanked and underbanked.” – source: https://www.iseas.edu.sg/iseas-perspective/2023-78-the-digital-transformation-of-indonesias-banking-sector-current-trends-and-future-prospects-by-manggi-habir-and-siwage-dharma-negara/ via a presentation by Tigor Siahaan, President Director of Superbank.

See: https://www.iseas.edu.sg/mecevents/digital-trends-altering-indonesias-banking-landscape/

Indonesia’s housing backlog has risen and as reported by Indonesia’s foremost leading English language national daily: “Indonesia's housing backlog has risen to approximately 15 million units as of April 2025, driven by population growth and low ownership rates, particularly affecting low-income workers.” – source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/business/2025/04/23/indonesias-housing-backlog-rises-to-15-million-this-year-deputy-minister.html

A SCALABLE SAAS INFRASTRUCTURE

• AI-generated credit intelligence
• Real-time data integration
• Conversion optimisation
• Continuous feedback loops

MilikiRumah's highly scalable SaaS model is architected around four core capabilities: proprietary AI-generated credit intelligence and mortgage readiness infrastructure, real-time data integration sourced directly from real estate developers and banks, conversion optimisation, and continuous feedback loops that progressively strengthen the platform's predictive accuracy over time.

This infrastructure enables real estate developers and banks to identify mortgage-ready buyers at the point of enquiry – eliminating wasted sales effort on unqualified leads, reducing mortgage rejection rates and unit hold-ups through early eligibility assessment, and accelerating the booking-to-closing cycle with data-driven property and payment scheme recommendations. Developer partners have reported booking uplifts of approximately 50 per cent as a direct result of platform adoption attributed to the exponential spike in homebuyer confidence after being assessed by MilikiRumah’s B2B2C SaaS tool.

360° HOMEBUYER PROFILE

At the core of MilikiRumah's platform is a unified customer intelligence layer that combines transaction data, credit history, behavioural signals, and predictive modelling into a single, actionable 360° homebuyer profile. This integration enables developers to assess each prospective buyer's needs, risk profile, and instalment capacity with a depth and accuracy previously unavailable in all of Indonesia and across the globe.

Powered by AI and machine learning, the platform generates precise estimates of eligibility for mortgage loans of consumers of real estate developers, instalment obligations, repayment capacity, and income range – translating raw data into smart, reliable recommendations for the most suitable residential units, payment schemes and homeownership pathways for each individual buyer. The result is faster sales closing for the developer, higher contract success rates, and materially improved customer experience throughout the sales process.

MILIKIRUMAH’S AI-POWERED B2B2C SAAS STACK

• VERO – INSTANT CREDIT HISTORY VERIFICATION:
• VERO is MilikiRumah's proprietary credit history checking and verification engine, delivering a complete Bank Indonesia ("BI") eligibility assessment in as little as five seconds!
• For developers, the commercial impact is direct and measurable: VERO enables the identification and selection of mortgage-ready buyers from the very first point of contact, materially reducing mortgage rejection rates, minimising stalled unit inventory, and accelerating both the sales process and booking decisions. 
• By filtering out ineligible prospects early, sales teams are freed to focus their time and resources exclusively on qualified buyers – reducing customer acquisition costs and improving overall conversion rates.
• VERO's core capabilities include real-time BI and bank data integration, precise credit risk identification, and faster, more certain closing outcomes – compressing what was previously a multi-day administrative process in a matter of seconds.
• TASYA: AI-powered SMART CUSTOMER PROFILING 
• TASYA is MilikiRumah's proprietary AI sales advisor and predictive profiling engine. 
• MilikiRumah's platform delivers quantifiable improvements across the credit assessment and sales conversion lifecycle. DBR analysis – previously requiring 14 days via traditional channels – is now performed instantly, reducing processing time of more than 90 per cent. 
• Through the instant calculation of a prospective buyer's DBR via direct application programming interface integrating, TASYA delivers comprehensive consumer profiles in real time – drawing on consumer personal statements, income prediction modelling, and data integration across multiple sources to determine instalment capacity with precision.
• For Indonesia’s residential real estate developers and MilikiRumah’s B2B2C end-users, TASYA translates this intelligence into direct commercial outcomes. 
• By recommending payment schemes calibrated to each buyer's instalment ability, TASYA increases the probability of contract approval; and focuses the sales journey on ready- and financially-capable customers, and supports more confident, data-driven decisions at every stage of the sales process.
• Beyond its individual capabilities, TASYA functions as a predictive segmentation tool: matching would-be homebuyers to optimally suitable residential units and financing options offered by Indonesia's retail banks, based on AI-driven analysis of income, instalment capacity, and consumer behaviour.
• "By harnessing the power of VERO and TASYA, B2B2C end-users translate that capability into lower customer acquisition costs, higher inventory turnover, and improved revenue realisation," says Prasma. "With strong early traction, high retention, and accelerating usage, MilikiRumah is building a defensible, data-rich infrastructure – swiftly becoming the go-to trusted tool for property transaction qualification in emerging markets."

REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER TESTIMONIALS

• The presence of MilikiRumah has significantly improved our business processes. MilikiRumah is invaluable for business owners who prioritise speed,” – Angga Budi Kusuma, President Director, Pesona Kahuripan Group.
• “We can directly check all prospects using MilikiRumah. The business process is more streamlined and accelerated, increasing bookings by around 50 per cent,” – Anton Suwandi, President Director, Citanusa Group.
• “Harmony Land Group manages several projects simultaneously. Bogor Green Resort, which has used MilikiRumah, appears more responsive and ultimately closes faster,” – Fithor Muhammad, chief executive officer, Harmony Land Group.
• “Prospective buyers who visit can immediately request a deposit, increasing conversion rates twofold,” – Michael J. Pratama, sales section head, Akasa Pure Living BSD. 

MILIKIRUMAH’S OTHER WORLD-FIRST: RENT-TO-OWN PROGRAM

For consumers who do not currently qualify for a conventional bank mortgage, MilikiRumah’s world-first AI-powered Rent-to-Own programme provides a structured, personalised 12-month pathway to build payment track records, financial literacy, and credit profiles – graduating participants to become bankable, mortgage-ready homeowners. 

• LinkedIn (CEO Winston Lee): https://www.linkedin.com/in/winston-lee-a2107126/
• LinkedIn (Finance Director Lau Xin Yuan): https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauxinyuan/
• Corporate Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61574959116140
• Corporate Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/milikirumah_com/
• Corporate LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/milikirumah-rightkey-capital-pte-ltd/
• Corporate TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@milikirumah_com
• Website: https://www.milikirumah.com/en

LEADERSHIP

• Winston Lee, Co-founder & CEO – Award-winning entrepreneur, former PropertyGuru executive, pioneered AI-powered rent-to-own and credit intelligence SaaS.
• Lau Xin Yuan, Co-founder & Finance Director – Oversees finance, investor acquisition, fundraising; founder of Digiboost Marketing.
• Faizal Abdullah, Chief Commercial Officer – 26+ years leadership, ex-Rumah123 SVP, ex-KOCO Indonesia CEO.
• Prasma Anindita, Technology Director – MSc Computer Science, Utrecht University; seasoned developer, serial entrepreneur.