Zoho Connect is a comprehensive team collaboration platform and enterprise social network. Serving as a modern, digital intranet, it unifies your people, internal resources, and daily applications into a single, cohesive environment. As a core component of the Zoho One suite, Connect acts as the central hub for company-wide communication, departmental discussions, and knowledge sharing.
Organisations use Zoho Connect to break down communication silos and foster a transparent, inclusive workplace culture. Instead of relying on fragmented email chains or scattered documents, Connect allows businesses to:
Centralise Information: Keep all company announcements, policies, and resources in one easily accessible location.
Boost Employee Engagement: Encourage interaction across different departments and office locations, which is especially valuable for remote and hybrid teams.
Preserve Organisational Knowledge: Build searchable databases of guides and discussions so that answers aren't lost when an employee leaves the business.
Streamline Feedback: Provide a platform for bottom-up communication where staff can share ideas, answer polls, and participate in open discussions with leadership.
When looking at Zoho One, you might wonder why you need Connect when you already have Zoho Cliq. The best way to understand the difference is the email versus phone call analogy.
Zoho Cliq (Synchronous): Cliq is like a phone call or a text message. It is designed for synchronous, real-time communication. You use Cliq for quick questions, urgent updates, and instant back-and-forth chatter. If you need an answer right now, you use Cliq.
Zoho Connect (Asynchronous): Connect is like an email, a forum, or a noticeboard. It is designed for asynchronous communication. You use Connect for detailed announcements, policy updates, and deep-dive discussions where people can read and respond at their own pace. Connect posts are indexed, highly searchable, and designed to live on as permanent knowledge for the organisation.
Zoho Connect is made up of several built-in modules designed to handle different types of internal operations. (Note: Depending on how your network administrator has configured your Zoho One environment, some of these applications may not be enabled for your organisation).
Feeds: The central timeline where you can see updates, announcements, and activities from your colleagues and groups.
Groups: Dedicated digital workspaces for specific departments, project teams, or even social interests (e.g., "Marketing Team" or "Social Club").
Manuals: A structured knowledge base where your organisation can build and store employee handbooks, SOPs, and how-to guides.
Town Halls: A dedicated module for hosting interactive Q&A sessions or AMAs (Ask Me Anything) with management or subject matter experts.
Tasks & Boards: A built-in task management tool that uses Kanban boards to help teams track internal work and project progress.
Files: A centralised repository for storing, sharing, and collaborating on internal documents.
Events: A shared calendar to schedule, manage, and RSVP to company-wide or group-specific events.
Forums: Discussion boards where employees can hold long-form, categorised conversations around specific topics.
When you want to share something with your colleagues, you can do so directly from your main Feed or within a specific Group wall. Simply click on the text box at the top of the feed (usually prompting "Share your thoughts...") to reveal different post types.
You can create the following types of posts:
General Post: A standard update or message. You can tag colleagues using the '@' symbol, format your text, and attach files or images.
Announcement: High-priority messages designed for important updates. Network or Group administrators can pin announcements to the top of the feed to ensure everyone sees them.
Question: Need an answer from the team? Formatting your post as a 'Question' highlights it differently and allows colleagues to submit specific answers, which can then be marked as the "Best Answer" for future reference.
Poll: A great way to gather quick feedback. You can set up a question with multiple-choice answers for colleagues to vote on (e.g., "Where should we host the Christmas party?").
Idea: Propose a new concept or suggestion to the organisation. Other members can upvote or downvote the idea, helping management gauge how popular or viable a suggestion is.
Navigate to your Feed (for network-wide posts) or click into a specific Group.
Click inside the composition box at the top of the page.
Select the icon for the specific type of post you want to create (Post, Question, Poll, Announcement, or Idea).
Fill in your content, add any relevant attachments or tags, and click Share.