Executive Summary
Real-time product sync, without a standard integration path to build on
Asona is a growing business that required seamless integration between its inventory management platform and Zoho applications to improve operational efficiency and maintain accurate product information across systems. The organisation used Unleashed as its inventory management solution and needed real-time synchronization with Zoho CRM and Zoho Books to eliminate manual updates and ensure consistent product data throughout the sales and accounting processes.
To achieve this, Asona partnered with KG CRM Solutions to design and implement a customised integration using Zoho CRM, Zoho Books, Zoho Flow, and Zoho Creator. By developing a custom scheduling mechanism and overcoming platform limitations, KG CRM Solutions automated product synchronization while ensuring reliability, scalability, and data consistency.
The Challenge
Zoho Flow didn’t yet support the event Asona needed
Asona wanted to integrate Unleashed with Zoho CRM and Zoho Books so product information could automatically remain synchronized between systems. While Zoho Flow was initially selected as the integration platform, a major limitation was identified: at that time, Zoho Flow did not support the Unleashed Product Create/Update Event, making it impossible to trigger product synchronization whenever product information changed within Unleashed.
“Without this event, the Client would have needed to perform manual product updates, increasing the risk of inconsistent data and operational delays. Because of the large volume of product records, synchronization also required pagination to efficiently process data without exceeding API limitations.”
Pain Points
- Zoho Flow lacked support for the Unleashed Product event
- Manual product updates would have been required otherwise
- Large product volumes needed paginated processing
- A custom scheduler occasionally double-triggered
- Concurrent requests caused server lock errors
Requirements
- Real-time, automated product synchronization
- Reliable handling of large product datasets
- Zero manual intervention for routine updates
- A scalable, stable scheduling architecture
- Consistent product data across CRM and Books
The Solution
A hybrid architecture built in Zoho Creator to bridge the gap
After carefully evaluating the limitations of the standard integration approach, KG CRM Solutions designed a hybrid solution combining Zoho Flow, Zoho Creator, Zoho CRM, and Zoho Books. Since Zoho Flow did not support the required Unleashed event, KG CRM Solutions developed a custom scheduling application in Zoho Creator to bridge the integration gap — giving complete control over synchronization timing, pagination, and execution.
Scheduler Management Module
A custom module with configurable fields — Scheduler Name, Run Date & Time, Last Sync Date & Time, Pagination Start, and Record Limit per Execution.
Paginated API Sync
Products synchronized in smaller batches rather than a single execution, ensuring efficient API utilisation and optimal performance.
Staggered Scheduler Execution
One scheduler runs on even-numbered intervals, the other on odd-numbered intervals — preventing simultaneous execution and eliminating server lock errors.
Zoho Books Sync
Newly created products and updates to existing products automatically synchronized into Zoho Books, keeping financial and inventory records current
15–30 Minute Sync Cycle
The scheduler executes automatically every 15 to 30 minutes, invoking custom functions that retrieve product data from Unleashed via paginated API requests.
Zoho Flow Enhancement Secured
KG CRM Solutions collaborated with Zoho Support to get the Unleashed Product Create/Update events enabled in Zoho Flow — simplifying future integrations.
Implementation
From brief to live platform
One more Happy Client
Results
A reliable, scalable integration built to support future growth
The completed solution provided Asona with a reliable and scalable integration between Unleashed, Zoho CRM, and Zoho Books. Product synchronization became fully automated, eliminating manual product maintenance and ensuring that accurate product information was consistently available across all business applications.
The custom scheduler framework ensured uninterrupted synchronization while efficiently handling large product datasets through pagination. The staggered scheduling strategy eliminated server lock errors and significantly improved integration stability, while the collaboration with Zoho Support resulted in the Unleashed Product Create and Update events becoming natively available within Zoho Flow — simplifying future maintenance and expanding integration capabilities for other Zoho customers too.