Zoho announced AI agent capabilities for its Analytics platform in Nairobi on 28 Oct 2026 to connect business data with automated workflows and decision-making.
For Kenyan businesses using several applications, the update could bring information into one system for analysis without requiring a separate data platform.
Veerakumar Natarajan, Country Head at Zoho Kenya said AI agents need business context alongside data to support business operations.
He said “a strong data foundation is the starting point for all agentic activity in business operations”.
Zoho said the update introduces tools that help AI agents interpret company terminology and metrics before producing insights or taking actions.
The platform's semantic layer acts as a business glossary.
It gives agents common definitions for terms and measures used across an organisation.
Its ontology layer maps relationships between business entities to help agents understand how different parts of an organisation connect.
Zoho said businesses can manage these models within Analytics without buying a separate data platform or cloud data warehouse.
Ask Zia is the platform's conversational interface.
It now coordinates specialised agents for analysis and visualisation.
These agents also handle data preparation, modelling, coding and actions.
The company said users can move from questions to analysis and workflows through one interface that retains the context of their requests.
Businesses can also create custom agents using their own data and knowledge bases alongside connections to external tools.
Zoho said it is adding more than 30 data connectors to the more than 500 already available.
The additions support Zoho applications and third-party services including SAP, PayPal, Adobe Commerce, Twilio and Notion.
Departments can create separate semantic models so finance and operations teams work with definitions suited to their functions.
The company said its workflow builder allows agents to trigger business processes directly from insights generated by the platform.
Developers can extend these functions through a Model Context Protocol server and a Claude plug-in or embed agents in their own applications.
Zoho said administrators can track agent activity and data access as well as monitor AI usage and costs across teams.
Testing tools allow teams to check agents before deployment and restore earlier versions when required.
These controls could help Kenyan businesses assess automated workflows before using them in daily operations.
Zoho said pricing remains unchanged.
Each plan now includes credits for its large language model.
The Basic plan starts at Ksh2,160 per month when billed annually and covers two users, 500,000 rows and 10,000 Zoho LLM credits.
The company said 100,000 businesses worldwide use Zoho Analytics daily across cloud and on-premises deployments.
Cloud updates are available now, according to Zoho.
Preview versions of reporting tools and the ontology and semantic models are scheduled for global rollout within four to eight weeks.
Zoho said updates for the on-premises version will be available in the first quarter of 2027.