Zoho unveils Ulaa Enterprise for secure, privacy-first browsing
The new browser addresses the increasing importance of browsers as central tools in the workplace, with employees accessing cloud-based applications and handling sensitive data through their browsers. Ulaa Enterprise is intended to provide security at the browser level, reducing the reliance on additional software or virtual environments, and aims to minimise the IT workload while improving overall protection.
Raju Vegesna, Chief Evangelist at Zoho, said: "The shift to cloud-based software has made the browser the largest attack surface inside an organisation, yet no software vendor has been able to produce a secure browser that strikes the correct balance between depth of policy controls and straightforward usability. Ulaa Enterprise addresses the need for a proactive and comprehensive security solution for businesses to reduce their attack surface, keep users secure, and stay in control of their security."
Security features offered by Ulaa Enterprise include centralised policy management, allowing administrators to set access controls, manage download permissions, govern extension installations, and oversee user behaviour across groups. The browser also enforces data loss prevention (DLP) at the browser layer, blocking unauthorised uploads, copy and paste actions, screen captures, and downloads of sensitive information.
For IT teams, Ulaa Enterprise delivers detailed visibility and control, including access to audit logs, risk monitoring, and precision enforcement of security policies at the browser level. These measures are designed to reduce the need for reactive security responses by providing preventative defences within the browser environment itself.
Thomas Wieberneit, Founder and Principal Analyst at AheadCRM, commented: "As a Ulaa user, I highly appreciate its responsiveness, compatibility, and built-in security features. With the release of Ulaa Enterprise as the front-end to business applications, Zoho now has a security stack that nearly no other tech vendor can compete with. Zoho's relentless commitment to security and privacy is part of its DNA and is unique in the industry."
The browser also features integration with Zia, Zoho's AI-based automation and insights tool. Zia offers several enhancements, such as ZeroPhish, which uses AI to detect phishing attacks before users interact with malicious content, analysing URLs and web page behaviour in real-time. Zia also includes smart web categorisation, which blocks unsafe content automatically, and tab organisation, which arranges tabs based on user behaviour to improve productivity and browser management.
On the usability front, Ulaa Enterprise is designed to keep IT management straightforward, without necessitating complex infrastructure or heavy virtualisation. The browser promises simple deployment, lightweight management, and instant propagation of policy changes, all without affecting end-user performance. Security monitoring is described as ethical and targeted, aiming to build employee trust while avoiding invasive surveillance.
Ulaa Enterprise is built on Chromium, providing users with a familiar browsing experience, while integrating local security checks for improved speed and data protection. It is compatible with all major desktop and mobile operating systems, including support for Android and iOS devices.
The release of Ulaa Enterprise comes at a time of considerable growth for the Ulaa browser, with download numbers and monthly active users reportedly increasing by a factor of 2.5 since 2023.
Ulaa Enterprise is available at a price starting from USD $1 per month per device or USD $10 per year per device.
Zoho highlighted its approach to artificial intelligence, stating that its AI models are not trained on consumer data and do not retain user information. The company builds AI tools focused on assisting users while resisting the urge to impose additional costs on consumers through excessive model scaling.
The company reaffirmed its privacy stance, noting that it does not operate an advertising revenue model, even for free products, and manages its own data centres to retain oversight of customer data and security. According to Zoho, more than 125 million users globally, spanning hundreds of thousands of organisations, use its products daily.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Techday NZ
17-07-2025
- Techday NZ
Zoho unveils Zia LLM & agent marketplace with focus on privacy
Zoho has introduced its proprietary large language model, Zia LLM, alongside new AI infrastructure investments designed to strengthen its business-focused artificial intelligence offerings and data privacy protections. The suite of new tools includes the Zia LLM, over 25 prebuilt AI-powered agents available in an Agent Marketplace, the no-code Zia Agent Studio for custom agent building, and a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, providing third-party agents access to Zoho's extensive library of actions. These advancements are intended for both developers and end users, aiming to bring operational and financial efficiencies across a wide range of business needs and use cases. Focus on technology and privacy "Today's announcement emphasizes Zoho's longstanding aim to build foundational technology focused on protection of customer data, breadth and depth of capabilities, and value," said Mani Vembu, Chief Executive Officer at Zoho. "Because Zoho's AI initiatives are developed internally, we are able to provide customers with cutting-edge tool sets without compromising data privacy and organizational flexibility, democratizing the latest technology on a global scale." The Zia LLM was developed entirely in-house using NVIDIA's AI accelerated computing platform and has been trained for Zoho product-specific use cases such as structured data extraction, summarisation, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and code generation. The model is comprised of three parameter sizes - 1.3 billion, 2.6 billion, and 7 billion - each optimised for different business contexts and benchmarked against similar open-source models. Zoho says these models allow the platform to optimise performance according to user needs, balancing computational power with efficiency, and plans to continue evolving its right-sizing approach to AI model deployment. The Zia LLM will be rolled out across data centres in the United States, India, and Europe, initially being used to support internal Zoho applications and expected to become available for customer deployment in the coming months. Expansion in language and speech technology Alongside its language model, Zoho is launching proprietary Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) models capable of performing speech-to-text conversion in both English and Hindi. These models operate with low computational requirements without a reduction in accuracy and, according to Zoho, can deliver up to 75% better performance than comparable models in standard benchmark tests. Additional language support is expected to follow, particularly for languages predominantly spoken in Europe and India. While many large language model integrations are supported on the Zoho platform, including ChatGPT, Llama, and DeepSeek, the company emphasises that Zia LLM enables customers to maintain their data on Zoho's servers, thus retaining control over privacy and security. Agentic AI technology To promote adoption of agentic AI, Zoho has made available a range of AI agents embedded within its core products. These agents are tailored to support various common organisational functions such as sales, customer service, and account management. The newly updated Ask Zia conversational assistant now features business intelligence skills suitable for data engineers, analysts, and data scientists, allowing them to build data pipelines, create analytical reports, and initiate machine learning processes within an interactive environment. A new Customer Service Agent has also been launched, capable of processing and contextualising customer requests, providing direct responses, or escalating queries to human staff as needed. Zia Agent Studio and Marketplace The Zia Agent Studio offers a fully prompt-based, optional low-code environment for building and deploying AI agents, giving users access to more than 700 predefined actions spanning the Zoho app ecosystem. Agents can be set for autonomous operation, triggered by user action, or integrated into customer communications. When deployed, these agents function as digital employees, adhering to existing organisational access permissions and allowing administrators to audit behaviour, performance, and impact. Zoho's Agent Marketplace, now part of its existing marketplace offering over 2,500 extensions, allows for rapid deployment of prebuilt and third-party AI agents. A selection of prebuilt agents is available, including: Revenue Growth Specialist, identifying opportunities for customer upsell and cross-sell Deal Analyser, which provides insights such as win probability and proposed follow-up actions for sales teams Candidate Screener, ranking job applicants based on skills and suitability Zoho has committed to regularly adding more prebuilt agents to address broader business needs and enabling ecosystem partners, independent software vendors, and developers to build and host additional agents. MCP interoperability and future roadmap The deployment of the Model Context Protocol server will permit any MCP client to access data and actions from a growing collection of Zoho applications within the customer's existing permission framework. Using Zoho Flow, certain third-party tools can also be accessed, and Zoho Analytics now includes support for a local MCP server. Expanded application support is planned throughout the year. Looking forward, Zoho intends to scale the Zia LLM's parameter sizes and extend speech-to-text capabilities to more languages. Plans also include the future release of a reasoning language model, further enhancements to Ask Zia's skills for finance and support teams, and the addition of protocol support for agent intercommunication within and beyond Zoho's platform. Zoho remains focused on balancing the ability to provide practical AI support for business needs with privacy requirements, stating that its models are not trained on consumer data and that no customer information is retained. The company reiterates its privacy pledge to customers, with complete oversight of data held in its own operated data centres.
Techday NZ
11-06-2025
- Techday NZ
Rethinking CRM: How generative AI Is breaking down silos and redefining the future of customer service
For decades, customer relationship management (CRM) systems have been viewed as the exclusive domain of the sales team - often complex, siloed tools that only a handful of specialists can navigate. But as businesses evolve in an era of 'always-on' customer expectations and real-time service demands, this limited conception of CRM no longer serves the reality of a modern company. Today, delivering exceptional customer experience (CX) isn't just dependent on the sales team, but the entire organisation. Marketing, sales, onboarding, customer support, finance, legal - all support the customer journey in meaningful ways. And yet, in too many organisations, these teams still operate in disconnected tools, with fragmented data and clunky workflows. Therefore, how are CRM systems evolving to combat this disconnection, and what role can generative AI play in breaking down silos and redefining the future of customer service? The high price of disconnection When data, processes, and teams are siloed, it can have high costs for organisations - reduced productivity, inflated costs, and ultimately damage to the customer experience. Research by McKinsey shows that organisations lose up to 10% in profitability on new product introductions due to inefficiencies caused by siloed systems. What's more, employees spend nearly 20% of their time simply searching for internal information, time that could otherwise be spent delivering value to customers. Today, when business' bottom lines and productivity are under greater pressure than ever, this is critical. Beyond the financial cost, silos' significantly reduce organisational agility and communication across teams. When critical updates don't flow freely across departments, teams work at cross purposes - rather than in pursuit of a collective, business-wide 'north star'. Promises made in sales aren't reflected in onboarding. Contracts approved by legal aren't visible to finance. Support teams lack historical context. And ultimately, the customer experience suffers as they are faced with lack of creative solutions or timely products, and blocked lines of communication. AI as the bridge, not the barrier The next era of customer experience will be defined by accessibility - breaking down long-standing barriers and making it possible for every team to contribute meaningfully to the customer experience. At the heart of this transformation are AI engines which are specifically designed to serve the everyday user, not just those who are technically inclined. An example of this is Zoho's 'CRM for Everyone' which aims to democratise CRM use by leveraging the AI platform Zia across organisational teams. With simple, conversational prompts, anyone in an organisation can now generate reports, build workflows, or even design modules. This removes a major obstacle to CRM adoption by reducing technical complexity and minimising onboarding time, resulting in a boost of AI adoption across organisations. Therefore, CRM becomes not just a repository of information but a dynamic system - orchestrating workflows between various teams and acting on behalf of users. Customer data no longer sits in isolation. When sales updates a record, onboarding sees it. When legal approves a contract, finance is notified. Every touchpoint flows through a unified platform, ensuring that the customer's journey feels seamless - regardless of how many internal teams are involved. This works to alleviate departmental silos, allowing information to flow across the organisation, creating a unified, contextual view that mirrors the reality of how customers engage. And the benefit? The customer experience becomes seamless. No more missed opportunities to drive engagement. No more delayed responses or repeated questions. Just consistent, relevant interactions across the entire journey. AI as an enabler of trust, speed, and customer loyalty When customers interact with a business that is clearly aligned internally, they notice. Trust grows. Loyalty deepens. According to McKinsey, companies that improve cross-functional CX see a 30% increase in customer satisfaction - and that satisfaction directly correlates with higher retention and lifetime value. But this shift isn't just about speed. It's about trust and empowerment - for customers and for teams. When AI reduces the complexity of tools, it lowers barriers to adoption and enables employees at all levels to act confidently as they are equipped with the right knowledge. In turn, this creates a more meaningful, personalised customer experience. The future of CRM Ultimately, great customer experience is not just about technology - it's about empowering people with the right tools. AI models aren't trained on how to interpret the customer data, and the user experience isn't overcomplicated with heavyweight AI that drives up cost or complexity. CRM can no longer be just a sales tool. It must become a shared system of record and action - one that aligns every department around the customer, orchestrated by intelligent automation, and accessible to all. With AI operating as an enabler, not a barrier, we can finally move toward a structure where every team plays a part in creating connected, cohesive, and meaningful customer experiences. That's not just a technology upgrade but a cultural shift in how many organisations operate.
Techday NZ
15-05-2025
- Techday NZ
Zoho unveils Ulaa Enterprise for secure, privacy-first browsing
Zoho has launched Ulaa Enterprise, an enterprise-focused version of its privacy-oriented browser designed to offer organisations enhanced security and granular control features without the complications of third-party solutions. The new browser addresses the increasing importance of browsers as central tools in the workplace, with employees accessing cloud-based applications and handling sensitive data through their browsers. Ulaa Enterprise is intended to provide security at the browser level, reducing the reliance on additional software or virtual environments, and aims to minimise the IT workload while improving overall protection. Raju Vegesna, Chief Evangelist at Zoho, said: "The shift to cloud-based software has made the browser the largest attack surface inside an organisation, yet no software vendor has been able to produce a secure browser that strikes the correct balance between depth of policy controls and straightforward usability. Ulaa Enterprise addresses the need for a proactive and comprehensive security solution for businesses to reduce their attack surface, keep users secure, and stay in control of their security." Security features offered by Ulaa Enterprise include centralised policy management, allowing administrators to set access controls, manage download permissions, govern extension installations, and oversee user behaviour across groups. The browser also enforces data loss prevention (DLP) at the browser layer, blocking unauthorised uploads, copy and paste actions, screen captures, and downloads of sensitive information. For IT teams, Ulaa Enterprise delivers detailed visibility and control, including access to audit logs, risk monitoring, and precision enforcement of security policies at the browser level. These measures are designed to reduce the need for reactive security responses by providing preventative defences within the browser environment itself. Thomas Wieberneit, Founder and Principal Analyst at AheadCRM, commented: "As a Ulaa user, I highly appreciate its responsiveness, compatibility, and built-in security features. With the release of Ulaa Enterprise as the front-end to business applications, Zoho now has a security stack that nearly no other tech vendor can compete with. Zoho's relentless commitment to security and privacy is part of its DNA and is unique in the industry." The browser also features integration with Zia, Zoho's AI-based automation and insights tool. Zia offers several enhancements, such as ZeroPhish, which uses AI to detect phishing attacks before users interact with malicious content, analysing URLs and web page behaviour in real-time. Zia also includes smart web categorisation, which blocks unsafe content automatically, and tab organisation, which arranges tabs based on user behaviour to improve productivity and browser management. On the usability front, Ulaa Enterprise is designed to keep IT management straightforward, without necessitating complex infrastructure or heavy virtualisation. The browser promises simple deployment, lightweight management, and instant propagation of policy changes, all without affecting end-user performance. Security monitoring is described as ethical and targeted, aiming to build employee trust while avoiding invasive surveillance. Ulaa Enterprise is built on Chromium, providing users with a familiar browsing experience, while integrating local security checks for improved speed and data protection. It is compatible with all major desktop and mobile operating systems, including support for Android and iOS devices. The release of Ulaa Enterprise comes at a time of considerable growth for the Ulaa browser, with download numbers and monthly active users reportedly increasing by a factor of 2.5 since 2023. Ulaa Enterprise is available at a price starting from USD $1 per month per device or USD $10 per year per device. Zoho highlighted its approach to artificial intelligence, stating that its AI models are not trained on consumer data and do not retain user information. The company builds AI tools focused on assisting users while resisting the urge to impose additional costs on consumers through excessive model scaling. The company reaffirmed its privacy stance, noting that it does not operate an advertising revenue model, even for free products, and manages its own data centres to retain oversight of customer data and security. According to Zoho, more than 125 million users globally, spanning hundreds of thousands of organisations, use its products daily.
