Zoho powers digital transformation of education and migration services at Asia Pacific Group

Key results:

• Faster Data Management85%
• Team Productivity Increase50%

The company

Established in 2009, Asia Pacific Group (APG) is one of the most trusted and leading education and immigration consultancies based in Melbourne, Australia. With a proven track record of over 100,000 success stories and a team of 150+ dedicated professionals, APG has built a strong reputation for delivering ethical, transparent, and high-quality services.

The company is supported by a team of 10 registered MARA (Migration Agents Registration Authority) agents and 10 Qualified Education Agent Counsellors (QEAC). APG is also a proud member of AAERI (Association of Australian Education Representatives in India) and MIA (Migration Institute of Australia), underlining its credibility and compliance with industry standards.

Since its inception, APG has steadily expanded beyond Melbourne, establishing a presence across India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, the Philippines, and other Australian states, broadening its ability to support students and professionals from diverse regions.

APG specialises in guiding students, professionals, and families to achieve their educational and migration goals in Australia. Its comprehensive range of services includes:

• Student visa & admissions to leading Australian universities and colleges.

• Skilled migration & permanent residency (PR) pathways for professionals and families.

• Comprehensive visa assistance, including partner, visitor, parent, and extension visas.

• PTE coaching to boost visa and academic success prospects.

• Health insurance (OSHC & OVHC) guidance and support.

• Admissions to professional year programs to enhance career readiness in Australia.

Through its holistic and client-first approach, Asia Pacific Group continues to empower individuals and families in building a successful future in Australia.

The challenge

Asia Pacific Group (APG) was not new to the world of CRM. In fact, their prior experience gave them a clearer understanding of what they required from their new CRM solution. The company was looking to overcome several operational challenges, including:

• System slowness

• Unpredictable downtime

• Risks of unauthorised data access

• Concerns around data privacy

• Fragmented processes and data silos

The search for a new CRM was driven by the need for a platform with specific requirements.

First, it would have to enable faster operations, minimise system downtime, or at least offer advance notifications of any service interruptions to prevent business disruptions.

Second, given that APG’s teams operate across multiple geographies and often collaborate on the same customer records for different purposes, it should ensure robust data protection. This included granular control at the module and field levels to prevent unauthorised edits or access. In essence, a more efficient user and role management system was a non-negotiable requirement.

Third, due to the sensitive nature of customer data stored in the CRM—such as date of birth, passport numbers, and other forms of identification—it was imperative for APG to onboard a CRM that adhered to stringent data privacy and security standards.

Additionally, beyond just fixing immediate pain points, APG aimed to adopt a more unified business solution. They wanted a system where all business data could be centrally stored and accessed, enabling seamless collaboration across teams and departments. This broader need was effectively addressed by the Zoho One suite, providing APG with an integrated platform that brought all business units together under one digital roof.

Why Zoho

Initially, APG planned to develop a fully customised CRM solution tailored to their exact business needs. However, as the project progressed, it became evident that the development timeline would exceed initial estimates. With a live and fast-moving business to manage, the leadership team realised the need for a quicker, more reliable alternative.

As they evaluated multiple CRM platforms, Zoho emerged as the ideal choice, not just as a CRM, but as a complete business operating system. The decision to adopt Zoho One was driven by several compelling factors.

High degree of customisation

While Zoho provides a strong out-of-the-box CRM framework, what impressed APG the most was its flexibility. The platform allowed for deep customisation to tailor the system to APG’s unique business processes without compromising performance or scalability.

Comprehensive suite that addressed multiple pain points 

Zoho One offered much more than just CRM capabilities. It provided a suite of integrated applications that directly addressed several of APG’s operational needs. Key solutions adopted by APG included:

• Zoho Creator to develop a custom visitor management application.

• Zoho Sign to streamline approvals and digital authorisations.

• Zoho Bookings for faster, integrated appointment scheduling.

• Zoho SalesIQ to support live chat and online customer engagement.

• Zoho Campaigns to manage and track marketing campaigns.

• Zoho WorkDrive to centralise and secure business documentation.

• Zoho Payroll to automate payroll and ensure compliance.

   

Strong commitment to data privacy and security 

Zoho’s well-known commitment to data privacy and its transparent security practices played a significant role in APG’s decision. The team conducted a thorough review of Zoho's data protection policies and found them to be fully aligned with APG's compliance and governance expectations.

Exceptional value for price 

Compared to other enterprise solutions offering similar capabilities, Zoho One stood out as a cost-effective yet powerful option. With a single license, APG gained access to a wide range of business tools at a fraction of the cost. In some comparisons, competitors were priced up to 10 times higher than Zoho for a similar suite of functionalities.

Scalable and future-ready 

APG’s significant growth over the years underscored the need for a platform that could scale with them. Zoho’s modular approach, wide app ecosystem, and scalability gave APG the confidence that the system would grow alongside their business, supporting new teams, geographies, and processes as needed.

The solution

To address these challenges, Asia Pacific Group partnered with EasyToCheck, a Zoho Partner based in Noida, India. This collaboration not only helped APG eliminate manual inefficiencies but also enabled streamlined collaboration, improved data accuracy, and yielded faster response times across teams.

Below are a few key highlights from the implementation of this project.

Live chat and automated lead capture with Zoho SalesIQ & CRM

One of APG’s primary sources of lead generation is its official website, which attracts visitors through social media and ad campaigns. Previously, APG relied on Zendesk to capture and route these leads to their CRM. However, the process was often unreliable, with issues like time lags, missed chats, and users getting logged out mid-conversation.

To overcome these challenges, APG implemented Zoho SalesIQ and integrated it directly with Zoho CRM. This setup enables real-time lead capture from live chat and ensures that all lead data is instantly synced with the CRM.

“This process has been more reliable, faster, and efficient,” shared Thappar.

Better control over users and role-based access

At APG, it’s common for multiple teams to work on the same prospect—for instance, a student may simultaneously require PTE coaching and student visa services. This overlap means different departments need access to the same record, which previously led to unauthorised edits and internal confusion.

With Zoho CRM, APG has established granular role-based access controls. Every user's role is clearly defined, with restricted access to specific modules and fields based on their responsibilities. This setup prevents unauthorised data changes, reduces errors, and eliminates conflicts between teams, enabling smoother collaboration across departments.

Streamlined customer visit management with Zoho Creator & CRM

In addition to traditional lead management, APG uses Zoho CRM to streamline a crucial part of their customer journey: in-person office visits. As a company serving aspiring students pursuing education in Australia, from college admissions and visa processing to PTE coaching, insurance, and scholarships, a physical office visit is often a key step before converting a lead into a customer. Previously, these visits were tracked using a standalone system that didn’t integrate with their CRM, leading to data silos and fragmented visibility across teams. To address this, APG worked with EasyToCheck, to build a fully integrated solution.

Using Zoho Creator, Zoho’s low-code application development platform, they developed a custom visitor's app that is now deployed on tablets at APG’s office reception desks. Visitors check in by entering basic details, and each visit is instantly recorded and automatically synced to the corresponding CRM record.

This integration ensures the sales and counselling teams have a complete, real-time view of every customer interaction. By centralising visit data within their CRM ecosystem, APG has enhanced follow-up workflows, eliminated redundant data entry, and significantly improved the overall customer experience.

Easy setup and powerful analytics with Zoho CRM

With Zoho CRM, APG has gained the ability to easily define and track KPIs without relying on external help.

Prior to Zoho, generating performance insights was a time-consuming and dependent process. Now, using the Analytics and Dashboards feature within Zoho CRM, the team can independently build and access powerful reports such as:

• Applicant-to-customer conversion ratios

• Branch-wise performance analysis

• Team-wise and user-specific performance metrics

• Commission reports for sub-agents

In addition, custom dashboards have been created for CRM users to track daily tasks, follow-ups, and KPIs, empowering each team member with real-time visibility and accountability.

Customised fields for streamlined commission calculations

A key example of Zoho CRM’s flexibility at APG is the Payments module, extensively used by the accounts team. This module features customised and formula-driven fields designed to automate and simplify the creation of quotations and proforma invoices.

These customisations enable the automatic calculation of essential financial components such as:

• Sales and sub-agent commissions

• Referral receivables

• Cash backs

• Performance bonuses

Sub-agents (external partners) who help APG generate leads form an integral part of the business model. Previously, commission tracking and calculations were done manually using Excel sheets, which was time-consuming and prone to oversight. With Zoho CRM’s customised fields, this entire process is now automated, ensuring greater accuracy and saving the accounts team considerable time.

Automations for smarter lead and data management

At APG, multiple teams manage leads based on regional and service-specific requirements. With Zoho CRM, the lead assignment process is now fully automated, drastically improving speed and accuracy.

When a lead signs up, the CRM automatically captures their geographic location and assigns them to the appropriate regional DRI. The same automation applies to inquiries. For instance, if a subject line mentions “insurance,” the lead is instantly routed to the insurance team, ensuring prompt and relevant follow-up.

This replaces the previously manual lead assignment process, reducing delays and potential errors.

Additionally, workflow rules are used to auto-populate and lock specific fields, preventing data tampering and improving compliance. For example:

• When a student secures admission and a confirmation of enrollment (COE) is received, the corresponding date field is auto-captured to avoid backdating for sales credit.

• Once the accounts team enters commission details into the CRM, the fields are locked to prevent any unauthorised edits.

These automations have not only reduced manual workload but also increased transparency and control across departments.

Harnessing the power of integration with Zoho CRM

To enhance operational efficiency and ensure real-time data synchronisation, the organization implemented key integrations between Zoho CRM and essential third-party applications.

For its Australian branches, an API-based integration with Xero, an accounting software, was established. This enabled seamless, automated synchronisation of financial data between Zoho CRM and Xero, significantly reducing manual workload for the accounts team. The result was greater accuracy, improved financial visibility, and streamlined financial management.

In parallel, Picky Assist was integrated into the company’s marketing operations and campaign workflows. This integration enabled automatic syncing of lead and client information—captured during campaigns—directly into Zoho CRM. The streamlined data flow improved CRM efficiency, response times, and lead management, while enhancing the overall effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

These integrations underscore the flexibility of Zoho CRM in unifying critical business functions. By connecting accounting, marketing, and CRM systems, the organization achieved a more agile, data-driven, and responsive operational framework.

Benefits and ROI

Through Zoho CRM and its powerful integrations, APG achieved:

• 85% faster data management

• 50% boost in team productivity

• Faster, more accurate lead capture

• Real-time tracking of customer visits

• Improved KPI definition and performance tracking

• Accurate, automated commission calculations

• Stronger inter-team collaboration with role-based access controls

These improvements have streamlined operations, enhanced data visibility, and empowered teams to make faster, smarter decisions.