Kheyti, an agri-tech startup, replaced WhatsApp chaos with structured internal support using Zoho Desk

Overview

Kheyti, an agri-tech startup empowering smallholder farmers across India with climate-resilient greenhouse solutions, adopted Zoho Desk to bring structure and accountability to its fast-growing internal support operations—replacing a fragmented, WhatsApp-driven process with a transparent, SLA-backed ticketing system.

The company

Kheyti is a smart farming agriculture solutions startup based in Hyderabad, Telangana. The company focuses on creating a farmer-friendly, climate-smart ecosystem that empowers smallholder farmers in India. At the core of its mission is the "Greenhouse-in-a-Box"—a low-cost, modular greenhouse kit designed to help farmers transition from coping with climate extremes to achieving extreme prosperity.

By simplifying access to climate-resilient farming technologies and integrating them with financial and market support, Kheyti unlocks long-term profitability and security for farmers. The startup is driving a transformative shift in Indian agriculture, making smart farming accessible, scalable, and sustainable for smallholder farmers across the country.

The challenge

As Kheyti scaled from a single-state operation in Telangana to a pan-India presence spanning Rajasthan, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Odisha, its internal support infrastructure struggled to keep pace. With a lean data team of just three people, field agents, and cross-functional teams relying on informal channels, the cracks were beginning to show.

• Ad hoc, WhatsApp-first communication: Escalations arrived across WhatsApp and email with no standardization, making it impossible to gauge urgency or prioritize effectively.
• No visibility into root causes: The team was perpetually in reactive mode: resolving issues as they flared up without any mechanism to identify recurring problems or systemic gaps.
• No defined resolution timelines: Without SLAs or accountability structures, requestors had no clarity on when their issues would be addressed, causing constant follow-up noise.
• Zero data for improvement: With no ticketing history or categorization, the team had nothing to analyze, which made it nearly impossible to plan resource allocation or process improvements.

The solution

Ticketing platform

Kheyti implemented Zoho Desk as an internal ticketing platform with one week of design and one week devoted to building and testing. The rollout was deliberate: careful pre-work went into mapping all ticket categories and sub-classifications before a single line of configuration was written.

Field teams and internal stakeholders now raise tickets directly through the platform, primarily using the mobile app, to ensure all issues are captured in a structured manner. A custom Department dropdown field was added to the Zoho Desk ticket layout, enabling requests to be tagged to the relevant department. The configured departments include Data/MIS, HR, Finance, and Operations. With this setup, each ticket is categorized and assigned based on predefined classifications to enable better prioritization.

Parent-child ticketing also helps to manage dependencies across teams, which allows multiple stakeholders to collaborate on related tasks while maintaining a clear structure. For instance, if HR needs managerial input on a ticket, they create a child ticket under the parent and loop the manager in directly.

SLAs, custom functions and analytics

The team defined internal SLAs based on the nature of requests—for example, simple requests are handled within a day, while more complex changes requiring development support are assigned longer timelines.

To streamline ticket management and ensure timely resolution, Kheyti has implemented three custom functions within Zoho Desk:

• The first function auto-populates the Ideal Resolution Turnaround Time based on the selected case type (e.g., 7 days).
• The Resolution Due Date is then automatically calculated by adding the defined turnaround time to the ticket creation date.
• Finally, a Closed Date field captures the exact date when the ticket is resolved.

Together, these automations enable clear visibility into resolution timelines, help agents stay aligned with internal SLAs, and support proactive communication in case of potential delays.

Kheyti also set up analytics to monitor performance, with focus on key metrics such as resolution timelines, SLA adherence, and ticket categories. This helps the team identify areas requiring attention and enables a shift toward addressing root causes rather than just resolving individual issues.

Benefits and ROI

The impact was immediate and visible. Approximately 90% of field agents—many of whom work entirely from mobile devices without access to laptops—began logging tickets through the Zoho Desk mobile app without any enforcement from the team. The constant stream of WhatsApp messages dried up on its own, replaced by structured tickets with clear descriptions and traceable histories.

For the support team, the shift meant moving from reactive firefighting to a prioritized, manageable queue. Users gained transparency into the expected timelines for their requests, reducing the need for follow-up.

The introduction of SLAs has helped set clear expectations. Teams now understand when their requests will be addressed, creating a more predictable and transparent workflow. The ability to prioritize tickets based on urgency has also improved efficiency for the support team.

The average response time has been streamlined to 2 days, ensuring timely engagement. Notably, 94% of issues are resolved within the defined ideal turnaround time, reflecting strong adherence to internal SLAs.

Additionally, the support team has achieved a performance rating of 4.5 out of 5 by the internal stakeholders, while overall productivity and operational efficiency have also improved, earning a rating of 4.5 out of 5.

Looking forward

With Zoho Desk now embedded in daily operations, Kheyti is focused on getting more from the platform as it scales toward its goal of reaching 1 million farmers by 2033.

The team is developing a knowledge base to reduce repetitive ticket volume, and they're evaluating Zoho Voice to further consolidate communication channels. Features like Zia AI responses and the Radar manager app are already on the horizon for the next phase of exploration.