Built-In CRM — Self-Hosted Client and Contact Management
Client contacts, guest users, follow-ups, custom fields, and email templates. Contact management built into your workspace.
Most small teams either use a CRM that is way too complex for their needs (HubSpot, Salesforce) or they track clients in a spreadsheet and hope nothing falls through the cracks. Both approaches break down: the CRM requires dedicated training and a separate subscription, and the spreadsheet has no follow-up reminders, no activity history, and no way to give clients access to your workspace.
Zioan includes a CRM that fits the way small teams actually work with clients. Track contacts, log interactions, set follow-up reminders, and manage guest access to your workspace. When a client sends a message through the guest portal, it shows up in the same chat system your team already uses. When you assign a task related to a client project, the CRM record is right there.
Client data stays on your server. Contact details, interaction notes, follow-up schedules: all stored on infrastructure you control.
What's included
- Guest users with branded portal access
- CRM-only contacts (no system login needed)
- Promote contacts to guest users (and reverse)
- Interaction notes (call, email, meeting, follow-up, issue, feedback)
- Follow-up tracking with due dates
- Cross-client follow-up dashboard
- Admin-defined custom fields
- Email templates with contact placeholders
- Per-client activity log
- File attachments on client records
- External and internal resource links
- Granular guest permissions (spaces, docs, boards, channels)
- Contact search and filtering
How the CRM works in Zioan
Two types of contacts
Guest users are contacts who get a login to your Zioan instance. They see a branded portal with only the spaces, documents, boards, and channels you grant access to. CRM-only contacts are tracking records for people who do not need system access. You can promote a CRM contact to a guest user (or reverse it) at any time.
Notes with interaction types
Log interactions as general notes, calls, emails, meetings, follow-ups, issues, or feedback. Each note is timestamped and attributed to the team member who created it. Six months from now, anyone on the team can see the full history of a client relationship.
Follow-up tracking
Flag any note as requiring follow-up with a due date. A cross-client follow-up dashboard shows all pending follow-ups across your entire contact list. Never forget to check in with a client after a demo, send a proposal after a call, or follow up on an open issue.
Custom fields
Admin-defined fields let you track whatever is specific to your business: contract value, industry, referral source, renewal date. Custom fields appear on every contact record and can be filtered in the client list.
Email templates
Create reusable email templates with placeholders for first name, last name, company, and other contact fields. Render a template for a specific contact and get ready-to-send text. Useful for onboarding sequences, follow-up emails, or standardized client communications.
Activity log
Every action related to a contact is logged automatically: notes created, files uploaded, guest access changes, custom field updates. The activity log gives you a timeline of everything that happened with a client, even if different team members handled different interactions.
Files and links
Attach files to client records: contracts, proposals, signed agreements. Add external links (their website, LinkedIn, relevant articles) or internal resource links to related Zioan documents, snippets, or boards.
Why teams choose Zioan for CRM
CRM where the work happens
When a client sends a message through the guest portal, it arrives in your team chat. When you create a task for a client project, the kanban board is in the same application. When you write a proposal, the document lives next to the CRM record. No switching between tabs, no copying context, no "let me check the other tool."
Guest portal at no extra cost
Guest users are unlimited and free in Zioan. Give each client a branded login page, assign them to specific spaces, and control exactly what they can see: particular documents, specific boards, designated chat channels. Some CRM tools charge extra for a client-facing portal. Zioan includes it in the license.
Simple enough to actually use
Zioan's CRM is built for teams of 2-20 people managing dozens to hundreds of contacts, not for enterprise sales teams with thousand-stage pipelines. It has the features you actually use: contacts, notes, follow-ups, custom fields, email templates. Nothing more, nothing less.
Client data that never leaves your server
Contact details, interaction notes, contracts, and communication history are sensitive. With Zioan, all client data stays on your infrastructure. For teams in regulated industries or those serving clients with strict data handling requirements, this is not a nice-to-have. It is a requirement that Zioan meets by design.