WhatsApp remains the #1 messenger in Kazakhstan — according to research (Kursiv, 2025), about 83% of the population uses it. But Telegram confidently holds second place and is growing fast: more and more customers are reaching out there. The problem is that this correspondence is usually handled from a manager's personal phone — and then requests get lost, and the conversation history isn't stored anywhere. Let's look at how to connect Telegram to Bitrix24 so that every inquiry lands in your CRM, and let's be honest about what Telegram simply CAN'T do.
If you would rather have it done for you, we connect Telegram + Bitrix24 integration: Open Channels, a bot for leads, and creating deals straight from the chat.
Why you shouldn't run Telegram from a manager's personal phone
Messaging through an employee's personal Telegram looks convenient — right up until the first hiccup. Here's what the business loses:
- Requests get lost: the manager didn't see the message, went to lunch, or is on vacation — and the customer is left without a reply.
- No history: when an employee leaves, all the correspondence and contacts walk out the door with their phone.
- No distribution: several operators can't share a single account and pick up chats in turn.
- No oversight or analytics: the manager has no idea how many inquiries came in, how many went unanswered, and what they turned into.
- No link to the deal: the conversation lives separately from the client record, tasks, and sales pipeline.
Three ways to connect Telegram to Bitrix24
1. Open Channels — the native connector via a bot
Bitrix24 has a built-in Telegram connector in the Contact Center. It connects via a bot: you create a bot in @BotFather (the /newbot command), copy the token, and paste it into the channel settings. From there, a customer messages your bot → the message lands in an Open Channel → it's routed to operators or a queue → the manager replies right from Bitrix24, and the entire conversation is saved in the client record. You can create a lead or a deal straight from the chat.
One important nuance: the customer's phone number isn't pulled in automatically — you need to obtain it during the conversation (for example, through a required field or a question at the start of the dialog). Technical limits: up to 20 bots per Telegram account, files up to 50 MB, and one token works on only one portal. Group chats are supported too.
2. Wazzup: Telegram Bot and Telegram Personal
If you already use Wazzup for WhatsApp, Telegram connects there too — and with two channel types at once:
- Telegram Bot — via a bot token, just like the native connector. The customer messages first, you reply; handy for inbound inquiries.
- Telegram Personal — your personal account, connected via a QR code. From here you can message a customer first — but it's better to use a username rather than a phone number: Telegram treats frequent messaging by number as suspicious activity and may temporarily block the account.
Both options save the history in Bitrix24 and support voice messages, statuses, and quoting. Personal is convenient when you need to message first, while Bot is for a stream of inbound chats. Plus, all of this works in a single window alongside WhatsApp and Instagram.
3. Notifications to employees and customers via a bot
To have Bitrix24 send notifications to Telegram on its own — a new lead, a stage change, a task reminder — there's no such out-of-the-box action in business processes. This is done through apps from the Bitrix24 Marketplace or via webhooks (for example, pairing the Bitrix24 REST API with the Telegram Bot API through no-code services). Automation rules and business processes trigger messages based on CRM events.
What Telegram CAN'T do: the honest truth about broadcasts
The most common request sounds like this: "Let's connect Telegram and blast broadcasts to our database." That won't work — and it's not because of Bitrix24, but because of Telegram's own rules.
- A bot can't message a user first if they never started a dialog with it. The API will simply return the error "bot can't initiate conversation with a user" — this is anti-spam protection.
- A bot only messages those who wrote to it or pressed "Start" themselves.
- A personal account (for example, Wazzup Telegram Personal) can message first, but within Telegram's strict limits and with a real risk of being blocked. It's not a channel for mass broadcasts.
- Telegram Business (2024+) added greetings and auto-replies, but cold mass messaging to strangers is still prohibited.
The takeaway: Telegram is a strong channel for INBOUND inquiries and running conversations, not for mass outreach. If you specifically need legal broadcasts, that's the territory of the WhatsApp Business API — and we have a separate article about that.
AI in conversations: BitrixGPT
Open Channels chats come with Bitrix24's built-in AI — BitrixGPT (formerly CoPilot). It helps you draft a reply to the customer, adjust the tone of a message (make it more formal or friendly), summarize a long conversation, fix mistakes, and translate a message. A basic package of AI requests is available on any plan; for heavy use, there's an extra charge. Separately, there are Quick replies — ready-made one-click templates, without AI.
How to connect: a quick step-by-step
- Define your goal: inbound inquiries only → the native Open Channels connector; omnichannel with WhatsApp and the ability to message first → Wazzup; event-based notifications → an app or a webhook.
- Create a Telegram bot in @BotFather and get the token.
- Connect the channel (Contact Center → Telegram) or Wazzup, and set up the routing of inquiries across operators along with the Open Channel rules.
- Set up lead or deal creation right from the chat, and make collecting the name and phone number mandatory.
- If needed, add notifications based on CRM events and connect BitrixGPT to assist your operators.
Open Channels pricing and limits depend on your Bitrix24 plan, so check the current terms at bitrix24.kz — we're not quoting specific figures here to keep the information from becoming outdated.
