Zendesk has announced a slew of AI-related products and enhanced capabilities at Zendesk Relate 2024, its flagship global conference.
The CRM and helpdesk giant has promised the innovations will provide users with the “most complete service solution for the AI era.”
The latest AI-powered tools include autonomous AI agents, workflow automation, agent copilot, workforce management (WFM), and quality assurance (QA) capabilities – all of which will be supported by the company’s existing Zendesk AI system.
Zendesk AI – which already holds the honor of being the fastest-adopted product in the company’s history – currently automates up to 80 percent of support requests, according to the vendor
Moreover, Zendesk claims it contributes to a 30 percent decrease in resolution times.
Tom Eggemeier, CEO at Zendesk, discussed how the new products will add to the success of Zendesk’s existing AI suite and help to improve the company’s overall CX offerings:
We’ve known for years that minimizing customer effort is one of the strongest drivers of satisfaction and believe AI has massive potential to make the customer experience simpler and more enjoyable.
“That’s why we’ve seamlessly integrated AI into our products in a way that enables businesses to deliver proactive, personalized service that, above all else, makes it easier for the human on the other end.”
A key aspect of Zendesk’s message surrounding these AI solutions is that they will deliver the benefits and drive technical advancement without sacrificing accuracy – with the company distancing itself from AI-related issues that other organizations have had with chatbot “hallucinations” and incorrect information being provided.
Indeed, a recent Gartner report predicted that “hallucinations” could actually play a part in a company’s generative AI (GenAI) chatbot causing the death of a customer by 2027.
But how exactly will Zendesk’s solutions differ from their rivals? Let’s take a closer look at how the software provider is leveraging GenAI.
Zendesk’s AI-Powered Innovations
While almost every tech provider in the CX space boasts that their latest product or innovation is some sort of variant on a ‘game-changer’, few are as forthright as Zendesk’s claim that it is now offering the “most complete” AI service solution on the market.
So, what will users get from the latest innovations, and can Zendesk deliver on its promise?
AI Agents
Zendesk is reporting that its new AI agents are capable of autonomously engaging with customers and resolving inquiries from start to finish – regardless of complexity.
These sophisticated agents seamlessly integrate with any knowledge base and offer customization to address even the most intricate scenarios.
Agent Copilot
The company’s Agent Copilot is an AI-driven tool that learns from past interactions to aid human agents in optimizing workflows, anticipating customer needs, and enhancing future interactions.
By leveraging Agent Copilot, human agents can achieve greater efficiency and provide faster, more precise resolutions, which Zendesk believes will ultimately elevate customer satisfaction.
Workforce Engagement Management (WEM)
As part of its WEM solution, Zendesk is integrating WFM and QA features, empowering businesses to deliver prompt and precise solutions while optimizing staffing and agent schedules.
These features include Predictive Workforce Tools, which integrate forecasting algorithms to enhance control over workforce deployment – enabling supervisors to monitor real-time changes and adjust agent scheduling to meet evolving demands.
Additionally, Voice Quality Assurance (QA) analyzes call transcripts, scores interactions, and identifies outliers for coaching and review.
Zendesk’s QA for AI Agents also assesses 100% of AI interactions, utilizing AI to detect instances necessitating human intervention, such as identifying churn risks, erroneous workflows, and opportunities for knowledge center updates.
In discussing Zendesk’s new AI features, María de la Plaza – Head of Community Operations at SoundCloud – commented:
“We have a complex product that requires continuous agent training and Zendesk QA is essential for us to identify and fill knowledge gaps in the team.
By analyzing all of our conversations, we can accurately determine what information to add in our macros and update outdated content in our Help Center to offer better support to our community.
The Next Step on Zendesk’s AI Journey
Prior to the most recent announcement, Zendesk was already making moves in the AI space.
In October of last year, the CX software provider revealed that it would be expanding its GenAI capabilities.
These improvements included the enhancement of the company’s virtual agents, enabling them to handle queries beyond their training by tapping into various contact center knowledge sources.
Additionally, the auto-summarization feature was extended to encompass voice interactions in addition to digital channels. These summaries helped to streamline post-call processing within the CRM, incorporating AI-generated insights such as customer sentiment data.
Zendesk also revealed plans to broaden its intent detection tools to additional industries like insurance and travel/tourism, expanding their utility across various sectors.
