Zendesk is to acquire the service automation provider Ultimate.
In an acquisition that Zendesk says will allow it to deliver the most complete AI offering for CX in the market, with Ultimate, Zendesk will provide AI agents with advanced intelligence, empowering them to be proactive problem solvers and reactive responders. This complements human expertise, creating a powerful synergy between AI and human agents.
“AI is the future of CX, and the next generation of AI agents are not just a tool, but a necessary and fundamental shift in how businesses will engage with their customers,” said Tom Eggemeier, CEO of Zendesk.
With Ultimate, we will help our customers set a new standard, with AI agents giving customers the support they need quickly and effortlessly. This means human agents can focus on what they do best: building relationships, resolving complex challenges, and applying innovation and creativity to move businesses forward.”
The acquisition was driven by the unprecedented demand for AI, which has accelerated the speed and frequency of customer engagement. AI agents now go beyond traditional bot capabilities, allowing brands to transform CX into a competitive advantage.
Ultimate’s AI agents automate up to 80 percent of support requests, drawing from myriad knowledge sources and offering complete customisation to address complex use cases. Their automation platform seamlessly integrates with any backend system and offers comprehensive analytics and reporting.
With Zendesk and Ultimate joining forces, Zendesk insists that companies gain tremendous flexibility and control in delivering customer support. Whether through fully autonomous AI agents, workflow automation, or human intervention, businesses can cater to customer needs according to their preferences.
“Our mission has always been to help businesses use AI to deliver joyful support experiences. We’ve seen 99 percent of CX organisations who adopt AI shift permanently to a hybrid human and AI agent approach,” added Reetu Kainulainen, CEO and co-founder of Ultimate. “As part of Zendesk, we now have the scale to drive this transformation for every business.”
This acquisition expands upon the launch of Zendesk AI, the business’s fastest-adopted product to date. Alongside Zendesk AI, Ultimate, and the company’s AI-powered Workforce Engagement Management solutions, Zendesk says it now offers the “only complete CX platform that elevates customer experiences, manages service quality and accelerates business growth”.
How Has Zendesk’s 2024 Been?
In January, Zendesk announced its acquisition of Klaus, the contact centre quality assurance (QA) platform provider.
Klaus automates quality scoring and utilises conversational analytics to provide deeper insights into each contact centre conversation. This streamlines manual evaluation, enabling supervisors and quality analysts to pinpoint coaching opportunities more efficiently.
Additionally, Klaus offers learning management solutions to capitalise on these opportunities through targeted coaching, thereby enhancing agent performance. Contact centres can then gauge the effectiveness of coaching through automated quality scoring.
Also, in January, Nucleus Research published a report showing businesses that switched from Salesforce Service Cloud to Zendesk managed to reduce their Total Cost of Ownership by 43 percent.
The study also found that, on average, Zendesk implementations are 53.7 percent quicker than Salesforce Service Cloud. Furthermore, Zendesk rated 26 percent higher than Salesforce in its ease of use and 54.5 percent faster at adapting to new requirements.
