The customer experience jackpot: How Zendesk is winning big with AI

This year’s Relate conference, held in the sunny oasis of Las Vegas, was an unforgettable blend of innovation, inspiration, and connection. The unveiling of Zendesk AI’s groundbreaking features promised a revolution in customer service, while insights from keynote speaker Michelle Obama left us inspired and ready to grow. Add to that the invaluable connections made through engaging sessions, meetings, and social events, and it’s clear that every moment spent at Zendesk’s flagship conference was a memorable piece of a greater, vibrant shared experience.

At the event, Zendesk announced amazing new features to help your customers shine when it comes to enhancing their customer and employee experience. Imagine a world where customer service is so smooth it feels like everything’s on autopilot. That’s the reality we’re creating with the launch of AI agents, Agent copilot, AI-driven workforce engagement management (WEM), and quality assurance (QA) to power exceptional service.

Zendesk AI simplifies the process of configuring AI for partners, making it remarkably straightforward compared to the herculean efforts typically associated with programming and training other AI models. Our goal is to make AI accessible to all, enabling thousands of businesses to elevate their service quality and spur growth. Beyond automating up to 80 percent of support requests, Zendesk AI triples the rate of instant, automated resolutions, leading to a 30 percent faster issue resolution and at least 10 percent higher agent productivity. We’re immensely proud of the Zendesk AI capabilities and eager to witness how it seamlessly transforms your business.

Introducing AI agents and Agent copilot to enable proactive customer service

Zendesk is revolutionizing customer interactions with AI agents capable of autonomously handling various inquiries, from simple questions to complex issues. These sophisticated agents are fully customizable, seamlessly integrating with existing knowledge bases to offer tailored, intelligent resolutions. It’s a fundamental shift towards smarter, more efficient customer engagement.

Also announced at Relate was Agent copilot: Zendesk’s proactive companion that leverages past interactions to bolster current support efforts. It’s a brilliant tool designed to help agents easily navigate customer conversations, anticipate next steps, predict needs effectively, and refine future exchanges. With Agent copilot, our community of CX and EX professionals can shine brighter, respond quicker, and craft solutions with precision so every customer feels valued and understood. Say hello to heightened efficiency and customer happiness with every interaction.

AI-enhanced Zendesk WFM and QA elevate customer service operations and quality

With customer engagement accelerating due to AI, staying on top requires AI-fueled workforce management (WFM) and quality assurance (QA). Zendesk’s new WEM suite brings robust WFM and QA features to meet this challenge.

• Unlock the future of team management with our predictive workforce tools. Forecasting algorithms give supervisors real-time insights, enabling swift and smart scheduling adaptations.
• Zendesk Voice QA and AI agent oversight streamline call quality. With advanced call analysis and AI-driven scoring, managers can quickly identify areas needing a human touch, improving both AI and human agent performance.

Zendesk empowers businesses with complete control over their AI deployments. We prioritize security and privacy, offering robust safeguards and compliance support to build customer trust. Our new features simplify data management, using AI to identify personal information for deletion.

These tools are not just intelligent; they’re like superpowers for your customer service team. They work tirelessly to make operations more efficient so you can focus on what matters: your customers and prospects.

Ready to bring these exciting products to market? Check out our training and enablement resources in Partner Connect to find a treasure trove of easy-to-follow, engaging lessons on Zendesk’s AI, WEM, and QA solutions. We’re all about sharing knowledge that enables you to help your customers shine.

More than just a keynote

This year marked a turning point in Zendesk’s journey. Our conference expanded from a single day to a four-day event. This growth allowed us to spend quality time with attendees, including our valued Partners. The increased interaction was a welcome change for everyone involved.

In the past, Relate hosted around 30 meetings with Partners, customers, and prospects. This year, we saw that number soar to over 400. Our latest product solutions have broadened our audience, attracting more HR and IT professionals than ever before. We’re proud to say our attendance more than tripled this year.

Each day kicked off with interactive networking sessions, followed by keynotes and content sessions hosted by Zendesk and our sponsors. Later in the day, attendees had the opportunity to explore the many halls filled with demos, activations, and sponsor booths.

Katie Soderberg, chief revenue officer at eOne Solutions, found the event very valuable, saying: “We’ve been to a lot of events, and Relate was one of the best we’ve attended. As a CX brand, the Zendesk team set the bar high delivering impressive product updates around AI and support solutions that help CX leaders take their solutions to another level. However, what was most impressive to us was the Zendesk team. Not only did they introduce customers, but they were genuinely interested in how they could help. Our team had great interactions with Zendesk marketing, product, presales, CTO, and strategic relationship teams. We look forward to partnering more closely both with Zendesk and the partner ecosystem to deliver completely integrated support solutions for Zendesk customers.”

“We’ve been to a lot of events, and Relate was one of the best we’ve attended. As a CX brand, the Zendesk team set the bar high delivering impressive product updates around AI and support solutions that help CX leaders take their solutions to another level.”
Katie Soderberg, Chief Revenue Officer, eOne Solutions

As the sun set on Tuesday and Wednesday, we hosted evening activities to celebrate a long day of networking and learning. These events included a lively mixer with a live band and a decked-out beach party.

We’re excited about the growth and success of our conference. We’re even more excited about the opportunities it presents for our Partners, customers, and prospects. Thomas Verschoren, principal solution specialist at Premium Plus, is already looking forward to next year’s Relate. “This year’s Relate was the first one we attended in person. We’d followed previous editions online, but being there in person and feeling the excitement of the crowd was awesome. The way Zendesk made AI a core part of their Suite this year, compared to just adding AI on top like last year, really shows that they’re a strong platform for the future with a cohesive story from customer to QA. … So, from the products, people, and overall experience, it was definitely worth it. See you at Relate 2025!”

“The way Zendesk made AI a core part of their Suite this year … really shows that they’re a strong platform for the future.”
Thomas Verschoren, Principal Solution Specialist, Premium Plus

Looking ahead to Relate 2025

As we look forward to Relate 2025, we’re filled with anticipation for what’s to come and the hope of welcoming more Partners to join us. We’re excited to expand our community, share new successes, and build on the connections that make our ecosystem thrive. Connect with us on LinkedIn to be the first to know about registration and sponsorship opportunities for Relate’s next installment. Together, let’s shape the future of customer and employee engagement and experience the power of partnership.

Catch additional details from our recent announcements by tuning into on-demand recordings of the keynote and selected sessions. Curious to explore how AI powers exceptional service at Zendesk? Delve into our vision for the future by heading over to the Zendesk Newsroom.