This week, US company Zendesk announced its plans to hire Berlin service automation company Ultimate to deliver a complete AI offering to help brands transform customer experience (CX) into a competitive advantage. With Ultimate, Zendesk will offer AI agents with enhanced intelligence that is not just reactive but proactive problem solvers, complementing human expertise.
According to 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."
Reetu Kainulainen, CEO and co-founder of Ultimate, shared:
"Our mission has always been to help businesses use AI to deliver joyful support experiences.
We've seen 99 per cent of CX organisations who adopt AI shift permanently to a hybrid human and AI agent approach.
As part of Zendesk, we have the scale to drive this transformation for every business."
Ultimate's AI agents automate up to 80 per cent of support requests. Its automation platform integrates with any backend system and provides robust analytics and reporting. Zendesk previously acquired Tallinn-based Klaus, an AI-powered quality management platform. This helped launch Zendesk AI, the fastest-adopted product in the company's history.
Together, Zendesk and Ultimate will offer companies the flexibility and control to deliver customer support their way — fully autonomous AI agents, workflow automation or human touch.
The acquisition of Ultimate is anticipated to close in March 2024 upon completion of customary closing conditions. The financial details have not been disclosed.
Lead image: Ultimate.
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