Zendesk, a Danish-American company headquartered in San Francisco is set to acquire Ultimate which provides automation services to deliver the most complete AI offering for customer experience (CX).
After the acquisition, Zendesk will offer AI agents with enhanced intelligence that are not just reactive, but proactive problem solvers, complementing human expertise, the company said.
“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.”
“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,” said Reetu Kainulainen, CEO and co-founder of Ultimate. “As part of Zendesk, we now have the scale to drive this transformation for every business.”
Ultimate’s AI agents automate up to 80 percent of support requests. They leverage any knowledge source and offer full customisation to resolve even the most sophisticated use cases. Its automation platform integrates with any backend system and provides robust analytics and reporting. Together, Zendesk and Ultimate will offer companies the flexibility and control to deliver customer support their way – be it fully autonomous AI agents, workflow automation or human touch.
“Traditional chatbots are great in meeting basic CX needs. AI agents can be smarter, more reliable and provide precision support,” said Daniel Newman, CEO of The Futurum Group. “With Ultimate, Zendesk is well positioned to offer AI agents that can tackle sophisticated and complex service use cases, helping resolve customer issues with personalisation, speed and dynamic responsiveness.”
This acquisition builds on the launch of Zendesk AI, the fastest-adopted product in the company’s history, the company claimed.
