The Rise of the CX Cyborg: Zendesk Merges with AI Quality Guru
- By CDOTrends editors
- January 20, 2024
Today, companies face the daunting challenge of keeping pace with the ever-increasing volume of customer interactions while ensuring high-quality service. This is where AI-driven solutions are stepping in, transforming the customer experience landscape (CX). One such breakthrough comes from the recent acquisition of Klaus by Zendesk, a move set to redefine AI-powered customer service quality management.
Zendesk’s acquisition of Klaus marks a big step in the evolution of customer service. Klaus, known for its AI-powered quality management platform, is poised to integrate seamlessly with Zendesk’s existing customer service solutions. This integration is expected to boost the efficiency and effectiveness of customer service teams, providing them with advanced tools to manage the rising tide of customer interactions.
“As AI drives up the speed and frequency of customer engagement, only AI-powered quality assurance (QA) can keep up as companies work to identify and fix gaps in their customer service operations,” said Adrian McDermott, chief technology officer of Zendesk. McDermott emphasizes the importance of AI in maintaining high service standards in an increasingly complex customer service environment.
Martin Kõiva, CEO and founder of Klaus, shared his vision for the future of customer experience. “Zendesk and Klaus share a vision of AI-led, personalized CX with businesses fully anticipating and acting on their customers’ needs. QA software plays a critical role in ensuring consistency, assessing human and digital agent performance and providing actionable insights for strategic planning.”
With Zendesk’s acquisition, Klaus aims to scale up its capabilities, further enhancing the quality of customer interactions.
A critical aspect of this acquisition is the focus on quality assurance across human and digital agent interactions. Traditional QA software typically analyzes only a small fraction of customer interactions. However, Klaus’ AI-driven platform can evaluate 100% of customer support interactions. This comprehensive analysis allows for identifying key trends, sentiment, and areas for improvement, paving the way for more personalized and empathetic customer service.
In addition to enhancing quality assurance, the acquisition also strengthens Zendesk's workforce engagement management (WEM) solutions. This includes Tymeshift, a modern workforce management tool designed for Zendesk, acquired in June 2023. The integration of Klaus into Zendesk's suite of WEM solutions is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2024, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.
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