Zendesk’s AI-Powered Innovation: Transforming Industries with World-class Experiences

Zendesk is the most CX-ey organization today. With its cutting-edge AI technology set to be showcased at Zendesk Relate Digital 2025, we believe it will further revolutionize the customer service industry. This article highlights Zendesk’s role in empowering IT, HR, and Marketing teams with human-centric AI adoption to drive seamless scalability and strategic growth. Across industries like airlines, hospitality, IT and security, employee experience, engineering, manufacturing, marketing and sales, customer service, and e-commerce, AI is reshaping operations, enhancing customer experiences, and enabling lean teams to drive significant impact. And, Zendesk shows how it continues to deliver value to customers spanning different industries.

Join us at Zendesk Relate Digital, the digital event for CX, HR, and IT leaders to learn more about the innovations and applications. 

Why AI?

According to Zendesk CX Trends 2025, a growing majority of consumers recognize AI’s potential, with 66 percent agreeing that AI helps smaller businesses compete with larger companies, especially in customer service. But, startups aren’t the only ones benefiting—organizations across sectors are leveraging AI to optimize efficiency, improve engagement, and enhance security.

So, what separates the AI pioneers from the laggards?

Zendesk surveyed over 5,000 consumers, 750 startup leaders, and 200 startup agents across 22 countries to uncover the key trends shaping AI adoption across industries. The results reveal a clear distinction between CX Trendsetters—companies that have fully embraced AI—and CX Traditionalists, who struggle to implement AI due to budget constraints, knowledge gaps, or internal resistance.

AI Copilots: Revolutionizing Employee Productivity Across Industries

AI copilots are emerging as game-changers for industries where lean teams must maximize efficiency. Airlines are using AI to assist customer service representatives in managing flight rebookings, while hospitality businesses deploy AI to streamline guest inquiries.

For example, Zendesk customer Skyscanner enhanced its automated self-service customer support options and launched a revamped help center with Guide.

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The result?

Immediate and explosive.

The global travel search engine achieved an 18-point increase in customer satisfaction (CSAT) and a 76% reduction in first response time (FRT). Here’s more…

Skyscanner’s Transformation with Zendesk

Skyscanner had always aimed to provide seamless travel experiences, but its customer support struggled to keep up with growing demand. Long wait times and frustrated travelers threatened its reputation.

Determined to improve, Skyscanner turned to Zendesk. Why Zendesk?

CX leaders consider Zendesk as the best customer care tool in the market.

With Zendesk’s Guide, they revamped their help center and shifted their focus to self-service support. Travelers could now find answers instantly, reducing the need for direct support.

The results were staggering. Customer satisfaction (CSAT) soared by 18 percentage points, and first response time (FRT) dropped by 76%. Thanks to Zendesk’s intuitive AI-driven solutions, Skyscanner transformed its customer service, ensuring travelers got the help they needed—fast.

Skyscanner’s support team faced a unique challenge—assisting travelers worldwide in over 35 languages. To maintain seamless communication, they turned to Zendesk Support and its powerful integrations.

With Unbabel, Skyscanner enabled near real-time multilingual conversations, breaking down language barriers effortlessly, and creating a powerful impact through instant translations for travelers.

Additionally, the team implemented Inbenta, an AI-driven natural language search engine. Instead of relying on rigid keywords, travelers could now ask questions naturally and receive the most relevant answers from the help center.

By leveraging Zendesk’s ecosystem of third-party apps, Skyscanner transformed its customer support into a truly global, intuitive, and responsive service—helping travelers navigate through easy-to-manage digital journeys.

Similar stories can be traced in IT and security where AI copilots enable teams to detect and respond to threats faster. Meanwhile, manufacturing firms also leverage AI copilots to improve quality control and predictive maintenance, ensuring operational continuity.

Trendsetters recognize that AI copilots are just the beginning—90 percent believe these systems are paving the way for autonomous AI solutions. For employees juggling multiple responsibilities, AI-driven tools provide critical support, helping teams focus on high-value tasks like innovation, problem-solving, and customer engagement.

Human-Like AI Agents: Elevating Customer Experiences

For industries like hospitality, customer service, and e-commerce, AI’s ability to deliver engaging and personable interactions is crucial. Consumers increasingly expect AI-powered agents to go beyond efficiency; 68 percent say they are more likely to trust and interact with AI agents that demonstrate empathy and human-like communication.

This expectation is particularly significant for startups and growing businesses in retail, travel, and marketing. AI-powered customer service agents can personalize interactions, anticipate customer needs, and build brand loyalty. The result?

Companies meet growing demand without sacrificing the personal touch that customers value.

Zendesk AI for Cost Savings

Expanding a self-service help center can dramatically cut down customer support requests, leading to substantial cost reductions. Zendesk AI empowers IT companies to streamline customer interactions by providing instant, accurate responses through automated solutions.

IT leaders such as Snyk use Zendesk to provide optimal customer support management, without worrying about “overservicing.” Zendesk Guide’s AI-powered features provide developer clients with an intuitive, self-service dashboard, enabling them to find solutions independently and reducing the need for direct agent support.

For instance, if a tech company like Snyk reduces support tickets by just 3%, it could save £2.2 million annually. A 7% reduction could result in even greater savings—up to £5.1 million per year.

By leveraging Zendesk’s AI-driven automation, IT companies can minimize ticket volume, lower operational costs, and enhance customer satisfaction, all while allowing support teams to focus on more complex issues.

Read more about Snyk’s success story here.

Personal AI Assistants: The Future of Consumer Interaction

In an age of hyper-personalization, personal AI assistants are becoming a crucial touchpoint for businesses in e-commerce, marketing, and employee experience. Consumers are increasingly relying on AI to manage tasks like tracking orders, scheduling appointments, and recommending products.

By 2027, 88 percent of CX Trendsetters plan to optimize their customer journey to accommodate AI assistants.

Startups and enterprises alike must prepare for this shift by integrating AI-driven recommendations and seamless conversational interfaces. For example, airlines and travel agencies can leverage AI assistants to offer real-time itinerary updates and personalized travel suggestions, enhancing the end-to-end customer journey.

Voice AI: Transforming Communication in Customer Service and Beyond

Voice AI is revolutionizing industries that rely on real-time, high-touch interactions, such as airlines, hospitality, and customer service. Traditional IVR systems are being replaced with conversational AI, allowing customers to resolve issues through natural dialogue rather than navigating complex phone menus.

Sixty-five percent of consumers who frequently interact with customer service believe Voice AI can improve phone interactions, making it an essential tool for brands aiming to enhance accessibility and efficiency. Businesses that prioritize Voice AI will set new standards for responsiveness, making it harder for competitors to keep pace.

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AI-Driven Personalization: Unlocking Customer Loyalty

In marketing, e-commerce, and employee experience, personalization is the key to engagement and loyalty. Consumers expect smaller businesses to offer tailored experiences, and AI makes this scalable. By analyzing customer preferences, behaviors, and past interactions, AI enables companies to create hyper-personalized recommendations, ensuring every customer feels valued.

Industries like retail and hospitality are already capitalizing on AI-driven personalization to curate unique shopping and travel experiences. Similarly, companies focused on employee experience leverage AI to customize learning and development programs, boosting retention and workplace satisfaction.

Conclusion: AI as the Competitive Differentiator

Across industries, AI adoption is proving to be the ultimate differentiator. Leading brands like Lush, Siemens, Fender, Eurail, Paysend, and SoundCloud rely on Zendesk’s AI-driven automation to simplify customer interactions and enhance efficiency. By automating responses and streamlining support workflows, Zendesk helps these companies reduce wait times, improve customer satisfaction, and allow support teams to focus on more complex inquiries. As a result, conversations move faster, reducing friction and making customer engagement seamless.

Whether it’s streamlining airline operations, enhancing customer engagement in hospitality, securing IT environments, or improving efficiency in manufacturing, AI is enabling companies to scale without significant increases in operational costs.

Businesses that embrace AI early will enhance productivity, building stronger, more personalized connections with customers. As the landscape evolves, those who integrate AI seamlessly into their strategies will set the benchmark for success in the digital era.

Join Zendesk Relate 2025- the top digital event for CX leaders

Register for the Zendesk Relate Digital to discover what’s next in AI-powered service. Get a first look at how AI is transforming CX and creating real value through meaningful interactions.

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