Zendesk vs Zoho Desk

2022. Zendesk is acquired for $10.2B



Zendesk made a significant decision in February when it rejected a $17 billion acquisition offer, confident in its higher valuation. However, the circumstances have changed, and today the company has been acquired by a consortium of private equity firms for $10.2 billion, considerably lower than the initial proposal. The evolving landscape of the SaaS market in recent months has placed Zendesk amidst a whirlwind of investor drama. In a recent development, the company opted to remain independent, causing a sharp decline in its stock price.


2021. Zendesk acquires AI automation startup Cleverly to advance customer service



Zendesk has recently revealed its acquisition of Cleverly, an early-stage artificial intelligence startup. Cleverly offers an advanced product platform equipped with various AI-powered features. This includes a triage function that automatically assigns relevant tags to incoming service requests, facilitating efficient workflow categorization. Moreover, Cleverly provides AI-powered human augmentation through its agent assist capability, which assists customer service agents in delivering accurate responses to inquiries. Cleverly's technology seamlessly integrates with Zendesk and Salesforce, enabling enhanced customer support experiences for businesses leveraging these platforms.


2020. Zendesk’s latest tools designed to give fuller view of the customer



Two years ago, Zendesk, a well-known provider of help desk software, expanded into CRM with its acquisition of Base. Shortly after, the company introduced the Sunshine platform, enabling customers to develop applications on top of the Zendesk platform. Since then, Zendesk has been actively integrating the CRM tool into its platform, and today's announcement focuses on offering Zendesk users a more comprehensive understanding of their customers. With access to extensive data from customer interactions with the help desk, Zendesk can provide valuable insights into customer preferences and behaviors.


2018. Zoho Desk adds AI assistant for customer service



Service management software Zoho Desk is introducing new capabilities to enhance agent productivity, streamline cross-functional service processes, and seamlessly integrate customer service with other business functions. One of the notable features is the Voice and Chat Assistant, powered by Zia. Zia assists in reducing the workload on customer service teams by providing voice and chat-based interactions. Customers can engage with Zia to ask questions and receive answers from a knowledge base. Similarly, agents can leverage Zia's assistance to receive response suggestions while assisting customers. Zia intelligently suggests specific sections of relevant knowledge-base articles, enabling agents to easily incorporate them into their responses with a single click, enhancing efficiency and accuracy in customer interactions.


2018. Zendesk launched customer service app builder



Zendesk has introduced Zendesk Sunshine, a new platform designed for developing customer-centric applications utilizing Zendesk's toolset. This platform enables companies to create custom apps, primarily focused on customer experience and relationship management, which are hosted on AWS and have access to a wide range of AWS services. All applications built on the Sunshine platform rely on it for seamless information sharing. The primary goal of this approach is to empower Zendesk customers to leverage the data they collect within Zendesk as a natural outcome of their workflow. While initially targeted towards Zendesk customers, independent developers may also have the opportunity to work on the platform in the future. Zendesk Sunshine aims to enhance customer service capabilities by providing a flexible and scalable platform for building tailored applications and harnessing valuable data within the Zendesk ecosystem.


2018. Zendesk launched enterprise content management platform



Zendesk has introduced Guide Enterprise, a new enterprise content management product specifically designed for large customer service organizations. This solution aims to provide these organizations with a knowledge base and a content management platform for effective editorial planning and review. The primary goal is to empower customer service representatives to document solutions to encountered problems, thus building a robust knowledge base as an integral part of their daily workflow. By accessing their colleagues' notes, representatives can avoid reinventing the wheel and contribute to the permanent knowledge base through editorial review. This way, when customers visit the website or app, they can access solutions to common issues without immediate human assistance. The platform also incorporates reminders to regularly review and update the content, ensuring the knowledge base remains up-to-date while eliminating outdated information.


2017. Zoho Desk introduced Compact Mode, Ticket Peek, and Snippets



Zoho Desk, the service that empowers customer service teams to enhance the quality of their support through contextual information, is expanding its range of tools to compete with alternative solutions. The new addition called Compact Mode offers all the functionalities of the classic ticket list while displaying nearly double the number of tickets without requiring navigation to a separate screen. Another noteworthy feature, Ticket Peek, presents agents with a streamlined response screen, enabling them to swiftly address tickets. When agents "peek" into a ticket, they gain visibility into all the interactions associated with that ticket, along with its properties and relevant solutions. Additionally, agents now have access to Snippets, which are pre-written phrases that can be quickly inserted into a response by pressing the Tab key.


2016. Zoho unveiled Zoho Desk - context-aware help desk software


Zoho Desk is not just a rebranding of Zoho Support; it is an entirely new customer support software that offers a comprehensive view of customer issues within the context of their previous activities and interactions. Having relevant contextual information about customers allows agents to provide better responses. Zoho Desk seamlessly integrates customer information from Zoho CRM into support tickets, enabling agents to have all the necessary details at their fingertips. The system also assists agents in automatically prioritizing support tickets based on customer interactions. Additionally, the software provides ticket filtering options based on criteria such as due time, status, or customer type. When additional assistance is needed, the Team Feed feature comes to the rescue, allowing users to seek help from their colleagues. Moreover, the @mentions feature allows for easy collaboration by involving another colleague in the conversation or assigning the ticket to the appropriate person.


2016. Zendesk expands beyond the help desk



Zendesk, a customer service app, has introduced a new product called Zendesk Explore, which offers comprehensive analytics for measuring and understanding the entire customer experience. With Zendesk Explore, you gain immediate access to valuable customer analytics, enabling a deeper understanding of both your customers and your business. This tool consolidates data from various sources, including Zendesk's range of tools and third-party systems such as Salesforce for customer data, Shopify for buying history, and Google Analytics for web analytics. By aggregating this information into a centralized location, Zendesk Explore provides a holistic view of the customer, surpassing the limitations of fragmented data trapped within application silos. This empowers users in any role to gain a more comprehensive understanding of their customers.


2016. Zendesk introduced Zendesk Message



The prominent customer support software, Zendesk, has introduced a new feature called "Message." This messaging product enables businesses to actively engage with customers on their preferred messaging platforms. Initially, Zendesk Message integrates with Facebook Messenger. With a user-friendly interface and a focus on messaging, Zendesk Message streamlines the process of handling customer interactions. Recognizing that messaging conversations often occur in brief bursts, we have designed the system to enable agents to swiftly transition from one conversation to another while maintaining the ease of assigning, taking ownership of, and resolving conversations. Additionally, agents will find it effortless to refer to significant events within lengthy conversation streams using features such as the timeline.