Top 10 Customer Service and Helpdesk software

Latest news about Customer Service and Helpdesk software

2022. Incident.io looks to beef up its Slack-based incident response platform with $28.7M funding



Incident.io, a startup aiming to address the fragmentation between customer success and engineering tools, has secured $28.7 million in funding. The current challenge lies in the lack of cohesion between engineering tools and governance, risk, and compliance platforms, resulting in a limited number of decision-makers being able to assess the impact of failures in a centralized location. Incident.io seeks to resolve this issue by centralizing everything within Slack. When incidents occur, they are announced in a designated channel, triggering workflows that update throughout the mitigation and resolution process. Team members can easily share updates, provide relevant links, and update status pages directly from the channel. They can also assign roles and leverage external tools like PagerDuty to call in specialists. Furthermore, new members joining the channel receive a summary post, a Zoom link, and the option to subscribe to real-time developments.


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.

2022. Customer support management platform Assembled lands $51M



Assembled, a workforce management platform catering to customer support teams, has recently secured $51 million in Series B funding. The platform leverages various forecasting and scheduling techniques to predict and prepare for increases in customer calls, texts, and emails. Assembled utilizes historical support ticket data and even monitors Reddit activity to anticipate future volumes of customer requests across different queues, channels, and sites. Through simulation models, the platform predicts the evolution of factors like email backlogs based on different staffing conditions. Optimization algorithms are then employed to generate schedules that adhere to rules such as shift duration, time between shifts, and flexibility at the start of each shift.


2022. Customer service automation startup Lang lands $15M



Lang.ai, a startup dedicated to developing an advanced platform that automatically categorizes customer conversations to expedite the resolution of service issues, has successfully raised $15 million in funding. Lang.ai leverages the power of AI to extract meaningful concepts from customer requests within popular help desk platforms like Zendesk and Intercom. This no-code solution enriches incoming messages, encompassing emails and texts, with relevant labels such as "Talk to agent," "Delivery issue," and "Platform question." By utilizing Lang.ai, companies gain the ability to visually group identified concepts within customer support data and establish automated workflows triggered by specific labels. For example, they can promptly respond to inquiries about package deliveries by using predefined responses.


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. Customer support startup Gorgias raises $25M



Ecommerce helpdesk startup Gorgias has successfully secured $25 million in Series B funding. With a current customer base of over 4,500 stores, including renowned brands like Steve Madden, Timbuk2, Fjällräven, Marine Layer, Ellana, Electrolux, and Sergio Tacchini, the company has witnessed a remarkable 200% revenue growth this year. Gorgias capitalizes on the shifting trend among brands, wherein they aim to directly sell to consumers rather than relying on intermediaries such as Amazon. An example of this shift is Nike's recent decision to withdraw its products from Amazon. By integrating with Shopify and utilizing AI technology and customer data, Gorgias automates responses to common queries like tracking numbers. This strategic approach enables customer service representatives to allocate their time more effectively, reducing the need to handle routine requests and ensuring faster responses for customers.


2020. Salesforce announces new Service Cloud workforce planning tool



With a pandemic wreaking havoc in various parts of the globe, numerous companies are confronted with the challenge of managing dispersed customer service agents, leading to a complex workforce management situation. To address this issue, Salesforce is in the process of developing a new product called Service Cloud Workforce Engagement. Much like other Salesforce offerings, this solution comprises several crucial elements that work together to provide a comprehensive answer. Firstly, there is Service Forecast for Customer 360, a tool that utilizes AI to anticipate workforce requirements and intelligently allocate customer service requests. Furthermore, there is Omnichannel Capacity Planning, which aids managers in assigning customer service agents to channels like phone, messaging, or email based on the prevailing demand. Lastly, there is a training component designed to coach customer service agents on delivering accurate and appropriate responses tailored to specific situations.


2020. Facebook buys Kustomer for $1B



Facebook has recently made the decision to acquire Kustomer, a startup that aimed to revolutionize the customer service industry by offering agents enhanced data and a comprehensive overview of users through the integration of various social media and communication channels. This acquisition aligns with Facebook's strategy of expanding its customer service offerings on the platform. The company plans to further strengthen its position by introducing an advanced platform that goes beyond existing capabilities, potentially as a paid service. As Facebook faces increasing competition from platforms like Snapchat and TikTok, having an enhanced product to offer businesses, in addition to its existing services, will enable Facebook to foster stronger ties within the Facebook ecosystem.


2020. DigitalBrain snags $3.4M seed to streamline customer service tasks



DigitalBrain has developed a layer that integrates with customer service software like Zendesk, aiming to streamline tasks and simplify the responsibilities of customer service agents. In an exciting update, the company has announced a seed investment of $3.4 million. Customer service representatives utilize DigitalBrain to efficiently handle their tickets. When encountering issues such as order cancellations or bug reports, instead of navigating through multiple systems to address them, agents can simply select the appropriate action within DigitalBrain. By entering the necessary information, the platform automatically resolves the problem on their behalf. For instance, if a bug is identified, DigitalBrain generates a Jira ticket for the engineering team. Similarly, for order cancellations, it performs all the required actions and updates relevant records accordingly, streamlining the process for agents.


2020. Wix launches a new company, Wix Answers, to unify customer support



Website-building platform Wix has introduced a new venture called Wix Answers, designed to offer high-level customer support and compete with companies such as Zendesk and Salesforce. Wix Answers was initially developed to fulfill the company's internal requirements and later transformed into a separate entity (still under Wix's ownership). This system grants users a comprehensive overview of their interactions with customer service, encompassing conversations across various channels like phone calls, chat, website tickets, and emails. Powered by AI, the platform assists support agents in responding promptly and provides recommendations to enhance team efficiency, including improved accessibility of customer support articles.


2020. Kustomer acquires Reply.ai to enhance chatbots on its customer service CRM



CRM startup Kustomer has announced its acquisition of Reply.ai, a Madrid-based startup. Reply.ai has developed a code-free platform that enables companies to create customized chatbots for efficient handling of customer service inquiries. These chatbots utilize machine learning to continuously improve their responses over time. Reply.ai's impressive client roster includes renowned brands such as Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Samsung, and several prominent retailers, ad agencies, and marketing agencies. By acquiring Reply.ai, Kustomer aims to challenge industry giants like Salesforce, Zendesk, and Oracle in the CRM space. Kustomer's platform empowers human agents to effectively manage inbound omnichannel customer requests, setting it apart as a comprehensive solution.


2020. Atlassian acquires Halp to bring Slack integration to the forefront



Atlassian has made an acquisition by bringing Halp, an early-stage startup, into its fold. Halp specializes in providing companies with the ability to develop integrated help desk ticketing systems and automated responses directly within Slack. In addition, Halp has introduced its second product, known as Halp Answers. This new tool complements its previous offering, Halp Tickets, which enables Slack users to effortlessly create Help Desk tickets without leaving the platform. With Halp Answers, teams can harness the existing knowledge within their organization to automatically address tickets within Slack. This knowledge can be sourced from Slack messages, Confluence articles, or any other relevant information stored within the company.


2020. Kaizo raises $3M for its AI-based tools to improve customer service support teams



Customer service and the concept of gamifying it to motivate employees may not be at the forefront of people's minds currently. However, it holds significant relevance in our present situation as we respond to and adapt to living with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Dutch company Kaizo has successfully raised $3 million. Kaizo utilizes AI and gamification techniques to provide feedback on agents' work, offer suggestions for improvement, and equip them with tools to establish and work towards goals. The company's software is already being utilized by 500 companies, including Truecaller, SimpleSurance, Miro, CreditRepairCloud, Justpark, Festicket, and Nmbrs. These companies collectively employ "thousands" of customer support agents who benefit from a combination of free and paid tools that seamlessly integrate with established CRM software such as Salesforce, Zendesk, and others.


2020. Assembled raises $3.1M to build the operating system for support teams



Assembled has emerged from stealth mode with a dedicated platform designed to tackle the common questions and challenges faced by customer support teams, ultimately improving their efficiency and effectiveness. With the aim of becoming the go-to operating system for support teams, Assembled will initially prioritize agent performance. The company has already secured $3.1 million in seed funding, led by Stripe.


2020. Dixa, a customer engagement platform, picks up $36M


Customer engagement platform Dixa has successfully concluded a Series B funding round, raising $36 million. Dixa aims to revolutionize customer service by utilizing technology that enables more personalized and effective customer support. Operating as a "customer friendship" platform, Dixa's cloud-based software seamlessly integrates across multiple channels, including phone, chat, email, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and SMS. Through its intelligent routing system, the platform ensures that support requests are directed to the appropriate personnel within an organization. In the broader market, Dixa competes with industry leaders such as Zendesk, Freshdesk, and Salesforce Servicecloud.


2019. Kustomer raises $60M for its omnichannel-based customer service platform



Kustomer, the customer service startup challenging established players like Zendesk and Salesforce, has successfully raised $60 million in funding. This marks the company's third funding round this year, reflecting its strong commitment to revolutionizing customer management in today's digital landscape. While Zendesk and Salesforce have built their businesses around providing valuable tools for customer service agents in traditional environments predominantly driven by phone, email, and web-based chat interactions, Kustomer has adopted a distinct approach with its "omnichannel" concept. The core idea behind Kustomer is to capture conversations from various channels, including social media platforms, messaging apps, and traditional channels like phone, email, and website chat, and consolidate them into a unified customer view. By embracing this omnichannel strategy, Kustomer aims to redefine how businesses engage with their customers in the modern era.


2019. AI-based e-commerce helpdesk Gorgias raises $14M


Gorgias, a startup specializing in artificial intelligence tools for customer service and support, has recently secured $14 million in Series A funding. Gorgias is capitalizing on a broader trend where brands are seeking to establish direct connections with consumers, bypassing intermediaries like Amazon. Their product seamlessly integrates with Shopify, leveraging AI capabilities and customer data to automate responses to common queries such as "What's my tracking number?" By adopting this approach, businesses can free up customer service representatives from spending a significant amount of time on repetitive inquiries, resulting in faster response times for customers.


2019. Moveworks snags $75M Series B to resolve help desk tickets with AI


Moveworks, a startup leveraging AI for automated resolution of help desk tickets, has announced a significant $75 million Series B investment. Moveworks operates as a machine learning platform that utilizes natural language understanding to process and interpret the content of daily employee-submitted IT tickets. By analyzing the tickets, Moveworks can autonomously take appropriate actions to resolve the issues. This approach aims to enhance user satisfaction by addressing problems immediately, even in the absence of IT personnel. Instead of submitting a ticket and awaiting a response, Moveworks can provide answers, at least partially, without requiring human intervention.


2019. Freshworks raises $150M Series H on $3.5B valuation



Freshworks, a leading provider of SaaS helpdesk and CRM software, has recently secured a significant $150 million Series H investment, valuing the company at an impressive $3.5 billion. In addition to this funding, Freshworks has unveiled a new comprehensive data platform called the "Customer-for-Life Cloud," which seamlessly integrates across all its tools. This unified platform encompasses various aspects of the customer journey, including marketing, sales, support, and customer success. By consolidating data into a common model, businesses utilizing Freshworks gain a holistic view of the entire customer lifecycle. Since its launch in 2010, Freshworks has witnessed substantial growth and currently employs nearly 2,500 professionals. With this latest investment, the company is poised for further expansion. Freshworks boasts a global customer base of 250,000, with nearly 40,000 of them being paying customers. Renowned brands such as Bridgestone Tires, Honda, Hugo Boss, Toshiba, and Cisco are among Freshworks' valued clientele.


2019. Zendesk enabled customer service via WhatsApp


Last year, Zendesk made headlines by acquiring Smooch to enhance its messaging app integration capabilities. Now, Zendesk has exciting news to share: the integration of WhatsApp, the widely popular messaging tool, into its customer service toolkit. Smooch was an early adopter of the WhatsApp Business API program, which enables businesses using Zendesk to have a dedicated WhatsApp phone number. This integration holds significant importance considering the vast number of individuals who rely on WhatsApp as their primary communication channel. As part of the integration, the entire WhatsApp interaction experience seamlessly merges with the familiar Zendesk interface utilized by customer service representatives. Consequently, WhatsApp becomes an additional communication channel for them, further expanding their capabilities in providing efficient customer support.


2019. Zendesk acquired Smooch to improve support via messaging apps like WhatsApp



Customer support service Zendesk has completed the acquisition of Smooch, a startup renowned as an "omnichannel messaging platform." Smooch enables customer care teams to engage with individuals across various messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, WeChat, Line, Messenger, as well as SMS and email. The startup has been a long-standing partner of Zendesk, contributing to the development of features including Zendesk's WhatsApp Business integration. This acquisition highlights the significant impact that messaging apps have had on customer service. Although phone and internet remain crucial channels of contact, messaging apps have emerged as one of the most sought-after features requested by Zendesk's customers.


2019. Freshworks acquired customer success service Natero



Customer engagement service provider Freshworks, the creator of Freshdesk, has recently acquired Natero, a customer success service incorporating AI/ML capabilities to assist businesses in reducing churn and effectively managing their customers. This acquisition plays a significant role in Freshworks' mission to offer users a comprehensive 360-degree perspective of their customers. Initially focused on customer support, Freshdesk gradually expanded its functionality to cater to marketers and other roles. However, businesses now seek a complete view of their customers and the ability to provide personalized service to their most valuable clients. In this regard, the acquisition of Natero serves as a crucial step in fulfilling these requirements, effectively closing the loop for Freshworks.


2019. ServiceNow acquires mobile analytics startup Appsee



ServiceNow has recently completed the acquisition of Appsee, a mobile analytics company renowned for its comprehensive analytical capabilities. Going beyond traditional numerical analytics, Appsee empowers developers by allowing them to visualize and understand the user's experience through recorded interactions. This insight enables developers to identify areas of improvement and rectify any issues encountered during program usage. ServiceNow aims to integrate Appsee's functionality into its Now Platform, which empowers customers to develop customized service applications for their businesses or utilize pre-built mobile applications. By incorporating Appsee's capabilities, ServiceNow intends to enhance user interfaces and create more user-friendly applications.


2019. Freshworks launches a load balancer for handling customer inquiries



Customer engagement software provider Freshworks has unveiled Omniroute, a new tool designed for customer service agents. Omniroute functions as a load-balancer, streamlining the routing of customer inquiries across multiple channels. Freshworks highlights the previous challenges faced by agents in transitioning between different types of inquiries and managers in effectively distributing the workload. Omniroute addresses these issues by automatically directing queries to the appropriate agent who possesses the necessary skills and availability, taking into account the specific nature of the inquiry. Notably, if you often find it frustrating when agents ask for your order number right after you've entered it into the system, Omniroute aims to alleviate this by displaying relevant information directly on the agent's screen.


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. Atlassian launches Jira Ops for managing incidents



Atlassian has introduced a new edition of its flagship product, Jira, designed to enhance the efficiency and speed at which operations teams handle incidents. Jira Ops seamlessly integrates with various tools including OpsGenie, PagerDuty, xMatters, Statuspage, Slack, and others. While many teams already utilize these tools during service disruptions, Atlassian highlights the prevalent ad hoc approach employed by most companies in managing incidents. Jira Ops aims to serve as the cohesive element that ensures alignment and offers comprehensive visibility into ongoing incidents. With Jira Ops, when an incident occurs, users have a centralized location where they can access all relevant information. This includes details on who has been notified and alerted, the ability to notify additional individuals directly from the platform, and knowledge of the Slack channel dedicated to discussing the incident. Additionally, Atlassian has acquired OpsGenie for $295 million, further strengthening its incident management capabilities.


2018. ServiceNow integrated with Box



Two leading enterprise cloud providers, ServiceNow and Box, have announced a new integration. This integration allows ServiceNow customers to seamlessly access Box content without the need to switch applications or divert their attention. To benefit from this integration, customers can conveniently obtain the Box plug-in directly from the ServiceNow Store. The plug-in comes with prebuilt workflows designed for common ServiceNow usage scenarios, but it also offers flexibility for customization. For instance, in an HR scenario, a ServiceNow administrator can construct a workflow within the ServiceNow HR application to facilitate the onboarding process for new employees. Utilizing ServiceNow's Flow Designer workflow-building tool, they can effortlessly incorporate all the necessary documents that require signatures, along with other related tasks, into a unified workflow.


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.