Zendesk buys AI QA startup Klaus

Zendesk, a global customer service platform, has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Klaus, an AI-powered quality management platform for customer support teams. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024, subject to customary closing conditions. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Klaus is a startup based in Estonia that was founded in 2019 by former Pipedrive employees Kair Käsper and Martin Kõiva. The company’s platform uses AI and machine learning to automatically assess the quality of customer service interactions across various channels, such as email, chat, phone, and social media. Klaus also provides insights and feedback to help support agents improve their skills and performance, as well as analytics and reports to help managers monitor and optimize their quality assurance processes.

Zendesk plans to integrate Klaus into its existing workforce engagement management (WEM) solutions, which include Tymeshift, a workforce management tool that Zendesk acquired in 2023. Zendesk says that the acquisition of Klaus will enable it to offer the best AI-powered automated quality assurance solution in the market, and to help its customers deliver intelligent and consistent customer experiences.

“Workforce engagement management is key to not only meeting, but exceeding customer expectations. A traditional satisfaction score won’t tell you everything you need to know. It won’t tell you where there are gaps in your service, or where there are opportunities for coaching and additional training for your support teams,” said Adrian McDermott, chief technology officer of Zendesk. “With Klaus as part of our WEM portfolio, we can empower businesses with the best AI-powered automated quality assurance in the market. By automatically assessing support using AI to pinpoint and fix gaps, AutoQA gives businesses 100 percent coverage of their customer conversations and a clear view of opportunities to improve, while removing the burden of manual review.”

Klaus claims that its platform can help support teams reduce their quality assurance costs by up to 80%, increase their customer satisfaction by up to 20%, and improve their agent retention by up to 50%. The company has over 200 customers, including Automattic, SoundCloud, Wistia, and Liberty London.

“As AI drives up the speed and frequency of customer engagement, only AI-powered QA can help companies keep up with rising customer expectations,” said Kair Käsper, co-founder of Klaus. “While most QA software can only score up to 5 percent of CX interactions, Klaus automates QA across 100 percent of customer support interactions. It uses AI to identify patterns, predict issues and suggest solutions making it a vital tool that improves service quality, enriches the customer experience, and ultimately enhances the reputation and success of the organization.”

Zendesk, a customer service platform, has agreed to acquire Klaus, an AI-powered quality management platform for customer support teams. The article explains what Klaus does, how Zendesk plans to integrate it into its workforce engagement management solutions, and what benefits it will bring to its customers. The article also provides some background information on Klaus and its founders, as well as some quotes from Zendesk and Klaus executives

Workforce engagement management (WEM) is a strategic approach used by organizations to enhance and optimize employee engagement, satisfaction and productivity. It involves a range of practices, processes and technologies aimed at creating a positive work environment, fostering strong employee-employer relationships and aligning individual and team goals with overall organizational goals. Workforce engagement is particularly important for customer-facing roles such as sales and customer service, as they have a direct impact on the customer experience

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