Freshworks adds new AI to cut support friction and speed up resolutions
Freshworks announced a set of Freshdesk updates at its Refresh event that aim to reduce tool hopping, shorten handle times, and give leaders clearer visibility into what's slowing teams down. The core idea: clear the noise so agents can focus on real customer conversations.
Three capabilities anchor the update: a central Command Center for multi-channel work and AI assistance, industry-specific AI agents with prebuilt workflows, and real-time AI insights for anomaly detection and root-cause analysis. Together, they reduce repetitive tasks, prevent escalations, and make it easier to act on data.
Why this matters for support teams
Freshworks' Cost of Complexity Report found two big pain points: rigid workflows (42%) and too many tools to juggle (36%). Agents say that fixing tool-related productivity issues would free them up for meaningful work (42%), creative problem solving (35%), and fewer repetitive tasks (33%).
As Srini Raghavan, Chief Product Officer at Freshworks, put it: fragmented systems and outdated tools waste hours. The updates are meant to give that time back and help leaders spot growth drivers and blockers earlier.
What's new inside Freshdesk
1) Freshdesk Command Center: one workspace for conversations, context, and action- Unifies email, chat, WhatsApp, and social channels so agents aren't switching tabs.
- AI identifies sentiment and shows SLA deadlines in real time.
- Pulls key context into the ticket view: purchase history, subscriptions, FedEx shipping updates, Stripe payments, Shopify product data.
- Freddy AI Copilot summarizes threads, drafts replies, and recommends next steps without leaving the workspace.
- Single-click actions can trigger full workflows like refunds, replacements, or activity logging.
- Real-time alerts for volume spikes, SLA risks, and team bottlenecks.
- Built-in root-cause analysis explains what changed and why.
- Always-on analytics highlight patterns and quantify which teams are affected.
- Available in Freddy AI Agent Studio with 50+ prebuilt workflows for ecommerce, fintech, travel, and logistics.
- Agents don't just answer questions-they take action through integrations like FedEx, Shopify, and Stripe.
- Teams can add custom agentic workflows in minutes for complete resolutions.
Industry tasks these agents can handle
- eCommerce: Product questions, inventory checks, order placement and tracking, returns and exchanges.
- Fintech: Balances and statements, credit score checks, billing details, payments, updates or cancellations.
- Logistics: Shipment tracking, pickup scheduling, document validation, claims automation, reverse logistics.
- Travel: Bookings, reservation edits, loyalty management, travel updates, feedback capture.
Early results from customers
Teams using Freshworks' agentic workflows report an average deflection rate of 65%, with some reaching up to 80% of service issues resolved by AI agents.
Gail's Bakery, with 100+ UK locations, shared: "Freddy AI Agent now handles around a thousand inquiries for us every month, which is game-changing for a two-person team and gives us breathing room to focus where it really matters," said Julia Ramil, Customer Experience Manager. "We value real connection, and this approach means the agentic workflow handles the everyday questions, ensuring our staff can prioritize the nuanced interactions that elevate the customer experience."
Upayments, a Middle East fintech, sees time saved at scale: "Freddy AI Agent automatically routes every query to the right team, cutting a full manual step and saving us real time every day," said Abdulrahman Al-Thekair, Customer Experience Director. "Every week, we discover new ways to leverage agentic workflows. It's not just an automation feature anymore - it's become an essential part of how we scale support."
iPostal1, a digital mailbox provider with 1.3 million mailboxes, cut up to 12 minutes per interaction, with some steps completed in 7 seconds - a 99% improvement.
Michelle Morgan, Research Manager at IDC, summed up the broader need: teams want AI that acts, not just answers, and they need faster deployment paths to get there.
What this means for support leaders
- Unify channels and context so agents can resolve faster without tab overload.
- Automate repetitive actions with AI agents that trigger refunds, replacements, and updates end-to-end.
- Spot issues before they snowball with live alerts and clear explanations.
- Measure impact by queue, channel, and team to guide staffing and playbooks.
- Free up time for higher-value work: complex cases, process improvements, and customer feedback loops.
Next steps
- Explore the latest Freshdesk capabilities and Freddy AI inside the product docs and demos: Freshdesk.
- Upskill your team on practical AI for support roles with curated training paths: Complete AI Training - Courses by Job.
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