Zendesk named Leader for AI-first customer service in Gartner's 2025 CRM Customer Engagement Center
Gartner has placed Zendesk as a Leader in the 2025 Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Engagement Center, citing its AI-first Resolution Platform. The focus: finishing more interactions with clear outcomes, not just deflecting tickets.
Zendesk says the platform brings AI agents, human agents, copilots, knowledge, workflows, workforce engagement, and quality controls into one system. The company reports it now delivers around 5 billion real resolutions each year.
What this means for support teams
- Prioritize completed outcomes over lower contact volumes.
- Blend human and AI across one workflow, with AI handling repeatable tasks and copilots assisting agents live.
- Automated QA and a knowledge engine that learns from every interaction to improve consistency.
- Contact center features that tie together voice, messaging, AI, and workforce planning to improve speed and coverage.
Why Gartner's recognition matters
Leader placement signals that AI is moving from side projects to the core of service operations. For teams under pressure to increase CSAT and reduce handling time, this validates investment in resolution-focused AI that works across channels and teams.
If you want the framework Gartner uses to judge vendors, see its overview of Magic Quadrants here.
Adoption signals
Zendesk expects more than 20,000 customers to be using Zendesk AI by year-end, spanning industries and channels. That scale suggests mature tooling, larger training sets, and faster iteration on models and workflows.
Executive perspective
CEO Tom Eggemeier emphasized measuring success by outcomes, pointing to 5 billion resolutions each year. He highlighted advances across copilots, AI agents, quality assurance, and workforce engagement that help teams resolve issues faster and shift service from pure cost to revenue and loyalty.
Analyst view
Simon Harrison of Actionary Research called Zendesk's platform one of the most complete in the market, combining strong AI with a clear focus on resolution and customer experience. He noted consistent investment and a full-service approach that helps organizations deliver faster, more effective support.
How to put this to work in your queue
- Pick 3-5 high-volume intents (password resets, order status, returns) and enable AI agents to handle them end-to-end with clear guardrails.
- Set a "real resolution rate" KPI: resolved per interaction, not deflected. Track first contact resolution, time to resolution, and QA pass rate.
- Enable agent assist: surface context, next best actions, and snippets inside the workspace. Measure handle time and CSAT shifts.
- Automate QA on 100% of interactions. Use targeted coaching based on patterns, not random sampling.
- Keep the knowledge engine fresh. Tie article updates to new intents, product changes, and seasonal spikes.
- If you run voice, connect CCaaS features (routing, WFM, messaging) with AI agents and agent assist to stabilize peaks.
- Stand up governance: change logs, prompt/version control, and weekly audits of outcomes and exceptions.
Where Zendesk says it's going next
Zendesk points to ongoing AI development across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. The direction is clear: combine automation, AI, and human expertise to create smoother interactions for customers and employees, with measurable gains in speed, quality, and consistency.
Level up your team's AI skills
If you're building an AI-first support operation, you can explore role-based learning paths here: AI courses by job.
Your membership also unlocks:
