Why the next era of service demands an autonomous workforce

At Zendesk Relate 2026, we shared our vision that the future of service is not about another bot or assistant. It is an Autonomous Service Workforce: a complete, agentic system designed to drive your service operations with as much autonomy as you want to grant it, built for continuous learning and improvement.

That is the promise of the Zendesk Resolution Platform. It brings together AI agents, copilots, knowledge, actions, governance, and insights into one system. This means service teams can do less stitching, less switching, and more resolving.

Powered by the Resolution Learning Loop™, Zendesk AI agents and copilots get better over time, learning from every interaction to improve operations and make every resolution better than the last. 

Here is how we are bringing that vision to life through new advancements across our platform.

Specialized AI agents for every workflow

The best AI agents do more than answer questions; they reason through complexity and coordinate work across systems. Zendesk AI agents are now generally available, bringing agentic resolution across messaging, email, voice, and backend systems. Furthermore, with our recent acquisition of Forethought, customers can extend these self-improving agents to the platforms where their service operations already run, meeting customers and employees exactly where they are.

Specialized AI agents

Because every business has unique policies and edge cases, we are also introducing Agent Builder in early access. This allows customers to build, test, deploy, and improve Custom Agents using only natural language. These agents can navigate complex middle-office workflows, delegate tasks to other agents, and coordinate alongside human teams. We are also rolling out specialized Employee Service AI agents built for internal support, giving IT teams a way to provide instant, secure employee support and resolve issues, right in the flow of work.

Proactive copilots that turn insight into action

As AI handles more of the heavy lifting, human teams need better ways to understand where operations are breaking down and what to improve next. That is why we are introducing proactive copilots for every service role. Our next-generation Agent Copilot, now generally available, guides agents from day one by generating procedures directly from your internal sources. Behind the scenes, Admin Copilot, also generally available, offers 70+ proactive recommendations to guide admins through workflow improvements—already saving customers like Kaizen Gaming an average of 11 hours of admin work a week.

To keep the foundation of your service strong, Knowledge Copilot, in early access, helps teams maintain healthy content by monitoring gaps and highlighting targeted recommendations. For service leaders looking at the big picture, Analyst Copilot and Agentic Analytics, in early access, surface trends and identify root causes. To measure success, our new Quality Score, coming soon to early access, will automatically analyze 100% of AI and human interactions, giving teams a continuous view of service quality instead of relying on manual sampling or CSAT alone. Together, these copilots turn agentic insight into action, helping teams move from observing what’s happening to improving what happens next.

Analyst Copilot

AI systems that connect agents to more of what they need to take action

AI agents are only as effective as the knowledge, actions, and data they have access to. Action Flows for AI Agents, now in early access and generally available this summer, make it easier to automate workflows across systems using Action Builder, our no-code visual interface. To give agents the autonomy to reason across these systems, we are introducing the Zendesk Model Context Protocol (MCP). MCP establishes a new standard for AI integration, allowing agents through the MCP Client, in early access, to autonomously select the right tools for the job, while the trusted MCP Server, coming this summer, will let customers connect Zendesk to external AI agents and popular LLMs.

Action flows for AI agents

Because true resolution depends on having the right information at the right time, we are also expanding our Knowledge Connectors. Now generally available, these connectors link your AI agents to more external systems, including Notion, SharePoint, and Google Drive—complete with PDF ingestion for the latter two. This ensures that the wealth of knowledge already existing inside your business flows directly into the platform, empowering your agents to do more and improve with every interaction.

Innovations for employee service and contact center

As the Resolution Platform grows, we are breaking down silos to ensure seamless support across the entire operation. Voice support, for example, cannot exist in a vacuum. Our native, unified contact center, now generally available, brings a new call console directly into the Zendesk Agent Workspace. By allowing customers to purchase Zendesk and AWS together, we have removed the friction of setting up true omnichannel support, making it easier for AI and human teams to collaborate across every channel.

Unified contact center 

Exceptional service shouldn't stop at the customer—it must extend to your employees. To free internal IT teams from the complexity and cost of bloated legacy systems, we are introducing a modern Zendesk ITSM solution built for simplicity and fast time-to-value. The Zendesk ITSM solution includes our new permission-aware Employee Service AI agents, native IT Asset Management, and new integrations to automate critical IT workflows. With these capabilities, IT teams can provide seamless, efficient support while keeping employees productive, all built on the same Resolution Platform that powers Zendesk customer service.

Employee Service AI agents

One platform, built for resolution

The story here is not just about new capabilities. It is about what happens when AI agents, copilots, knowledge, workflows, and governance come together in one system.

That is the promise of the Resolution Platform. Not just more AI, but AI that does the work. Not just automation, but continuous improvement. With these new capabilities, Zendesk is helping businesses move closer to an Autonomous Service Workforce that resolves issues faster, scales intelligently, and improves over time.

Discover what’s next for the resolution platform
See the new AI agents, copilots, and platform capabilities we announced, and learn how Zendesk is evolving service for the autonomous era. Watch Zendesk Relate on-demand or subscribe to What's New to keep up with all our new innovations.