Zendesk has agreed to acquire Forethought, a global conversational AI provider with a longstanding emphasis on customer experience automation.
The move will enable Zendesk to extend its vision for self-improving AI agents.
Many other vendors have touted self-improving agents. Typically, these involve another AI agent working behind the scenes to monitor emerging contact reasons, track how human reps solve them, and spin up new knowledge content that informs a customer-facing agent. However, Zendesk wants to take this concept further.
How? By developing what it calls a “Resolution Learning Loop". Via that loop, AI will scour for where resolution flows break down across processes and systems. It will then generate entirely new workflows, not just knowledge content, to solve real problems.
Ultimately, that shifts the focus from optimizing AI outputs to ensuring resolutions, aligning with Zendesk’s outcome-based pricing structure.
“[With Forethought] we will be scaling self-improving AI that learns from every interaction. But technology is just the means. Resolution is our identity, and loyalty is the outcome. This proposed acquisition will ensure our customers have the absolute best tools to drive measurable growth in the AI era.”
Yet, Forethought stands out for three core strengths.
The first relates closely to the idea of self-improving agents, and that is Forethought’s heightened focus on building APIs that allow organizations to embed AI across enterprise systems.
As such, Forethought can insert agents across internal workflows, connect them with company data, and build custom AI experiences on top of its platform. That sets the stalls for AI self-improvement.
Second, Forethought is ahead of many others in developing browser agents. These can log into systems, click through workflows, and execute tasks on behalf of users.
Consider what this means for the future of customer service automation. Instead of telling a customer how to update their account settings, an AI agent could potentially perform the action itself. This capability will help expand the scope of contact center AI.
Finally, consider Forethought’s vision for headless AI, where customer experience teams design AI-led service experiences while IT keeps control under the hood.
That arrangement, similar to Decagon’s Agentic Operating Procedures, tackles the ownership problem many organizations experience when scaling customer service AI.
Indeed, most contact center leaders believe they should take the lead as they understand customer journeys. IT leaders typically think differently, as they understand AI. Forethought aims to find a happy medium.
As such, Forethought can bring a lot to Zendesk, with the CRM giant suggesting the acquisition will accelerate its AI agent roadmap by a year, and Sami Ghoche, Co-Founder & CEO of Forethought, shared his excitement about what comes next.
“With Zendesk’s platform, resources, and global reach, we will bring our technology to many more organizations around the world, move faster on innovation, and continue pushing the boundaries of what AI can do in customer experience.”
Sami Ghoche
Co-Founder & CEO of Forethought
What’s Next for Forethought Customers?
Organizations may continue to work with Forethought independently once the acquisition goes through, which is expected before the end of March.
As a result, its current install base of 1,500 customers shouldn’t see any major disruption.
Seemingly, the arrangement will prove similar to how Cognigy operates after its roll-up by NiCE by September.
