Customer service and sales software provider Zendesk Inc. today announced that it has acquired artificial intelligence-powered workforce management solution Tymeshift Inc. for an undisclosed price.

Founded in 2017, Tymeshift offers a made-for-Zendesk workforce management or WFM designed to help organizations track real-time agent activity, productivity and efficiency. The company’s service provides visibility into agent activity and automatic tracking in Zendesk, allowing support teams to save valuable time previously spent on manual workforce management tasks by automatically creating schedules, forecasts and real-time reports.

Tymeshift features include predictive AI-powered forecasting, which uses Zendesk data to predict ticket volumes and topics, enabling businesses to forecast future staffing needs. Real-time insights allow users to lower operational costs. The feature allows for more accurate forecasting by using existing data to anticipate future trends, thereby mitigating potential operational challenges and promoting more strategic resource allocation.

The machine learning capability in Tymeshift ensures businesses are not left playing catch-up but are instead proactively addressing potential staffing needs based on data-driven predictions.

Another feature of Tymeshift is a scheduling capability that automatically generates a complete schedule based on customers’ staffing forecasts. With a data-driven approach, companies can optimize their workforce deployment, mitigating the risk of over- or under-staffing.

Tymeshift offers robust reporting capabilities, allowing for the visualization of historical and real-time data to optimize costs and service levels. The company also provides visibility of team productivity and performance, equipping businesses with the necessary insights to make informed staffing decisions and improve overall productivity.

“Companies of all sizes benefit from WFM tooling, so Tymeshift was a natural choice when looking to expand our product portfolio,” Matt Price, senior vice president of Zendesk, said ahead of the announcement.

Zendesk’s acquisition of Tymeshift is said to mark a new era in Zendesk’s progression toward “Intelligent CX.” Intelligent customer experience uses AI and machine learning technologies to enhance and personalize customer interactions, providing real-time insights and predictive analytics to optimize customer service and engagement.

Combining Tymeshift’s predictive features with Zendesk’s established AI capabilities is claimed to “power the next generation of AI-assisted CX productivity.” The integration aims to make organizations more productive in how they manage their customer service resources.

Image: Tymeshift