At Zendesk, we value the feedback of our customers and consider it an important part of our process. That's why we offer early access programs (EAPs) for some features in development so that you can try out the feature in advance and give us feedback or report issues.
In addition to participating in EAPs, you might want to join our Experience Research Panel to learn about UX research opportunities.
We are offering early access opportunities for you to give input in the following areas:
- Zendesk Support
- Zendesk Analytics
- Zendesk messaging
- Zendesk AI agents
- Zendesk Copilot
- Zendesk Workforce Management
- Zendesk QA
- Developers
Important considerations
Participation in EAPs is completely optional, and availability may be limited. Be aware that pre-release features and functionality:
- May not always function as expected or meet your particular needs.
- Are not subject to any Zendesk Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that may be applicable to your Service Plan.
- Are not considered “BAA Covered Services” or “HIPAA-Enabled Add-Ons” under your Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with Zendesk if you are entitled to and have signed one.
- May be discontinued or significantly modified at Zendesk’s discretion.
When an EAP ends, Zendesk will often make the feature or functionality generally available to all eligible Zendesk customers. The feature or functionality may be included in an existing Service Plan, or it may require the purchase of an Add-on. Upon general availability, EAP participants may be required to upgrade Service Plans or purchase an Add-on to continue accessing the feature or functionality.
Zendesk Support
The following current and upcoming EAPs are available for Support:
Custom agents EAP
Zendesk is introducing the agent builder, which is a tool that puts the power to create agents directly in the hands of admins. With the agent builder, admins can create custom agents that handle deep, multi-system reasoning on behalf of AI and human agents. Custom agents can be tested, deployed, and optimized for your own specialized tasks, and integrated with Zendesk's conversational AI agents and Copilot.
Learn more about custom agents and the agent builder.
Zendesk Analytics
The following current and upcoming EAPs are available for analytics:
New report builder
The new report builder is a redesigned reporting experience that makes data exploration and report creation more efficient and intuitive for both beginners and advanced users.
Learn more about the new report builder.
Zendesk messaging
The following current and upcoming EAPs are available for messaging:
ChatGPT as a customer support channel
As customers increasingly turn to AI assistants, businesses need a way to ensure the support provided is accurate and follows standard business processes. This EAP leverages OpenAI’s Apps SDK and the Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, allowing businesses to extend their support presence directly into the ChatGPT interface.
Learn more about the EAP for employing ChatGPT as a support channel.
End-user presence for messaging
Zendesk has launched the user presence for messaging EAP, to identify if your end users are still on your website, or have abandoned the conversation by closing the website. This can help your business prioritize conversations where the end users are still on the website.
To learn more, see Understanding and managing end-user presence in messaging.
Zendesk AI agents
The following current and upcoming EAPs are available for AI agents:
Automation potential report
The automation potential report is a powerful tool that shows you how to leverage AI agents to automatically answer customer questions. The report analyzes your last 30 days of ticket data and provides insights on how you can increase your ticket automation rates.
Learn more about the Automation potential report EAP.
Voice AI agents
Zendesk voice AI agents are a natively integrated, agentic voice automation solution that delivers natural, real-time conversations over the phone. Voice AI agents extend Zendesk AI automation to the voice channel, enabling end-to-end call handling and seamless escalation to human agents with full context and conversation history carried into Agent Workspace.
Learn more about the voice AI agents EAP.
Zendesk Copilot
The updated auto assist experience makes it easier to set up auto assist. This EAP includes the following improvements:
- Streamlined onboarding: A guided setup flow that helps you configure auto assist, review AI-generated procedure drafts, and turn on suggestion modes.
-
Confidence mode: A new suggestion mode that generates suggestions only when auto assist is confident they're correct. It learns in real time from agent interactions and doesn't require the
agent_copilot_enabledtag. - Updated auto assist composer: An updated composer that lets agents continue typing while auto assist generates a suggestion in the background.
Learn more about the updated auto assist experience EAP.
Zendesk Workforce Management
The following EAPs are available for Zendesk Workforce Management (WFM). This section was formerly Tymeshift.
- Workstream prioritization
- Forecast vs Actual report
- Unassigned shifts
- Staffing panels week and month views
- Workday integration for WFM
- Importing forecast scenarios
Workstream prioritization
You can prioritize workstreams to ensure that you’re covering the right work at the right time.
Learn more about the Workstream prioritization EAP.
Forecast vs Actual report
The Forecast vs Actual EAP unveils a dynamic new reporting feature, offering users the ability to directly compare forecasted data with actual performance metrics within their operations. This reporting page is tailored to enhance decision-making and operational analysis by providing insights into Inbound Volume, Staffing, Average Handle Time, and Service Levels.
Learn more about the Forecast vs actual report EAP.
Unassigned shifts
Unassigned shifts are created without being assigned specific agents, allowing managers to ensure optimal coverage without focusing on individual team members. Once created, unassigned shifts can be shared with a group of agents who can apply to take them.
Learn more about the Creating and managing unassigned shifts EAP.
Staffing panel week and month views
This EAP allows you to view staffing panels in both week and month views in the WFM Schedule page. Staffing panels have provided key information in the Schedule page day view. With this EAP, staffing panel capabilities are being extended to the week and months views to help you analyze and perfect your teams' shifts on a broader scale.
Learn more about the Accessing the WFM schedule staffing panel.
Workday integration for WFM
Integrate Workday with your Zendesk Workforce management (WFM) account to automatically import approved time off data from Workday into WFM. Approved time off from Workday automatically synchronizes to the WFM Schedule and Time Off Management pages.
Learn more about the Workday integration with Workforce management.
Importing forecast scenarios (EAP)
The import feature in Forecast scenarios lets you bring your own forecasted values into WFM forecast via CSV uploads. If you have highly specific forecast and staffing calculation, aggregation, and rounding rules, you can now bring those trusted numbers into Zendesk WFM Forecast. By importing your customized inbound volumes and final staffing data directly into Forecast scenarios, you eliminate the need for manual reconciliation and preserve your existing workflows while taking advantage of other Zendesk WFM capabilities, such as auto‑scheduling and reporting.
Learn more about Importing forecast scenarios.
Zendesk QA
The following early access programs are available for Zendesk QA:
Real-time QA insights
Real-time QA insights leverage AI to detect predefined concerns in ticket conversations as they happen. These concerns include privacy, vulnerability, abuse, churn risks, and unresolved issues.Real-time QA insights appear in the Agent Workspace and Agent Home. Admins can also set up triggers to automate workflows when specific insights are detected.
Learn more about the Real-time QA insights EAP.
AutoQA AI Reasoning
AI Reasoning for AutoQA explains why AutoQA gives a specific grade or determines that a category doesn’t apply. When this option is enabled, you can see explanations that show the evidence and logic the AI used to determine a score or insight.
Learn more about the AutoQA AI Reasoning EAP.
Developers
The following early access program is available for workforce management (WFM).
WFM reports API
The WFM reports API is a powerful new tool for you to harness your data more effectively. This endpoint allows you to extract data from both default and custom reports by specifying the ID of the desired report template. The WFM reports API is currently in an Early Access Program (EAP).
You can sign up for the WFM reports API EAP.