Zendesk Announces Strategic Collaboration Agreement with AWS to Deliver AI-Powered Contact Center Transformation

Zendesk also named AWS Customer Experience Partner of the Year (Technology) – Global for driving customer success while helping businesses adapt and grow

Zendesk announced a Strategic Collaboration Agreement (SCA) with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to accelerate AI-powered contact center innovation and joint go to market to support the global growth of Zendesk Contact Center. The collaboration will focus on integrating Amazon Connect voice capabilities, conversational analytics, and sentiment analysis with Zendesk Contact Center, advancing Zendesk’s vision to power exceptional service for every person on the planet.

As customer expectations rise and contact centers require faster, seamless service, Zendesk and AWS will help businesses modernize their contact center operations with scalable, flexible voice and Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) solutions built on Amazon Connect — enhancing both customer and employee experiences. By combining Amazon Connect’s proven voice technology with conversational analytics capabilities and Zendesk’s AI for customer service powered by Amazon Bedrock, the collaboration creates a cohesive solution that unifies voice, digital channels, and AI automation.

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“Our collaboration with AWS addresses a critical industry challenge: contact centers are drowning in fragmented systems that create friction instead of resolution,” said Adrian McDermott, Zendesk CTO. “This collaboration helps Zendesk build the next generation of agent-centric solutions, where AI is seamlessly integrated — not bolted on — ensuring every interaction across channels, agents, and systems drives resolution.”

“Zendesk’s recognition as AWS’ Customer Experience Partner of the Year (Technology) – Global showcases their commitment to contact center innovation on AWS,” said Pasquale DeMaio, Vice President of Amazon Connect at AWS. “This Strategic Collaboration Agreement deepens our partnership by connecting Amazon Connect’s AI capabilities—including agents that reason and assist representatives—with Zendesk’s automation platform. Together, we’re empowering human-AI collaboration to enhance customer experiences, improve efficiency, and build trust.”

This SCA builds on Zendesk’s long-standing collaboration with AWS to help customers deliver the speed, responsiveness, and consistency they already expect. Zendesk Contact Center, built on Amazon Connect and powered by the AI-first Zendesk Resolution Platform, unifies AI, channels, and agent tools for customer service agents from day one. It seamlessly bridges systems and teams to resolve contacts faster across voice, self-service, and digital, while streamlining operations and retiring fragmented legacy stacks. With a single, scalable platform, organizations keep agents productive, customers delighted, and their contact centers ready for what’s next.

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This commitment to customer success is solidified with Zendesk’s recognition as the AWS Customer Experience Partner of the Year (Technology) – Global—an award honoring the top AWS Technology Partner with a horizontal business area focus on Customer Experience. This underscores how Zendesk and AWS continue to collaborate to drive innovation and deliver outcomes for customers, such as TELUS, to transform their contact centers.

“Working with AWS and Zendesk, TELUS Digital recently transformed customer support for a leading telecommunications client by deploying 24/7 asynchronous messaging powered by Zendesk Contact Center on the AWS secure, global infrastructure,” said Jamie Timm, SVP, Global Delivery and Operations, TELUS Digital. “The results included a five percentage point increase in First Contact Resolution and a 50 percent reduction in after-contact work time. Zendesk’s AI-powered platform truly empowers agents and elevates service to the next level, and through this deepened collaboration with AWS, focused on Amazon Connect, we’re excited to see how Zendesk Contact Center will continue to innovate.”

As part of this collaboration, Zendesk will offer a cohesive, multi-product solution combining the Zendesk Resolution Platform with Amazon Connect in the AWS Marketplace in the coming months.