Leading cloud comms company sees major CX gains with Zendesk

Sinch Engage (formerly MessageMedia) is a global business messaging provider that helps more than 70,000 businesses—from SMBs to major enterprises—communicate with their customers through SMS, MMS, voice, and email channels.

As part of Sinch’s broader business, which has grown rapidly through acquisitions—including Mailgun, Mailjet, and other communications platforms—Sinch Engage plays a critical role in delivering customer communications at scale.

Zendesk chosen as “platform of choice”

Rochelle Halpin, Head of Support Applications at Sinch, oversees customer support applications across several company units. Her team supports more than 50 percent of Sinch’s total CX volume through Zendesk. But with another company unit now being brought onto Zendesk, that number is expected to rise to 75 percent.

Before adopting Zendesk, Sinch Engage used another platform that was extremely developer dependent. “Anytime we wanted to make a change or do something new, we had to go through partners, which added costs and delays,” recalls Halpin.

As the company scaled, so did its complexity. Supporting 12 different brands within a single Zendesk instance, coordinating a 24/7 global team, and managing growing expectations around self-service and efficiency made it clear that a unified solution was required.

Multiple RFPs over the years reinforced this decision. After evaluating other major players in the space—and running proofs of concept—Zendesk emerged as the platform of choice. Notably, the strength of Zendesk’s relationship with Sinch was a deciding factor, as was the platform’s exceptional flexibility and scalability.

Setting up a unified CX platform

With the decision made, the team quickly got to work determining the best tools and software to activate and integrate with the Zendesk Suite. Zendesk AI was high on the list so that agent copilot could be leveraged to assist agents and boost overall CX efficiency.

Sinch made additional moves as part of the CX transformation project. For its phone channel, the company transitioned from using RingCentral to Zendesk Voice. To support its workforce engagement management (WEM) needs, the team selected Zendesk Workforce Management (WFM) and rolled out Zendesk QA–replacing Playvox.

Finally, a decision was made to use Zendesk’s robust customized reporting and analytics to measure progress.

Shifting channels for more efficient CX

Today, Sinch supports multiple channels through Zendesk—with a focus on messaging and webforms—which the team finds ideal for maximizing the use of AI functionality.

While the company continues to offer phone and email support channels, those are reserved for VIP clients or clients on a paid support plan. This shift was part of Sinch’s CX overhaul to optimize agent efficiency and increase self-service.

The support channel mix used to be 70 percent phone and email. Now, messaging and web forms are handling that volume far more effectively.

“The move to AI friendly channels of messaging and webforms was done over a six-month period, and had no negative impact on our CSAT or customer experience,” says Halpin. “It’s been a game changer.”

AI at the heart of the CX strategy

Central to Sinch Engage’s CX transformation has been a deliberate pivot to self-service, supported by AI capabilities. The team rebuilt its help center, optimized articles, and implemented AI agents to drive self-service and automate resolutions.

Meanwhile, the global team of agents is actively using Zendesk AI’s Copilot to:

● Detect and fill knowledge gaps
● Suggest macros and replies
● Summarize conversations
● Adjust tone for professionalism or friendliness
● Route tickets using intents

AI’s biggest benefits have come in agent productivity and training. “Our agents love the writing tools,” says Halpin “Summarize, tone shift, expand—it’s all making their jobs easier. Agents also benefit from suggested macros. And the similar tickets feature helps ramp up new agents faster.”

Metrics show quick time to value

By leveraging omnichannel routing, shifting to Messaging with generative AI replies, and enabling AI Copilot, Sinch Engage has significantly boosted its customer support efficiency.

● The self-service automation rate increased nearly 2X over the course of a few months–from 17 percent to 32 percent.
● First reply times are down 79 percent and full resolution times have improved by 47 percent.
● Average monthly ticket volumes are down 7.4 percent.
● With Zendesk QA, agent quality reviews jumped from 392 to 554 in just one month–an increase of 41 percent.
● Achieving an all time high 93.8 percent CSAT score, an increase of more than 5 percentage points

Beyond the numbers, internal perception of Zendesk has soared. Executive management now champions the Zendesk-led CX transformation. “My manager describes Zendesk as the ‘gold standard’ that other teams are now aiming to match,” boasts Halpin. “Zendesk has become the bright light in our business.”

Change management helps drive AI adoption

A key driver behind the customer support transformation lies in intentional change management. The support team runs monthly internal “Zendesk Express” updates–brief animated videos, release notes, and Confluence pages–to keep CX teams informed and engaged.

AI champions within teams drive peer adoption, while leaders track engagement and provide just-in-time coaching.

The team also sees Zendesk AI as a tool for creating internal mobility. Offshore agents are being promoted into roles traditionally held onshore, thanks to the efficiencies and tooling now available.

“That’s something we never thought we’d be able to do five years ago,” reflects Halpin. “AI is helping our team grow in ways we didn’t imagine.”

A strong partnership for the future

Looking ahead, the Sinch Engage team is focused on expanding its use of AI auto assist procedures, deeper integrations, and even proactive customer engagement.

“We want to find more ways a customer doesn’t have to reach out to us,” says Halpin. “If they can get what they need without waiting, that’s a better experience for everyone.”

Going forward, the team will continue to plan the Zendesk roadmap in partnership with their Zendesk customer success manager (CSM) and release updates in a steady, digestible way.

When asked what she would tell other companies considering Zendesk, Halpin didn’t hesitate: “The Zendesk platform is powerful, but it’s the people and the partnership that make it transformative. That’s what sets Zendesk apart.”