Zendesk has acquired Smooch Technologies Holdings, a Montreal-based startup that promotes an omnichannel communications platform. The result: Zendesk's core IT service management and CRM platforms will be able to connect more easily and seamlessly with customers through apps like WhatsApp, WeChat, Line, and Messenger, along with email and SMS. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In some ways, Zendesk is looking to compete against Salesforce and ServiceNow in both the CRM and IT service management markets, while also gaining communications capabilities along the way.
Founded in 2015, Smooch uses AWS-hosted technology to collect messages from mobile, messaging apps, and the web and combines that with user activity and other existing profile data. The collected data allows businesses to create customized customer service experiences.
Mikkel Svane, Zendesk founder, CEO and chairman, commented on the deal:
"We live in a messaging-centric world, and customers expect the convenience and interactivity of messaging to be part of their experiences. As long-time partners with Smooch, we know first hand how much they have advanced the conversational experience to bring together all forms of messaging and create a continuous conversation between customers and businesses."
Warren Levitan, co-founder and CEO of Smooch, added:
“With their launch of Sunshine last year, Zendesk took the bold and disruptive step required to compete for and win the future of CRM. The decision to combine forces with Zendesk and help further their CRM strategy will allow us to supercharge our existing mission for building the best customer experiences. We are thrilled to be joining the entire Zendesk team, so many of whom we have had the pleasure to work with over the past three-and-a-half years.”
The CRM Shift
Zendesk has been working to expand beyond its IT service management roots to the CRM field. It was a move started with the company’s acquisition of Base in September 2018. Smooch’s technology is an API and SDK-based development platform built on AWS. Zendesk says this acquisition furthers its commitment to an open, flexible CRM for businesses to use in order to offer differentiated customer experiences.
In recent months, Zendesk has also:
Zendesk was founded 10 years ago in Copenhagen, Denmark and is currently based in San Francisco. The company went public in 2014.
