Zendesk CEO Tom Eggemeier On Building The Autonomous Service Workforce

What happens when customer service stops being a department and starts becoming an autonomous operational system?

Recorded live at, this conversation with Tom Eggemeier goes far beyond chatbots, copilots, and AI hype cycles. Instead, we explore why Zendesk believes the future of enterprise service will be built around what it calls an "autonomous service workforce," where AI agents, human experts, workflows, analytics, governance, and orchestration layers all work together as one continuously learning system.

Tom shares how Zendesk transformed its own internal operations using AI, achieving more than 60% autonomous resolution rates while simultaneously increasing customer satisfaction. We also discuss why the company is shifting away from measuring ticket deflection and toward measuring actual resolutions, what the Forethought acquisition means for Zendesk's long-term AI strategy, and why governance, permissions, and operational trust may become more important than the AI models themselves.

But this episode is about much more than software. Tom explains why he believes the next phase of enterprise AI will fundamentally reshape workflows, organizational structures, and even the role humans play inside modern businesses. We unpack the rise of specialized AI agents, why AI-to-AI interactions could soon outnumber human interactions, and why many organizations are underestimating the operational redesign required to make agentic AI work at scale.

We also discuss the hidden risks of fragmented AI systems, why disconnected tools continue to drain businesses, and how companies can balance autonomy with human oversight and empathy.

If you've been wondering where enterprise AI is really heading beyond the headlines, this conversation offers a fascinating look at how one of the biggest players in customer experience is attempting to redefine service itself.