Zendesk Product Update March 2026: AI Tools for All and Enhanced Security

The March update from Zendesk marks a significant shift in 2026. It signals a move where advanced AI tools are integrated into standard plans, alongside stricter requirements for security and data control. Here is the complete overview of what’s new.

Agent Copilot and AI News

• AI Writing Tools for All: Copilot’s writing tools (expand, simplify, change tone) are now available for all Suite/Support Professional plans and above. You receive 5 uses per agent per month included, with a dedicated dashboard to monitor usage and evaluate upgrades.
• Free Up Licenses with Email AI: The new integration for advanced email AI agents now uses a system user instead of an authorized agent. This means the AI can handle emails without occupying a paid agent seat.
• Full Visibility with AI Agent Tickets: Zendesk will now automatically create read-only tickets for AI agent conversations. This ensures you can audit all conversations and see exactly what counts as an "Automated Resolution." This feature can be toggled off until May 4, 2026, after which it becomes permanent.
• Pre-approved Actions: Administrators can now approve low-risk actions for the AI to execute entirely automatically, removing the need for manual agent approval on routine tasks.
• Entity Reporting: A new dashboard in Intelligent Triage tracks specific entities (such as product names or order numbers) identified by AI, allowing you to see trends across all tickets.

Security and Support Efficiency

• Mandatory Authentication for Attachments: Starting April 2026, authenticated attachments become the standard. All files uploaded by end-users will require a sign-in to be viewed – a critical measure for GDPR and information security.

• Built-in Spell Check: A new native spelling and grammar checker is now available in the ticket composer, helping agents ensure professional communication without external tools.

  

  The setting can be activated and deactivated for the entire account:

  

• Global OAuth Token Expiration: To increase security, access tokens will now expire automatically. Existing local clients have until April 2027 to adapt to this new security flow.
• Lookup Fields in SLAs: You can now use custom "Lookup relationship" fields as conditions in SLA policies, providing far more flexible targets based on complex customer data.
• Restricted Visibility on User Fields: Enterprise customers can now hide specific custom user fields from certain roles, ensuring that only those who need it can see sensitive information.

Knowledge, Messaging, and Analytics

• Measure Conversions in Messaging: You can now track transaction values and conversion rates directly in Explore. The dashboard shows how many conversations actually lead to a sale or a completed task.
• Simplified Web Crawler: You no longer need complex sitemaps to index external content. Simply provide a URL, and Zendesk handles the rest of the indexing for your knowledge base.
• End-users Can End Conversations: Customers can now manually end a chat once the issue is resolved. This clears up the agent’s view and ensures more accurate CSAT measurements.
• Quick Answers Analytics: A new dashboard provides deep insights into search volume and the quality of answers provided by the generative AI search.

Voice, WFM, and Google Integration

• Forecast Scenarios (WFM): Create and compare different staffing forecasts (e.g., for holiday campaigns) to ensure optimal coverage.
• Unified Agent Status: Real-time status synchronization between Zendesk and WFM removes the need for agents to update status in two systems, providing 100% accurate time-tracking reports.
• Google Workspace Connectors: Use Action Flows to connect Zendesk directly to Google Gemini (AI analysis), Gmail, Drive, and Sheets.
• Forwarding Caller ID: Configure which number is displayed when forwarding calls via IVR, ensuring your calls aren't blocked as spam by the recipient.

Read more about what’s new from Zendesk here.

SoftwareOne’s Recommendation

This month, we especially recommend looking into Enhanced Security and AI Agent Tickets, and how these affect your reporting before the May deadline. We also see great potential for license cost savings by adopting the new System User Integration for Email AI.

Last but not least: Take the opportunity to test Copilot Writing Tools, now included with 5 free uses per agent per month. This is a perfect way to elevate the quality of your customer replies at no extra cost.