Freshworks launches Freddy AI agents for swift deployment

Freshworks has unveiled a new generation of AI agents that can be deployed within 30 minutes and offer cost-effective solutions compared to alternatives such as Salesforce or ServiceNow.

The introduction of Freddy AI Agent seeks to address the needs of underserved midmarket businesses, facilitating customer service and IT support by autonomously resolving significant proportions of service requests. The company reports that these AI agents have achieved an average autonomous resolution of 40% of customer support queries and 45% of IT requests.

Dennis Woodside, Chief Executive Officer and President at Freshworks, highlighted the growing demand for straightforward AI service solutions over recent years. He stated, "Over the last six years, we've seen a rise in demand for our uncomplicated, AI-powered service solutions that make the lives of customer service and IT service managers easier and more efficient. Freddy AI Agent is a game-changer for organizations looking to accelerate customer service and employee service, fast. Most other software requires multiple weeks and implementation fees to deploy an AI agent, but we've designed Freddy to be deployed without code or consultants in minutes."

Freddy AI Agent has been adopted by several mid-sized companies, including Bchex, Porsche eBike, Hobbycraft, and Live Oak Bank, which have incorporated the new AI agents into Freshdesk and Freshservice platforms. These businesses report substantial gains in productivity and operational efficiency.

The AI agents are designed to be deployed rapidly, without the need for coding or specialist consultants, and learn by processing information from businesses' existing resources such as documents and websites. "The best part is how quickly it can be deployed. If you have your FAQ and data ready, you can upload it to the platform and have a new AI agent ready in 20 minutes," said Amanda Pope, Customer Success Product Manager at Bchex.

For IT operations, Alexander Wünsch, Chief Financial Officer at Porsche eBike Performance, shared, "Freshservice's AI capabilities are the backbone of our IT operations. With features like conversational support and the solution article generator, we are now able to deliver intelligent and user-centric IT support. Freshservice is simple and easy to understand, even for those without deep technical knowledge or rigorous IT training."

The AI agents also promise a more interactive employee experience, with support features that function across collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams and Slack. This allows employees to efficiently address routine queries and tasks without lengthy delays.

Snow Tempest, Research Manager at IDC, commented on the benefits, noting, "We're seeing promise for how AI agents can enhance the employee experience. Providing these AI-powered tools can reduce the burden of rote work on IT teams while maintaining engagement with internal employees, empowering them to focus on meaningful work, reduce burnout, and foster collaboration."

Murali Swaminathan, Chief Technology Officer at Freshworks, indicated the future direction for AI in the workplace. He said, "We're only just beginning to see the positive impact of agentic AI on the workplace. From advisor to active problem-solver, an orchestrated symphony of specialized agents can thoughtfully handle a large and growing percentage of daily requests and help employees do their jobs more effectively. Copilots also step in to assist the human agent, further automating tasks and workflows that run a business. Freshworks is researching and applying the best of both worlds where people and AI can work together."

The announcement of Freddy AI Agent follows Freshworks' previous generative AI solutions launched in June 2023. The platform-agnostic agents utilise advancements in large language models (LLMs) to enhance service capabilities across various industries.