Spotlight on success: Celebrating our 2023 Zendesk Partner Award recipients

At Zendesk, our Partner ecosystem is the cornerstone of our growth strategy. During our Sales Kick-Off event in San Diego, from January 10 to 14, 2024, we proudly unveiled our Partner Awards, recognizing the exceptional contributions of both our go-to-market (GTM) and Tech Alliance Partners. These awards stand as a testament to the invaluable role our Partners play in driving innovation and customer satisfaction. Just as our platform empowers businesses to deliver exceptional customer experiences, our Partners serve as vital allies, amplifying our collective impact. Together, we continue to celebrate the inclusive and collaborative spirit that defines our community, propelling us toward even greater achievements.

In addition to the content we shared at SKO, we also recognized the efforts of our top Partners and the impacts they made to drive customer success in 2023. Their invaluable contributions simplify business complexities and foster effortless connections between teams. Selected from over 2,700 Partners worldwide, award winners represent excellence in sales achievement and innovation. Here’s more about our winners and what they had to say.

Go-to-Market award winners

Most Valuable Partner of the Year: Route 101

Route 101 has excelled across various domains, earning this esteemed recognition for showcasing unparalleled dedication, expertise, and a remarkable ability to drive customer success. The company’s commitment to excellence sets a benchmark for the industry. Additionally, Route 101 has successfully implemented over 350 large projects, leading the way in innovating and optimizing Zendesk solutions. Supporting some of Zendesk’s largest clients across EMEA, Route 101 ensures it can maintain world-class customer service standards.

“We have partnered with Zendesk now for six years. Each year our business has grown, and I believe Zendesk has had a direct and significant impact on that growth. We love the product, and we love the ‘can-do attitude’ of Zendesk, which is absent in so many vendor relationships.”

—Russell Attwood, Business Development Director, Route 101

Regional GTM Partners of the Year

Recognizing the Partners who have excelled in sourcing the highest volume of business within their respective regions, this award celebrates their outstanding achievements and significant contributions to our GTM ecosystem.

North America – Sutherland

“Sutherland became a Zendesk BPO Partner years ago as we discovered that many of our clients were utilizing Zendesk tools as a lower-cost option to manage their customer support business. As more of our clients began adopting Zendesk, we developed our Zendesk expertise, integrated our digital Sutherland Customer Care solutions with Zendesk, and have also become a trusted systems integration Partner for Zendesk for new and existing customers. The Zendesk team has always been incredibly responsive to our needs and has been a great Partner helping to produce meaningful business outcomes for our joint customers.”

—Thomas Yemc, Global Alliances Lead, Sutherland

Asia – Blink CX

“Blink CX has always been about the ’customer-first’ agenda, and partnering with Zendesk has allowed us to fulfill this specific mission and help our customers succeed. The Zendesk organization is easy to work with because we are completely aligned with our objectives. And Blink CX is able to extend the Zendesk technology proposition through its services, completing the value loop for our customers. The trust and confidence that we have for each other is a good foundation for us to help more customers transform their customer’s experiences.”

—Darwin Jacquez, COO and VP of Sales, Blink CX

Japan – Eclect

“Our decision to partner with Zendesk is due to the growing importance of using technology in customer service. I have acquired knowledge and experience in various fields, including customer management, sales technology, and marketing technology. Looking ahead, the utilization of technology in customer service and customer experience seemed to become increasingly crucial.

Before becoming a Zendesk Partner, I had the chance to interact with Zendesk and offer implementation assistance to Zendesk customers. The value that Zendesk brings was confirmed to me by this experience. Subsequently, based on various experiences in implementation support, Eclect decided to form a partnership.

Eclect is aiming to improve the overall customer experience by leveraging the scalability of Zendesk and integrating various customer experience solutions.”

—Yasao Tsujimoto, CEO, Eclect

Europe, Middle East, and Africa – Premium Plus

“Choosing to partner with Zendesk was a strategic decision 11 years ago fueled by a shared commitment to excellence.

The depth and width of all of Zendesk’s solutions and innovations, coupled with our passion, best practices, and dedication have elevated our joined customer base to awesome heights (1,000+ paid customers).

We were honored to be recognized as the ‘Regional Zendesk CX leader of EMEA’ at the last [Sales Kick-Off] in San Diego, and winning Zendesk’s GTM Partner of the Year in EMEA award just validates the impact on our business, and these achievements are a testament to the impactful collaboration between Premium Plus and Zendesk.

We are looking forward to keeping on scaling up our collaboration, and we are very excited about our joint future!”

—Kurt Pinoy, CEO, Premium Plus

“Zendesk has the perfect combination of simplicity and customization. Their platform is easy to configure, and you can go from zero to fully functional in a matter of weeks. But their suite of customer care solutions also grows as our customers’ companies grow and scale from SMBs to large enterprises.

As CTO, it’s important that I guide our team and customers toward the best technical solutions and make sure we stay up to date on the latest trends and privacy and security features. And this is the main reason I love working with Zendesk. They not only build state-of-the-art AI automation features for customers and agents, but they build it starting from privacy-first principles. This way, we can trust that our customers not only get the best customer care platform out there, but we can also make sure they can keep their business and customers secure.

Where Zendesk stops, Premium Plus begins by leveraging the powerful Sunshine platform to integrate all data, channels, and tools our customers use right within their Agent Workspace and messaging conversations. And thanks to the close collaboration with the Zendesk product team, we can make sure our customers’ feedback reaches the right people at Zendesk so we can all work together to improve employee and customer experiences.”

—Thomas Verschoren, CTO, Premium Plus

Latin America – TECNA Sistemas

We want to also celebrate TECNA Sistemas for winning GTM Partner of the Year in Latin America.

GTM Partner Growth of the Year – PartnerHero

Recognizing remarkable achievement in business growth within the GTM partner category, the GTM Partner Growth of the Year award honors PartnerHero for its outstanding accomplishment of achieving the highest percentage of growth in sourced business year over year.

“As a leading outsourcing business focused on CX, we believe that PartnerHero must offer solutions that include best-in-class technology. To do that, we’ve strategically partnered with Zendesk to bring our customers a scalable help desk product that’s powered by AI. Through this partnership, our customers have a one-stop-shop for all their CX needs.”

—Hosam Hassan, Director of CX Strategy, PartnerHero

Deal of the Year – Appamondo

Presented to the GTM Partner that exceeded all expectations throughout the customer sales cycle, the Deal of the Year award acknowledges Appamondo for its exceptional performance and dedication in delivering remarkable outcomes. As a 12-year Zendesk Premier Partner, Appamondo considers deploying Zendesk an art and science driven by passion. Appamondo’s vertical-focused strategy has led to success stories in retail, e-commerce, consumer, hospitality, transport, ICT, and media sectors.

“We founded Appamondo on the principle that we would only work with and deploy best-of-breed technology in the CX space. Like a successful marriage, our partnership is built on a mutual understanding and respect for what each party brings to the relationship with each other, and ultimately to our customers. Long may it continue!”

—Michael Smith, Director and Co-Founder, Appamondo

Innovator of the Year – BCR.CX

We proudly present the Innovator of the Year award to BCR.CX in Latin America for its outstanding problem-solving skills and innovative approach. The company’s cutting-edge solution addresses customer challenges within the GTM Partner category, demonstrating a deep understanding of the unique LATAM market dynamics. This accolade celebrates BCR.CX’s creativity and problem-solving abilities in introducing the most innovative solution within the GTM Partner category to address customer issues.

“Partnering with Zendesk has been a transformative experience for us at BCR CX. The recognition as the Most Innovative Partner of the Year is a testament to the dynamic collaboration that has unfolded between our teams. Choosing Zendesk was a strategic decision rooted in the belief that innovation is the key to staying ahead in the competitive landscape of customer experience.

Our partnership with Zendesk has not only provided us with cutting-edge solutions such as 55PBX but has also empowered us to introduce groundbreaking technologies like Comma and Conciex. These additions have significantly elevated our capabilities, allowing us to tailor communication solutions that resonate with diverse global audiences.

The impact on our business has been substantial. The GTM Partner Innovator of the Year award is a crowning achievement, highlighting the foresight and dedication invested by both BCR CX and Zendesk. This recognition follows our journey from earning the Zendesk Premier Partner seal to being acknowledged for the highest number of success stories at Zendesk Showcase 2023.

Zendesk’s commitment to excellence and innovation has played a pivotal role in our success. The partnership has not only opened doors to new opportunities but has also fueled our commitment to producing even more integrations in the future.”

—Bruno Rodrigues, CEO and Co-Founder, BCR.CX and Rodrigo Leme, Director, BCR.CX

Tech Alliances award winners

Tech Partner of the Year for Required Customer Integrations:

Mid-Market and Commercial – Five9

Five9 was recognized as the Tech Partner of the Year for Required Customer Integrations in both the mid-market and commercial segments. The award celebrates a decade of partnership between Five9 and Zendesk, in which Five9 has pioneered seamless integrations and reshaped customer engagement. Moreover, Five9’s team has worked tirelessly to build trust and transparency with our GTM teams, which has recently allowed us to pursue opportunities together. Their commitment to innovation and collaboration sets a new standard for excellence.

“Five9 is proud to partner with Zendesk and help our joint customers provide exceptional CX. Together, we provide a platform for organizations to drive tangible business results and deliver Joyful CX™. We’ve been partnering for more than 10 years, and look forward to many years of successful collaboration.”

—Brian Jackson, Partner Development Director, Five9

Tech Partner of the Year for Required Customer Integrations: Enterprise – Microsoft Teams

We’re thrilled to announce Microsoft Teams as this year’s recipient of the Tech Partner of the Year award for Required Integrations in our enterprise segment. Despite being on the Zendesk Marketplace for only two years, the Microsoft Teams integration for Zendesk has rapidly become one of the most adopted integrations. It has significantly enhanced day-to-day workflows and engagement, providing critical functionality for seamless collaboration. Congratulations to the Microsoft Teams team on this well-deserved achievement.

Tech Partner of the Year for Required Customer Integrations: Small and medium – Shopify

E-commerce has always been a robust industry for Zendesk, and when it comes to choosing a best-in-class platform for businesses that want to scale, we see many of our merchants choosing Shopify. Shopify is our Tech Partner of the Year for Required Customer Integrations for our SMB segment. Our Shopify integration enables our customers to leverage all the information they need in a single location, so communication between their support team and customers is efficient, relevant, and personal. We are thrilled to see this partnership grow over the years and continue to expand into other Zendesk segments and regions.

Tech Partner of the Year for Customer Adoption – Notion

We applaud Notion for leveraging its creative marketing efforts to target customers with an innovative integration, resulting in over 300 installations within a short time frame. Despite being a newcomer to the Zendesk Marketplace, Notion’s integration has already seen significant traction. Notion’s innovative marketing strategies have been instrumental in this success, resulting in a remarkable 92.2 percent increase in installs in 2023.

“Notion’s strength as a connected workspace is in centralizing organizational knowledge, including Zendesk’s customer support workflows. Our integration enhances information discovery and team collaboration, thereby reducing context switching and boosting productivity. This award signifies our shared commitment with Zendesk to improve workflow efficiency and knowledge management.”

—Birkan Icacan, Head of Product for Enterprise, Notion

Tech Partner of the Year for Best Collaboration – SweetHawk

SweetHawk has been honored with the Tech Partner of the Year for Best Collaboration award. Praised by multiple Zendesk teams for its dependability and quick response times, Sweethawk’s compact yet powerful team has significantly enhanced our capacity to support customers and fulfill specific requirements for both customer experience and employee experience (EX) scenarios.

“The relationship between SweetHawk and Zendesk transcends typical business interactions; it’s a partnership defined by mutual support and deep collaboration, underscored by our exclusive focus on the Zendesk platform. This commitment has been crucial in enabling us to develop apps that not only effectively address the needs of Zendesk customers but also significantly enhance their overall experience.”

—Tom Hissink, CEO, Sweethawk

Looking ahead

We are truly proud of the accomplishments achieved by our Partners. Their success stands as a testament to their unwavering dedication to providing outstanding customer experiences. As we look ahead, we are thrilled to continue on this journey, nurturing innovation and mutual advancement. Our Partners play a vital role in our vision, and we await the opportunity to commemorate further shared triumphs in the months to come.

Are you intrigued by the prospect of becoming a Zendesk Partner? Our acclaimed CX and EX solutions provide a competitive advantage. Utilize them to develop distinctive services and tailor-made integrations that drive market expansion. Discover more about the process today.