Workrise creates custom CX solution for internal and external support

One Texas company knows what it takes to meet the evolving needs of the energy industry. By connecting the biggest players in energy with the vendors and the workers they need to deliver projects at scale, Workrise makes it easier, faster, and safer to power our world. Since 2014, Workrise has provided staffing, training, and professional services to some of the largest companies in the energy sector.

After becoming a Zendesk customer in 2018, Workrise continued expanding in size and geography, and swiftly moved to Suite Enterprise in 2021. The organization successfully transformed its general support instance into a customized CX platform, thanks to the Zendesk Suite’s robust tools, the platform’s flexibility, and the expert guidance of team leaders. Workrise saw a quick time to value and went on to build an enterprise-level service solution that delivers cost savings and a better experience for customers and agents.

Transforming CX from general setup to peak customization

The team was already exploring Premium Sandboxes and in the midst of a company rebrand when Jake Smith came on board. As Business Systems Manager, Smith oversees all the platforms that Workrise uses to communicate with workers and customers, including Zendesk.

It was clear that Workrise’s “general” Zendesk setup wasn’t customized to support the 10 or more teams operating from the account. Yet, Smith knew from experience that the system offered great potential and pointed out, “One of the things with Zendesk, especially when you get to the Enterprise Suite level, is that it can do an absurd amount of things.”

He was soon joined by Zachary Seay-Klatt, a new systems administrator who also possessed a deep understanding of Zendesk. Seay-Klatt’s team helps ensure that Workrise’s departmental and business needs align with the timing of new solutions being rolled out.

Together, Smith and Seay-Klatt began a process of granular optimization, which involved surveying Workrise team members to understand their specific needs, “dream scenarios,” and best outcomes–and to determine which Zendesk customizations would most benefit the team.

‘Aha’ moments optimizing Zendesk’s potential

The next step was helping agents and admins realize the breadth of standard Zendesk tools already at their fingertips. From ticket tracking to data reporting to automation, “A lot of these things are known, but when it comes time to put them into practice, they become the eye-opening “aha” moments of unlocking Zendesk’s potential,” says Seay Klatt.

With their deep knowledge of the platform, Smith and Seay-Klatt helped the team explore Zendesk optimizations for specific use cases, such as recreating ticket forms, building self-service, and automating workflows with triggers and macros.

To date, Workrise has 18 different teams using one instance of the Zendesk Suite Enterprise to provide external and internal support, each with different vertical focuses and workflows. The company relies on support ticketing, knowledge base, data reporting, chat, Agent Workspace, and Premium Sandbox, and has new Messaging and Talk channels in the works.

“Out of the box, the Zendesk Suite is really powerful,” Smith says. “You create your account, plug in a few things, and just get going–which is awesome. And it goes all the way to heavy usage of the API, and even past that is writing custom apps.” One of Smith’s most exciting use cases of Zendesk Sandbox so far: building a full NPS tool using only the Zendesk API and hidden ticket fields.

Putting ‘game-changing’ automations to work

As part of its vendor management services, Workrise provides access to hundreds of vendors, two-week onboarding, streamlined invoicing, and account support. The team introduced Zendesk automations to help usher workers through the onboarding process, which used to require manual tasks and time-consuming collaboration between teams.

Leveraging Zendesk helps streamline workflows and improve the onboarding experience for all external and internal partners involved: the worker applying on the Workrise platform, the business client, Workrise sales reps, Worker Onboarding and Worker Success Managers, as well as the Payroll and Operations teams.

In Seay-Klatt’s experience, “When you put Zendesk automations into practice and utilize them in real-time, it is game-changing. That’s how we move mountains.” With Zendesk, the team successfully automated 20 percent of its workflows, while maintaining a blue sky goal of 100 percent automation for onboarding.

Unlocking the power and cost savings of Zendesk APIs

Smith understands that “very small changes can have a large impact in the workflow and affect hundreds of tickets a day.” Those changes happened gradually as Workrise leaders adapted the CX system to different teams’ needs, but they added up to significant improvement.

By combining Zendesk APIs with the already powerful Suite, Workrise was able to unlock additional functionality to support its complex workflows. For example, by pairing a PDF reader with an API, Workrise was able to save 8 hours of work per week, equal to $20,000 in quarterly savings–all from a single change within Zendesk.

“Zendesk has competitors, that’s no secret, but the API for Zendesk is a completely new ballgame once you start using it,” says Smith. In less than two years, the Suite has empowered Workrise to streamline operations, reduce costs, and free up bandwidth so agents and system admins can focus on high-impact initiatives.

Consolidated data and support is a “necessity” for growth

Zendesk is now Workrise’s core support, communication, and data platform, which makes it a real “necessity” in Smith’s eyes. “Because everything is happening in Zendesk, we can use the data to track key issues and make informed decisions.” Centralized data and customizable reporting are especially advantageous for a growing company. “I don’t think we would have seen Workrise grow to where we are now had we not made the transition onto the platform,” adds Smith.

Seay-Klatt agrees that “everything in one place, all the time” is essential. “Our growth and internal scalability would not be possible without the Suite. We use every single module.” Looking ahead, the team plans on doing as much as they can within Zendesk.

Workrise recently moved to Zendesk Talk with the support of major stakeholders and saw immediate savings from consolidating vendors and reducing overhead. “The [Zendesk] Suite allows you to add functionality, like Messaging and Sunshine Conversations, which means you don’t need seats on other platforms.” As Smith says, “That’s the easiest, clearest cost savings.”

For the Workrise team, it’s reassuring to know that future innovations are just around the corner when you start with the right platform. “There are very few problems you can’t solve because of all the things that the Zendesk Suite can do,” Smith says. “For me, that is great peace of mind.”