// Trust & Security Report
Zendesk, Inc. (formerly Ultimate.ai Oy, Helsinki - acquired by Zendesk, March 2024)
Ultimate.ai was a standalone conversational-AI / customer-service-automation platform founded in Helsinki in 2016. Zendesk acquired it in March 2024 and fully absorbed it into the Zendesk Suite; it is no longer sold as an independent product. It now operates as 'AI Agents - Advanced (Ultimate)', the top automation tier of Zendesk's AI Agents line (sitting above 'AI Agents - Essential').
Certifications held
10
Maturity
Enterprise
Trains on your data
Unknown
Trust center
Yes
// Certification ledger
Each held certification is backed by a verbatim quote from the vendor's own trust or security page. “Not confirmed” means we could not verify it publicly, not that the vendor lacks it.
Verify on support.zendesk.com“Product-in-scope list for SOC 2: 'Ticketing, Help Center, Community Forums, Messaging and live chat, Reporting and Analytics, Messaging platform (Sunshine Conversations), Voice, AI Agents, Mobile Apps, Mobile Software Development Kits, Automations & intelligence.'”
Verify on support.zendesk.com“'The scope of the ISO/IEC 27001:2013 ... certifications are bounded by Zendesk, Inc.'s global network infrastructure' covering management of Zendesk's core services; AI Agents is separately listed as SOC 2/ISO/HIPAA in-scope on the compliance-scope page.”
Verify on support.zendesk.com“'The scope of the ... ISO/IEC 27018:2014 ... certifications are bounded by Zendesk, Inc.'s global network infrastructure.'”
Verify on support.zendesk.com“'The scope of the ... ISO/IEC 27701:2019 ... certifications are bounded by Zendesk, Inc.'s global network infrastructure.'”
Verify on support.zendesk.com“'The scope of the ... ISO/IEC 42001:2023 certifications are bounded by Zendesk, Inc.'s global network infrastructure.' Blog: 'Zendesk achieves ISO 42001 certification... scope includes Zendesk AI, Zendesk LMS, Zendesk QA, and Zendesk WFM.'”
Verify on zendesk.com“Zendesk is described in its own privacy documentation as 'a third-party data processor under the GDPR' and offers 'features to support GDPR compliance, including native notice options seamlessly embedded into our tools,' plus a public Data Processing Agreement incorporating EU SCCs.”
Verify on support.zendesk.com“AI Agents is listed among the products in scope for the SOC 2 / ISO 27001 / HIPAA compliance table on Zendesk's own compliance-scope page; HIPAA support requires signing a BAA and the Advanced Data Privacy and Protection add-on.”
Verify on zendesk.com“'PCI-DSS - For more information on automatically redacting credit card numbers or adding a credit card identification field' (corporate/platform-level cert; not confirmed as AI-Agents-specific in the product compliance-scope table).”
Verify on zendesk.com“'CSA STAR AI Levels 1 & 2 certify advanced cloud security and AI governance practices, with Zendesk proudly being the first in the industry to achieve this recognition.'”
Verify on zendesk.com“UK government-backed certification 'that demonstrates an organization's commitment to strong cybersecurity through independent verification of key controls.'”
> Show 1 unconfirmed / not-held certifications
source: support.zendesk.comFedRAMP Li-SaaS Tailored product list: 'Ticketing, Help Center, Community Forums, Reporting and Analytics, Voice, Messaging, Agent Workspace, AI Agents - Essential.' Only the Essential (lower) tier is in scope; 'AI Agents - Advanced (Ultimate)' is NOT listed as FedRAMP in-scope.
// Privacy & AI training
Trains on customer data
Not stated
Data processing agreement
Offered
Data region
Customer-selectable data locality (US, EU/EEA, Australia, Japan) per Zendesk's Regional Data Hosting Policy; specific policy applying to the legacy Ultimate.ai workloads post-migration was not independently confirmed.
Zendesk's own AI Data Use documentation names the acquired product explicitly: for 'AI Agents - Advanced (Ultimate),' 'if Service Data is needed for training, customers directly determine how to sanitize the training dataset' - i.e. training only happens on an opt-in, customer-controlled, account-scoped basis, not by default and not shared cross-customer. Generative AI features on third-party LLMs are separately stated to not be trained on Zendesk customer data at all. Set to null rather than false because Advanced/Ultimate-tier training is customer-instructed, not categorically absent.
// Security controls
Encryption in transit
HTTPS/TLS 1.2+ (platform-wide Zendesk standard; not a distinct Ultimate.ai control)
zendesk.comEncryption at rest
AES-256 in AWS; BYOK available via Advanced Data Privacy and Protection add-on
zendesk.com// Products & data scope
data: Processes end-customer conversation Service Data across web, mobile, email, and voice; can be trained on account-scoped Service Data only if the customer opts in and controls sanitization.
This is the direct successor product to the standalone Ultimate.ai platform; NOT covered by Zendesk's FedRAMP LI-SaaS authorization (only 'AI Agents - Essential' is).
data: Lower-complexity automation bundled into standard Zendesk Suite plans.
This tier, not the former Ultimate/Advanced tier, is the one covered by FedRAMP LI-SaaS.
// What to watch
- IDENTITY: 'Ultimate.ai' is not an operating, independently-assessable vendor as of this review. ultimate.ai 301-redirects to https://www.zendesk.com/service/ai/ai-agents.
- All certifications listed here are Zendesk's corporate/platform certifications, not certifications independently earned by 'Ultimate.ai' as a company. They are attributed to the acquired product only because Zendesk's own compliance-scope documentation explicitly lists 'AI Agents' (SOC 2/ISO 27001/HIPAA) and by name 'AI Agents - Advanced (Ultimate)' (AI Data Use policy) as in-scope. Treat this as inherited-via-acquisition coverage, not organic Ultimate.ai certification history.
- FedRAMP LI-SaaS explicitly does NOT cover the Advanced/Ultimate tier - only 'AI Agents - Essential.' Any AIFOXX listing implying FedRAMP coverage for 'Ultimate' would be an over-claim.
- Recommend the two listings be reconciled (merge/redirect 'ultimate-ai' to 'zendesk-ai', or clearly label 'ultimate-ai' as a legacy/discontinued brand) rather than displaying them as two independent competing vendors.
- trains_on_customer_data set to null (not false): the Advanced/Ultimate tier permits customer-instructed, account-scoped training, which differs from the platform-wide 'never trains on customer data' claim used for generative LLM features.
// At a glance
Pricing model
No longer sold standalone. Available only as a paid add-on/tier ('Advanced') within Zendesk Suite subscriptions; legacy independent Ultimate.ai pricing/contracts no longer apply.
Self-hostable
No
// How we verified this
Every certification marked HELD is confirmed against a verbatim quote on Zendesk, Inc. (formerly Ultimate.ai Oy, Helsinki - acquired by Zendesk, March 2024)'s own trust, security, or privacy pages. We reject certifications claimed only on third-party aggregators, on a cloud host's behalf, or by a similarly named company.
Last verified 2026-07-09. Compliance changes over time. Always confirm directly with the vendor before relying on any certification for a purchasing or compliance decision.
zendesk.com