How GLL is transforming CX with Zendesk AI

GLL is the largest UK-based charitable social enterprise delivering leisure, health and community services. The organization exists to improve the physical, mental, and social well-being of the communities it serves.

Under its consumer-facing brand, Better, and in partnership with 50 local councils, GLL operates over 250 leisure centres, 114 libraries, and 10 children’s centres that collectively welcome 52 million visitors annually and serve 700,000 members.

Shaping a new CX model

Like any organisation, GLL faces external pressures beyond its control, such as rising energy costs, inflation, reduced funding, and increased competition. These factors underscore the importance of operating cost-effectively and efficiently. Every investment must deliver maximum value and align with its customer-first mission.

To this end, in 2015, GLL replaced Microsoft Outlook with Zendesk, giving its customer service advisers a more structured way to handle consumer queries. “We looked at a couple of different platforms, and Zendesk was the best suited for us,” says Head of Customer Service, Christian Brown.

The decision marked the start of a strategic partnership with Zendesk. When the pandemic struck in 2020, it brought service challenges that would fundamentally reshape GLL’s service model, positioning Zendesk as a critical enabler of a new CX strategy.

“To do CX properly, we needed to take an organisational-wide approach,” explains Joe Rham, GLL’s Customer and Communities Director. “We wanted to centralise our communications and use technology to ramp up customer service.”

Enhancing service through centralization

In 2021, GLL consolidated its de-centralized service advisers across 250 locations to just two centres: one in Belfast and a second in Woolwich. The team integrated its comms systems with Zendesk, making the CX platform the central hub for all inbound and outbound customer communications.

During its first year, the Belfast service centre handled over 400,000 queries, with more than 93 percent resolved during the initial contact. Management also had unprecedented visibility into call volumes and customer interactions.

“We improved answer rates, response times, and the quality of our answers and information,” reports Brown. “Plus, now we can track all calls and emails; something we couldn’t do before because everything was localised.”

Today, GLL receives roughly 1.5 million phone calls annually, which represents about 85 percent of its inbound volume. Service advisers handle an additional 500,000 interactions through emails, web forms, and social media. Trustpilot is also integrated into Zendesk Suite.

Extending Zendesk to support internal teams

In 2023, eager to replicate the success in its customer support centres, GLL moved several employee teams from Outlook to Zendesk, including the pension, payroll, business intelligence, CRM, and legal departments.

“Zendesk has been a really successful tool for us in the customer service space,” says Brown. “We saw great value in providing some of our key internal teams with the same professional environment and functionality.”

Embracing AI as a CX and business imperative

Recently, GLL took another significant step in its CX transformation journey by implementing Zendesk AI agents, Copilot, QA, and WFM technologies. “The goal is to deploy AI intelligently to complement the workforce, not replace it, and give them the additional tools and support they need to provide exceptional service,” says Brown.

The Zendesk account team articulated a clear vision of the broader AI portfolio and demonstrated the quantifiable positive business impact and value to GLL’s investment board.

For example, as part of the bidding process, councils routinely want to know how organisations are using technology to support communities and customers.

Brown adds, “To win or retain contracts, technology has to be in our DNA, across every method and channel of support.”

“Zendesk is almost an extension of our business now, and that’s probably one of the greatest compliments I can pay,” says Rham. “There’s a lot of people on hand to support us and drive our business forward.”

Rolling out AI gradually for greater adoption

One of GLL’s greatest concerns about AI was the risk of hallucinations and providing faulty information to customers. To build confidence among staff and leadership, GLL is taking a phased approach to AI, making improvements incrementally that lay the groundwork for wider adoption.

“What really attracted us to Zendesk AI was the ability to move at our own pace,” says Rham. “Zendesk’s flexibility allows us to control, adjust, and refine information. With other systems, it often feels like an all-or-nothing approach, lacking the control we need.”

As a first step, GLL recently introduced an AI agent on its newly-designed website’s help centre, making it easier for customers to find answers to common questions 24/7. The ultimate goal is to resolve 40 percent of tickets without human intervention.

The power of AI for customers and service advisors

Soon, AI-powered tools like agent copilot will automate repetitive tasks so service advisers can focus on more complex customer enquiries. AI capabilities such as intelligent triage will prioritize and route tickets to the right advisers, while omnichannel routing will streamline communication for faster and more cohesive responses.

GLL also plans to use generative AI to help customers find answers more quickly. Generative AI uses large language model (LLM) algorithms to analyze large data sets to almost instantaneously deliver relevant information to questions.

The CX team will be focused on the continual improvement of its AI agent over time–monitoring responses and improving the dialogues–to deliver even greater value to its customers. Future plans also include integrating the AI agent with GLL’s internal systems for more specific and personalized responses.

Zendesk Assist professional services is advising and collaborating with the GLL team on the AI implementation, as well as all phases of the CX transformation project.

Optimizing service performance with QA

To improve workforce scheduling and forecasting, GLL is implementing Zendesk Workforce Management (WFM). The team expects this move to increase staff efficiency by more than three percent.

And to provide more targeted training and coaching for its advisers, GLL is adopting Zendesk QA to analyse and evaluate customer interactions. Currently, managers use manual processes and small samples of conversations to coach service advisers.

With the new quality assurance capabilities, GLL anticipates increasing its CSAT score by over 30 percent.

“Being able to automate QA for all call activity instead of relying on manual processes will be an absolute game-changer to us,” says Brown. “Auto QA will let us analyse a much larger data set, giving us the confidence that we’re supporting and training our staff the right way.”

Acting quickly on data insights

Centralising support on Zendesk has given GLL unexpected insights into customer trends, enabling it to react quickly to issues. Brown recalls when the service centres received 13,000 interactions in a single day—far above the usual 3,000—during an unusually hot day as Londoners sought out open air swimming locations to beat the heat.

“Reviewing calls and tickets in Zendesk, we found that our website lacked basic information, like pool booking processes and guidelines,” recalls Brown. “We immediately updated our website. On the next hot day, just three weeks later, interactions dropped by 50 percent.”

Previously, local teams would have handled this event in isolation, and those spikes wouldn’t have been noticed so fast. “It’s the most impactful example of Zendesk helping us identify issues, act quickly, and prepare for future challenges,” adds Brown.

The road ahead

The early benefits of GLL’s CX transformation initiative promise even more success in the future.

To integrate AI into their Zendesk instance, Brown and the GLL team worked in close partnership with their Zendesk Customer Success Manager, Peter Eshkeri, together with AI agent specialists.

“This greatly strengthens our relationships with existing partners and gives us a strong platform to secure future contracts,” says Brown. “Our centralised service through Zendesk is a valuable asset and differentiator, offering a benefit that other operators lack. It’s been a tremendous win for us.”