Zendesk Sell Series Part 1: Zendesk Sell is retiring — here's everything you need to know

Zendesk Sell Is Retiring: What Every Business Needs to Know Before 2027

In This Episode

Zendesk has announced that Zendesk Sell will be retired, with the platform scheduled to cease operation on 31 August 2027. While that date may seem a long way off, businesses relying on Zendesk Sell need to start planning now. The CRM itself will continue operating until the retirement date, but once that deadline arrives, access to the platform and its data will be permanently removed.

In this first episode of the Motii Playbook Zendesk Sell Series, Katie Tassone-Milligan is joined by Motii Senior Implementation Specialist Kate Hay to unpack exactly what the retirement means for businesses. Together, they explore why Zendesk is stepping away from the CRM market, the broader technology trends driving that decision, and what customers should be doing today to protect their data and future sales operations.

The conversation also highlights a common misconception: migrating from one CRM to another is not simply a matter of exporting contacts and importing them elsewhere. Workflows, automations, reporting, activity history, attachments, user setup, compliance records and business processes all need to be considered. For many organisations, the migration itself may take weeks, but the planning, data preparation, platform selection and team adoption process can take 12 to 18 months.

Most importantly, this episode reframes the Zendesk Sell retirement as an opportunity rather than a disruption. Businesses now have the chance to review their current systems, improve processes, involve key stakeholders and select a platform that better supports their future growth.

What We Cover

• Why Zendesk Sell is being retired and what the August 2027 deadline means
• The industry shift separating CRM platforms from customer service platforms
• What data can and cannot be exported from Zendesk Sell
• Why CRM migrations are more complex than simply moving contacts and deals
• The risks of delaying migration planning until the final months
• How to assess whether your current data is ready for migration
• Why businesses should involve their teams early in the decision-making process
• The role of change management during CRM transitions
• Alternative CRM options including Pipedrive, Salesforce and Monday.com
• When it makes sense to engage an implementation partner to support migration

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Modi acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia. We pay our respects to elders past and present and acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first peoples of this land. Welcome to the Modi Playbook. If you've ever felt like your systems are technically in place but somehow still feel chaotic behind the scenes, you're in the right spot. This is where we share what we're seeing, what's working, what's not, and the lessons businesses learn the hard way. Think of it as practical strategy straight from the trenches. Let's dive in.

SPEAKER_02 0:36

Hello and welcome to the Modi Playbook One Shift, One System, One Measurable Improvement. Today's episode is a little bit different in that we are going to be talking about something that's happened very specifically estate-based. We are going to be talking about Zendesk Cell. And if you are using Zendesk Cell, you would be aware that they are actually retiring the platform. So what we are doing is we actually created a mini-series where we're going to be pulling together the most common questions for anybody who's dealing with this issue, who's considering what is the next step, what should they be doing with Zendesk Cell retiring, so that you have a clear and honest picture of what it means for you and what to do about it. And I'm very excited to have one of our senior implementation specialists at Modi here with me. I've got Kate. Hi, Kate. Hello. And of course, I'm Katie, the marketing and branding specialist here at Modi. So between the two of us, we are going to cover all of the FAQs today. First episode in the series will be just everything you need to know. High level stuff. So shall we dive in, Kate? Let's do it. Sounds good. Perfect. Okay. So for anybody who's just heard the news, what exactly is happening with Zendest Cell? What does it mean that this platform is retiring?

SPEAKER_01 1:50

So Zendesk Cell have announced that they are retiring their platform on the 31st of August in 2027. So it seems like a little bit of a way away. This announcement was made on September the 9th, 2025, so last year. And what it means is that they're exiting the sales CRM market and they're reshifting and re-pivoting to focus on their customer service arm, their support automation, and their contact center tooling. So what this means is Zendesk's customers are being pushed towards alternative platforms to support their business. And Zendesk are referencing that there will be migration support inside of that retirement notice to push their customers into a different platform. So the actual product is still working today and it's still getting maintenance updates and it's still running, you know, day-to-day operations, but that does have a very hard deadline on it that will be ceasing on August 31st.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

Yeah, for sure. So Zendesk sell is a CRM and they're retiring the actual CRM component of their business. And because Zendesk is most well known for their ticketing and customer service software. They're going to mainly be focusing on that. And AI, is that right?

SPEAKER_01 2:53

Yeah, that's correct. So there's sort of what sits underneath this is that there's an industry trend at the moment where CRM is sort of splitting into two different places. You know, there are revenue and go-to-market style systems. So you're thinking the likes of like HubSpot, Salesforce, and you know, Monday and things like that. And then there's AI first or, you know, service platforms, which are your Zendesk, your Intercom, Freshworks, you know, and other platforms that are out there too. So really what's happening here is that um Zendesk, instead of focusing on both of those sort of streams of work, yeah, looking to pivot into just the one and moving away from that CRM space.

SPEAKER_02 3:25

Okay, cool. But I suppose that's extremely important if your current CRM is Zendescell, is understanding that August next year, uh, you're not going to have access to it anymore. So if somebody does have Zendescell, what is going to happen to their data?

SPEAKER_01 3:39

This is a hard deadline. So August next year is a hard deadline where the platform is going to be switched off and the data needs to be extracted out of Zendesk Cell before that hard deadline. So there's been a big notice window for customers to start getting their affairs in order and think about what platform they want to put in place of Zendesk Cell, you know, whether it is pipe drive, whether it's, you know, HubSpot, whether it's something else. But their data needs to be extracted out. They need to take backups, they need to make sure they've gotten everything from the system because that access will be cut at that point.

SPEAKER_02 4:09

Yeah, you don't want to lose your data because that's the whole point. That's what we're always talking about on the podcast, is that your data is essential, which is why you want to have a CRM that's functioning. You want to have clean data hygiene, you want to be making sure that your whole team is using it. So if that platform that's storing all of it is born, you definitely need to have a plan in place. So they just export the data and that's it.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

Everything's fine. It's not quite that simple, Katie. So there are some native exports that can be done through Zend S Cell. And when we're thinking about some of the big records that we associate with CRMs, you know, things like your contacts, your companies, your individuals, you know, that customer base that you're working with, you can export deals, you can export pipelines, notes, custom fields, and things like that. So there is some information that can be pulled out, but there's quite a lot that can't through the native interface. So what we're thinking about here is things like, you know, your activity history when, you know, we're looking at emails, we're looking at timelines, you know, tasks and things that have been completed, you know, where that's been recorded on that customer record. We're looking at workflows and automations, you know, where things have been set up to automate email sequences or to, you know, sort of push triggers to put workflows into place. Those sorts of things can't be exported either. We would need to look at reporting setups and analytics. What dashboards have you got in place? You know, what metrics are you tracking? What KPI reports have you got? User setup, compliance records, attachments and files. All of these things can't be done with with just a click of a button, but they all should be considered.

SPEAKER_02 5:41

Yeah, my goodness. Okay, because that's a lot of setup, a lot of effort that you've put into building this system, not just storing your data. That is at risk. Okay. What should people be doing now to protect their data then?

SPEAKER_01 5:54

First thing is probably the most important thing. Don't wait. Start to consider, you know, how you want to make that shift now, you know, like yesterday, today. Start having the conversation within your business. Start identifying whether you've got people in the business who can help you with this process to consider a new platform, work out which one is best for you, get your data out of the system, start looking at backups or exports, things like that. Consider what workflows you've got in place, you know, start to map those out and think about are they transferable into another system? You know, if you need to get a demo of another system, now's a really good time to reach out and do that and get that organized. Yes. And start talking to your teams. You know, bring them across this change so that they can start to mentally prepare too and think about things that are important for them across the course of this change, what needs to be transferred, or things that perhaps they want to change, you know, things that haven't worked well in in Zendesk previously that you want to fix up if you're going into a new platform, rather than taking, you know, a mediocre process and re, you know, re-initiating that as another mediocre process. Yeah, have a think about, you know, what you can do better, you know, if you're going to a new platform.

SPEAKER_02 7:01

Yeah, that's a good point. And I suppose one of the questions I had here was why they shouldn't wait. And you really touched on them there because yes, there's the data risk. You don't want to lose all of that data because it the export itself is not going to pull everything you need. It's not going to pull your whole workflows and systems out, just for example. But also, I suppose the fact that there's potentially some research that you need to do, like you just pointed out. Like, what are you going to move towards is another factor. What else would you say we would also have to consider what a benefit for work for acting early would be?

SPEAKER_01 7:35

I think this is a hard deadline that is coming up for all ZendScel customers. You know, it's not just to you. Any business who's got this in place now is facing that same cutoff point. So consider that if you're leaving this until later, maybe next year, maybe you're thinking I've got a bit of time up my sleeve. There might be others who've done the same and all of a sudden you're coming in a rush to to Zend S Cell, trying to get your data back out or trying to get them to help you to back up everything that you need, along with 50, 100, 150, 1000 other people, that puts you at risk of not meeting that deadline. So if you start to do that work now, you're protecting yourself and you're protecting your own, your own interest there.

SPEAKER_02 8:15

Yeah. And because it's not as simple as it sounds, like you say, there is quite a lot that's going to be involved with it. So yeah, you don't want to leave that to the last minute and be there at the same time as everybody else going, oh, we just thought we could make the switch.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

Yeah, it doesn't take a week. The, you know, a migration process might take a week once you've got that data out, but planning for that takes a long time. Yeah. What does a realistic migration timeline look like for a typical business? I think if you were to factor in a good 12 to 18 months, now that sounds like a long time. And you're probably thinking, um, if I'm just picking up from one spot and shifting everything to another spot, surely it wouldn't take that long. And and and like I said before, the moving of the data itself is the easy part, right? So, you know, you've got the data out, you've got to think about do I need to clean that up? Is my data in a really good, healthy position to just move it into another platform? Is it clean? Should I be looking at duplicate records? Should I be tidying things up? Is it how long have you had Zendesk for? You know, it's if you've had that for more than a couple of years, there's every likelihood that there's stuff in there that you don't need anymore or that's been doubled up on. So making time to go through those sorts of questions and to really dig into that, you know, before you go and just pop it into another system and think, oh yeah, it'll be fine. And all of a sudden, all the problems you had in the old one, you've just transferred to the new one.

unknown 9:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

So yeah, there's things like that. As I said, there's working out whether you've got the right uh people in your business to support that migration. Do you have a data analyst? Do you have a data expert? Do you have a champion in the new platform that you're going to? Can they train everyone? Are they going to be able to answer those questions when you start live on day one? You know, how long is it going to take to train people to get a system configured? And if you don't have the right person in your business, you know, you want to start to speak to somebody like Moti who does have experts who can help you out in that space. You know, we do this day in, day out. So we can help you to map out what that will look like and how that should progress right from start to finish.

SPEAKER_02 10:12

Yeah, for sure. And something that you just touched on, then just maybe realize it's another benefit for actually starting early. And I know that you've talked about this before in rolling out CRMs in general, is that you don't want to let go of all of your existing systems when you roll out the new one. There's almost like a period of time where the old one's not being utilized, but it's still sort of running simultaneously. And if you leave it to the last minute and it no longer exists when you do the switchover, you don't get that buffer.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

That's right. That's right. And then you're relying on um, you know, going back and having a look at backed up data to see if there's something that's missing or changing processes and workflows with a team who is operating in that space right now, you know, that makes it very challenging for them because changing a workflow on the fly while somebody's using it makes it extremely difficult for them to do their job confidently, um, even if they are an expert at what they do. So if you can avoid that, avoid it. You know, don't go down.

SPEAKER_02 11:12

Always a good thing. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 11:14

Okay, so let's switch back a little bit and talk about what are their options. So um, do they have to move to Pipe Drive? Zend SL are recommending Pipe Drive, but is that the only option that they have?

SPEAKER_01 11:25

No, no, it's not. There are other options out there, and I think that each business would do very well to sit down and go and explore what options are going to be right for them. So PipeDrive is a recommended platform. We know that PipeDrive is a wonderful sales CRM. It's it's very customizable, it's very configurable, you know, you can change the system to suit your specific needs in the industry that you're in. But you've also got, you know, things like Salesforce, there's things like a Monday, you know, the Monday platform.

unknown 11:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

And depending on, you know, the industry that you're in, the tech stack that you have, the people that you've got in place in your business, you should probably go and consider all of those. Um, that's another point. The pricing, you know, if that pricing is at a different point than you're ready for, you should go and explore and see what's out there that would suit you better.

SPEAKER_02 12:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 12:11

And I did have a question here, but I feel like we've already addressed it, but I might ask it anyway, Kate. So if a business is going through this, is this something realistically they can manage on their own, or is there a lot of value in working with a partner like Modi?

SPEAKER_01 12:25

I think you're right. We have sort of touched on it, but I'll wind that into sort of one very specific answer here.

SPEAKER_02 12:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

If you haven't gone through a migration from one platform to another before on your own, I think that you would be wise to reach out to somebody like Modi who who does this day in, day out, to see what the gaps might be, to see what the things are that you might not have considered or that you didn't realize was a thing. You know, you didn't realize that data had to be in specific columns to import it to another platform and all of a sudden, you know, you're at a loss and you don't know how to proceed with that. When you come to someone like Modi and work with a partner here to achieve, you know, that that transfer of data from one platform to another, we will help you at every step of the way. You know, we will help you to change manage your team. We'll help you to make sure that the processes you have in place are going to fit into that new platform. You know, maybe there's some tweaks or changes because it does one thing maybe slightly differently than Zendescell, we'll be able to identify that with you and make sure that we can cover that, account for that, and set it up in the right way before your teams have to start using it day to day. So I think unless you've got someone on your team, and you you might well do, who's done this sort of work before and who's thought about all these considerations of what needs to happen, yep, from the ground up. So, as I said, keeping team members informed, you know, doing that change management piece, thinking about the data that's got to come out, thinking about the timing of data and when that's got to come out so that there's no gap between finishing one system and starting another. It's, you know, doing training. So working out how people learn best in those teams. You know, are they kinesthetic and they need to get in and start playing with it, you know, to learn how to use it properly? Do they want fully documented manuals? Is that how they work better? Yep. We can come in and help you to answer all of those questions and more to ensure that there's no gaps and that this process runs really, really smoothly.

SPEAKER_02 14:18

Yeah. It's actually quite a big project and there's many facets involved with it. Yep. And so it is worth having making sure that you have somebody that can help. And like you say, there could be somebody on your team who can absolutely take that project on, who has the experience, who knows the blind spots. But I think as you're talking about, I realize, yeah, there's so many things you don't know what you don't know. So if somebody life modey, that's that's where we can step in and help because we do have the experience, we do know those blind spots, and we've navigated them before and assisted so many other people go through that. So it was a little bit of a tricky one. It's like, yes, you can do it yourself, but only if you have somebody on your team who can actually project manage the entire fee with it, coming from a place of experience.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

A caveat to that though, if you do have someone on your team who does sit well within that space and who's done this sort of thing before and knows what to consider, there is an import tool that comes with PipeDrive to help you migrate your data into the PipeDrive platform. Zender Cell have built a migration tool to help get your data directly into PipeDrive to assist with that setup process. So if there's someone there that's confident they can manage all of those things we talked about and are confident that they can lead the way across this project to get you into that new space, then absolutely there are some tools out there to support them to do that in a nice, easy way.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

Yeah. Okay. Nice round answer. I like that, okay. And as we do at the end of all of our episodes, we like to ask one question. So if if there is a Zendos Excel user listening to our episode today that hasn't started thinking about their migration yet, hasn't started thinking about what they're going to do when the platform retires. What is the one shift in thinking that you'd hope they'd get from this episode?

SPEAKER_01 16:01

Great question. I think I would like people to think that this is a golden opportunity for change. Um, don't panic. You've got a bit of time up your sleeve. 2027 is closer than we think, but there's still enough time to really sit down, have a think about the platforms that you want, why you want them, what's going to work for your business, get your demos, et cetera. But I think this is an opportunity to look at Zendesk Cell and how you've had that placed in your business, how you've used it, what value it's given you, uh, what insights it's given you, how you've used that to drive business decisions. And consider whether you could do anything better or whether you could do anything, you know, improve on the setup that you've had, because now's the time. So this really is a good opportunity to do that. It's a great opportunity to involve team members in your business who are absolute experts. They know how to run a sales process with their eyes shut, you know, in their sleep underwater. So involve them, ask their opinions, ask them what they would like to see or what things they would like to have in a new platform. And I think you'll find that once you involve that team and you involve the people that work around you, you're gonna get some great outcomes there.

SPEAKER_02 17:10

Yes, I love that. Don't think of it as a forced change, but as an opportunity to upgrade your entire systems, not just the platform itself, but the even the workflows and how you're operating. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah. Awesome. Well, that's all for us today. So it was a nice mini episode covering off the FAQs, but as part of this Zan Desk sales series, um, we're gonna have some of the rest of our team come in and answer a few more of those questions that maybe we touched on a little bit today, but we'll go into more detail. For example, if you are looking at Plight Drive or wondering if that's the right CRM for you, we're gonna have our team sort of go into a little bit more specifics of maybe what you've gotten used to using in Zendesk Cell, how that sort of plays out in PipeDrive and maybe where the upgrades are in that. They'll also be looking at Monday.com as a possible alternative for you. So sort of diving into that. And then we've got some other uh members of our implementation team talking specifically about what it actually looks like for a CRM migration to take place. So Kate did a wonderful job of touching on that high level. But we've got uh Benny and Bob who are going to be coming in and actually breaking that down bit by bit. So you've got a really good sense of what it would look like to have a partner sort of walking you through the entire process. So keep an eye and an ear out for those episodes. And of course, head to Modi.co forward slash playbook for all of our show notes. And on top of that, we are also putting together a guide that you can download that covers all of this content for you on the Zend SSL retirement. So make sure you head there. It's a fact sheet, we'll give you everything you need. Um, we just want to make sure that you're supported. And uh thank you very much, Kate, for joining us and thank you for listening as well. Thanks, folks.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

That's it for another episode of the Modi Playbook. One shift, one system, one measurable improvement. All information shared in this podcast is general in nature. For tailored advice specific to your business, visit Modi.co slash playbook and book a momentum call with our team. See you next time.