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Cyprus Showcased As The Prime Investment Hub At The London Conference

Cyprus’s investment potential and strong economic ties with the UK were highlighted at the 8th annual business conference organized by the GB-CY Business Association in London. Key speakers from government and investment bodies supported the event, underscoring Cyprus’s appeal as a destination for investment.

Costas Hatzipanayiotou, Permanent Secretary of the Work and Social Insurance Ministry, represented the Cypriot government, emphasizing Cyprus’s “transformative journey” towards creating a thriving and resilient economy. This journey focuses on enhancing business-friendly policies, fostering financial stability, and advancing the country’s green transition to boost competitiveness.

Lia Riris, Deputy Director General of Invest Cyprus, highlighted the nation’s economic growth, projecting a 3% increase in GDP for this year and next. She also pointed out that Cyprus ranks 37th in the Global Innovation Index out of 133 countries, signalling its commitment to innovation.

Dr Kyriacos Kouros, the High Commissioner of Cyprus to the UK, noted that Cyprus has emerged as a stable and strategically important player for Europe amid global uncertainty. He praised the long-standing commercial ties with the UK as a pillar of bilateral cooperation.

Conference organizer Savvas Kyriakides commended the Cypriot government’s commitment to strengthening these investment ties further, reflecting Cyprus’s growing role as a strategic and resilient investment destination in the region.

Zendesk Acquires Forethought To Strengthen AI Customer Support Tools

Zendesk, a company known for customer support software, has announced the acquisition of artificial intelligence startup Forethought. The deal is expected to close by the end of March and represents another step in the growing use of AI to automate customer service operations.

Strategic Innovation In Customer Service

Forethought has been developing AI tools for customer support automation for several years. The company first gained industry recognition after winning the TechCrunch Battlefield competition in 2018, well before the widespread adoption of generative AI tools.

Since then, Forethought has expanded its customer base to include companies such as Grammarly, Airtable, Upwork and Datadog. By 2025, the platform was processing more than one billion customer interactions each month, highlighting the growing role of automation in support operations.

Pioneering Leadership And Industry Recognition

Deon Nicholas, Forethought’s co-founder and chairman, hailed the acquisition as a milestone in a recent LinkedIn post. According to Nicholas, advances in AI over the past several years have accelerated adoption across multiple industries, particularly in areas that rely heavily on customer communication and service management.

Enhancing Zendesk’s Product Portfolio

The integration of Forethought’s technology is expected to expand Zendesk’s AI capabilities across its product suite. Company executives said the acquisition could accelerate development of several planned features by more than a year. These capabilities include specialized AI agents, systems that improve automatically through usage data and more advanced voice-based customer support tools. Zendesk has previously expanded its platform through acquisitions, including companies such as Zopim and BIME Analytics, which added messaging and analytics functionality to its products.

Implications For The Future

The acquisition reflects a broader shift in the software industry toward AI-driven automation of customer service tasks. Companies are increasingly using AI systems to handle routine inquiries while human agents focus on more complex cases. Zendesk’s move highlights how enterprise software providers are investing in AI technologies to improve efficiency and scale customer support operations as demand for digital service channels continues to grow.

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