DATEV AI features vs. Zendesk AI: data protection per plan

not publicly documented

yes (concluded via online form with DATEV SmartCard/SmartLogin or by being stored in DATEV Einverständniserklärungen; effective 'upon confirmation of the conclusion of the contract by DATEV' (translated), DPA item 19 a)

yes (concluded via online form with DATEV SmartCard/SmartLogin or by being stored in DATEV Einverständniserklärungen; effective 'upon confirmation of the conclusion of the contract by DATEV' (translated), DPA item 19 a)

yes (data processing agreement (DPA) with standard contractual clauses 2021/914 and UK Addendum; the AI Services Addendum supplements the contract)

KI-Werkstatt page: 'Some prototypes in the DATEV KI-Werkstatt use the Microsoft Azure Open AI Services' (translated); inputs are 'not passed on to OpenAI and not used to train the models' (translated). No statement for the other prototypes; therefore not substantiated for the plan as a whole.

DATEV Copilot FAQ: 'Is my data used to train the AI? No, neither Microsoft nor OpenAI use your data for training.' (translated). Copilot is a DATEV cloud service under the DATEV service descriptions for the DATEV-Cloud-Lösungen Basis (doc. no. 0904407); unlike the service descriptions for Rechnungswesen, Steuern, Personalwirtschaft and Wissen, these contain no clause on cross-customer processing for 'Intelligente DATEV-Cloud-Lösungen'. Item 3.8, however, permits DATEV to process data 'for the purpose of developing new or further developing existing DATEV products in an appropriately secured environment' (translated); according to item 3.8 this does not apply if the customer concluded the DPA without the anonymisation agreement (deletion possible under DPA item 15). An express statement on DATEV's own model training with Copilot inputs is missing.

DATEV service descriptions for the DATEV-Cloud-Lösungen Rechnungswesen (accounting), Steuern (tax) and Personalwirtschaft (payroll), each item 1.8 'Service-related cross-customer data processing' (translated) (identical wording also for Wissen [knowledge]): for 'intelligent cloud solutions' (translated), the customer instructs DATEV to use the data sets 'set up by the customer for the „Intelligente DATEV-Cloud-Lösungen“' (translated) 'in the context of new and further development, quality assurance and operation' (translated); 'For machine learning or deep learning, this training forms the basis for the systems' learning' (translated); 'for example, data of different customers of the „DATEV-Cloud-Lösungen“ are analysed together' (translated); 'Personal data may still be processed in the resulting AI models as well' (translated); special categories of personal data may also be processed. The application of the AI models remains 'exclusively a DATEV-internal process' (translated). No possibility of objection is described in item 1.8; according to its wording, the optional deletion of the anonymisation agreement (DPA item 15b) only affects items 3.7/3.8, not item 1.8. The Basis service description (Copilot) contains no item 1.8 of this kind. Payroll benchmark uses 'real, anonymised DATEV payroll records' (translated); de-identification service: data is 'analysed in the DATEV data centre' (translated) and de-identified before AI processing.

Trust Center: 'Zendesk uses service data to train its generic, cross-account machine learning models' (translated; classification and clustering models, not generative); in addition, customer-specific models using account data only. AI Trust at Zendesk (2026-10-09) for its own models: 'Customers control whether their data is used for model training'; customers 'can decide whether or not their data can be used for product improvement purposes' (the setting or procedure is not described there). AI Data Use Information: before cross-account training, identifier fields are removed and free text is sanitised. LLM integrations: 'Customer data is never used for model training'; AI Services Addendum, Section 3.1: 'Service Data will not be used by any LLM Provider for any purpose other than to provide and secure the AI Services.'

Page: prototypes 'in a protected DATEV environment' (translated); for Azure OpenAI prototypes, inputs are 'sent as a request through the DATEV cloud-native data centre to Microsoft Azure' (translated) and processed there temporarily. Azure region not stated.

FAQ: 'DATEV Copilot uses Microsoft Azure services. The data you upload is processed in an area hosted by DATEV at Microsoft Azure in a European data centre.' (translated). Internet research (optional, permission 'Allow internet research' (translated)): according to the programme content (doc. no. 0904530), 'you transmit your data to Microsoft Corporation in the USA' (translated); 'Microsoft processes your data for its own purposes and on global servers' (translated); DATEV warns against transmitting confidential or legally protected information.

DATEV data centre/DATEV cloud according to the de-identification article and the AI overview. Help document 1000192 (as of 2026-09-18): Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited (IE) for 'DATEV Einspruchsgenerator, DATEV LEXchat AI functionalities' (translated) without transfer to a third country; transfers to a third country (USA) to Datadog, Inc. (DATEV Bankdatenservice) and Raintank, Inc./Grafana Labs (IT monitoring), among others, on the basis of the EU-U.S. DPF.

Trust Center: Zendesk uses AWS data centres in the USA, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region; data locations USA, Australia, Japan or EEA selectable (Data Center Location add-on). Individual features (QA, 'AI Agents – Advanced') may remain hosted on Google Cloud Platform in the USA and/or Europe until fully integrated. Sub-processor policy: AWS locations USA, Ireland, Germany, UK, Japan, Australia; AI Agents (Google Cloud, MongoDB, Aiven) USA and Belgium.

• Microsoft Azure OpenAI Services (some prototypes)

• Microsoft Azure (AI services, European data centre, according to the Copilot FAQ)
• OpenAI models via Azure (according to the FAQ, OpenAI does not use data for training)
• Microsoft Bing (only with internet research enabled; independent processing by Microsoft)
• Service descriptions Basis item 3.4: 'DATEV Copilot: Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited' (Dublin, IE), purpose 'AI functions' (translated); otherwise help document 1000192

• Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited (Einspruchsgenerator, LEXchat AI functionalities)
• Amazon Web Services EMEA SARL (operation/hosting of DATEV products)
• Microsoft Deutschland GmbH (DATEV products, data centre services)
• Google Ireland Ltd. (DATEV platform, chatbot use)
• Datadog, Inc. (USA, DATEV Bankdatenservice, DPF)
• others according to help document 1000192

• Amazon Web Services (hosting; USA, Ireland, Germany, UK, Japan, Australia)
• Google Cloud (Zendesk QA: Germany; AI Agents: USA, Belgium); MongoDB, Aiven, Grafana Labs for AI Agents (USA, Belgium)
• Generative AI/NLP without hosting of service data: Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, ElevenLabs; inference of open models: Baseten, Fireworks.ai, Groq
• Voice: Deepgram (transcription), Twilio (telephony)
• Forethought AI Agents (Innovation Services) only: including Mistral AI, Gladia, Cartesia (without hosting of service data)

'The platform can be used free of charge' (translated); login via DATEV account and SmartCard/SmartLogin (as of 2026-10-18)

DATEV shop (item no. 90431): 'The prerequisite is ordering a free licence via this shop page' (translated); ordering also via the MyDATEV ordering and set-up assistant. Usage limit: rolling 2-hour window, if exceeded blocked for 2 hours (doc. no. 1049806). MyDATEV Kanzlei and LEXinform plus require a licence (as of 2026-10-18)

Billing according to the service descriptions 'in accordance with the current DATEV price list' (translated); the DATEV price list for firms is offered as a PDF download and was not evaluated (as of 2026-10-18)

Support Team 19 EUR, Suite Team 55 EUR, Suite Professional 115 EUR per agent per month on an annual subscription; 25 EUR, 69 EUR, 149 EUR on a monthly subscription (pricing page, German view; net/gross not stated); Suite Enterprise on request. AI surcharge: AI Agents are billed via automated resolutions; included are 5 (Support Team, Suite Team) or 10 (Suite Professional) per agent per month, additional resolutions 1.50 EUR (fixed volume) or 2.00 EUR (pay-as-you-go) per resolution; Copilot as an add-on from Professional

yes

yes

yes

partly (the pricing page lists AI Agents for messaging, email and voice, AI Agent Builder and Copilot; scope per plan and quota of automated resolutions not broken down)