Khoros Unveils Iris® AI: Revolutionizing Brand Communication Across Channels
On April 11, 2026, Khoros made a significant stride in social media management by unveiling Iris® AI, its latest innovative platform aimed at enhancing brand care. Just shy of a year since being acquired by IgniteTech, the company has positioned Iris® AI as a revolutionary tool that harnesses artificial intelligence to transform how brands manage and engage with their audiences.
Iris® AI distinctly separates itself from traditional tools that often operate in silos, leading to inefficiencies and communication gaps within brand care teams. The platform not only integrates key functionalities such as social listening, engagement, publishing, and analytics into one cohesive system, but it also ensures context is preserved throughout every customer interaction. This seamless flow enables brand care teams to handle inquiries more efficiently, thereby reducing the frustration customers often face when they have to repeat their issues across different touchpoints.
Eric Vaughan, CEO of IgniteTech and Khoros, emphasized the necessity for a unified platform. He stated, "Most brand care platforms are held together with duct tape." The challenge of disjointed systems means that valuable insights are often lost during transitions from social media engagement to customer support. This fragmentation creates a frustrating experience where agents must start over with little to no context. Iris AI addresses these pain points by ensuring consistency and clarity throughout the customer journey.
The capabilities offered by Iris AI are wide-ranging. The platform’s AI engine not only facilitates intelligent triaging of requests but also recommends responses based on urgency, sentiment, and topic. This way, agents can focus on higher-level issues that require human judgment, while routine inquiries can be resolved directly by the AI. This streamlined process is designed to reduce resolution times significantly; since IgniteTech's acquisition of Khoros, internal operations have shown impressive improvements, with ticket resolution rates jumping from 5% to an astonishing 60% and support backlogs being reduced by 82%.
Another notable feature of Iris AI is its adaptability to different social media platforms. Whether it’s managing interactions across X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, the system can be deployed rapidly. Vaughan pointed out that new channel integrations could be executed in days rather than months, making it an agile solution in an ever-evolving digital landscape. Furthermore, the AI-driven moderation features allow for real-time identification of potential brand risks and sentiment shifts, enabling brands to act proactively instead of reactively.
Iris AI functions as a partner to Aurora AI, Khoros's recently reimagined community product. Together, these two platforms create a comprehensive ecosystem for customer engagement that is inherently designed to share knowledge and context. This integration allows Khoros to stand out in a crowded market where competitors often offer fragmented solutions. Clients can witness both a robust community engagement and a thorough brand care approach bundled into one AI-native platform.
The launch of Iris AI also marks a new chapter for Khoros as a whole. Once two separate enterprises, Lithium Technologies and Spredfast have combined their expertise to create a formidable player in the realm of digital customer engagement. The company is now pioneering the integration of community management, social media, and customer analytics, creating a bridge that rivals the separation present in other offerings.
In a rapidly transforming marketplace, Khoros has adopted a user-first approach to product development. During the build-up to Iris AI's launch, customers were brought into the development process, with their feedback shaping the product's final features. According to Vaughan, this collaborative strategy helps ensure that the final product genuinely meets market needs.
Khoros's commitment to using AI as the backbone of its systems reflects a broader industry trend towards smarter, more integrated solutions. For organizations keen to enhance their customer engagement strategies, Iris AI presents a forward-thinking option that promises to deliver both efficiency and effectiveness in brand communication.
Visit khoros.ai to learn more about how Iris AI can transform your brand's social media management and customer care experience. With over 4,000 communities and extensive site traffic, Khoros is positioned strongly in the market, set to continue its legacy as a leader in customer engagement powered by AI.