Event discusses new business trends in the digital-first era

Sajjad Ahmad, Deputy Business Editor

Businesses in the UAE are embracing all new technological developments to drive the country’s digital transformation drive and strengthen their customers’ base for more growth, this was revealed during an event in Dubai on Thursday.

Companies across the Middle East region are adopting latest solutions to enhance the employers-customers experience in the digital-first era, explained a panel discussion during the customer roadshow, Global Jam.

Freshworks Inc., a US based software company, successfully hosted the first-ever UAE edition of its flagship customer roadshow, Global Jam.

The event brought together over 100 of the region’s most innovative CX, IT, sales and marketing professionals from a broad range of industries including airlines, retail, eCommerce, and consumer services with the aim of understanding and addressing key customer experience trends in the digital-first era.

Manish Mishra, Head - Middle East & Africa at Freshworks delivered the event keynote. Commenting on the regional market dynamics that now made Freshworks more relevant than ever he said, “The last two years have accelerated the pace of change globally, creating higher expectations from employees and customers. At the same time, the Work-from-Anywhere workforce model and the Engage-from-Anywhere customer experience model have put pressure on organisations to deliver faster time-to-value for technology-enabled initiatives. Our event arms regional businesses with unparalleled insight into the key CX trends they now need to navigate. Together with Freshworks, they can break down silos to empower employees to more easily create delightful experiences for the people most important to their business.”

A highlight of the event was the customer panel, headlined by Silvia Gomez, Director Of Customer Experience at BitOasis, Shubham Grover, Product Manager at Swvl, Divek Karagwal, Head of Omnichannel Experiences at the Landmark Group and Zachariah Manyapye of Fine Hygienic Holding. Over the course of this panel, Gomez explained how Freshworks enabled her company, the MENA region’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, to scale and elevate its customer service function, which proved critical to enabling the company to capitalise on the recent, unprecedented boom in cryptocurrency adoption. “We have been using Freshworks to take our contact centre to the next level. We have aimed to have a personalised solution, which enables us to enhance the experience across multiple channels. Most recently, we have expanded (customer service) via chat on WhatsApp and it’s now one of the fastest ways we’re able to communicate with our customers and provide real-time responses. Because of the market we’re in, customers want speedy resolutions to navigate market fluctuations,” she said.

In a similar vein, Karagwal shared how the Landmark Group successfully leverages digital channels to enhance customer engagement. “Across every touchpoint - whether you walk into our stores, whether you give us a call, whether you chat with us on social media - Freshworks enables that experience. Their technology enables our team members to get the information they need and serve it to our customers. Today, by introducing channels such as WhatsApp, we’re making life easier for both our customers as well as our call centre agents,” he said.

By hosting its first ever customer event in the Middle East, Freshworks has demonstrated the deepening of its commitment to the region as it looks to further strengthen ties with local businesses and invest in its presences and channel. “Nurturing the thriving digital economy has been a major initiative for Middle East governments. This has fostered the evolution of enterprises into technology and experience driven organisations and Freshworks is excited to be a part of this journey. Our mission of delivering simple but powerful software that users love addresses key pain points that businesses face along this transformation and has therefore resonated strongly in the market,” said Mishra.