Freshworks CEO: Mid-size enterprises can’t compete with giants until they fix their fragmented data
AI service management has arrived, and the enterprises keeping pace didn’t wait for perfect conditions — they consolidated their data first.
Of course, that urgency is creating an opening for companies already positioned as alternatives to legacy enterprise incumbents. Freshworks Inc. has spent more than 14 years building toward this moment, with a customer base that now includes organizations such as Seagate Technology Holdings PLC and New Balance Athletics Inc., according to Dennis Woodside (pictured), chief executive officer and president of Freshworks. Both are “agile enterprises” — mid-size organizations competing with enterprises many times their size, such as New Balance squaring off against Nike Inc., or Seagate against Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. For companies like these, punching above their weight doesn’t start with AI; it starts with getting their data in order.
“Every customer that I talk to is looking to AI to help them transform their service operations,” Woodside said. “A lot of companies are challenged in that their data is fragmented, their tech stack is fragmented, so the first thing they have to do is they have to consolidate — especially on the IT side — into a system of record that is robust, is broad, is enterprise-grade. That’s what we offer.”
