Freshworks fuels regional growth with new leader

Customer engagement software company Freshworks has appointed Sandie Overtveld as senior vice president of Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) as well as Middle East and Africa (MEA).

Singapore-based Overtveld will oversee the vendor’s growth efforts in these regions and collaborate with organisations on customer and employee engagement. 

“Sandie’s rich regional know-how of the digital transformation experience can help Freshworks deliver even more value to businesses in these regions — showing them that legacy software is a thing of the past and easy-to-use business software is the future for delighting both customers and employees alike,” said Pradeep Rathinam, acting chief revenue officer at Freshworks. 

Overtveld brings over 30 years of experience in digital transformation, having developed and executed growth and portfolio strategies for Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, and Zendesk. Most recently, he served as APJ leader of digital adoption solutions company WalkMe Inc. 

“I deeply admire Freshworks’ long-standing vision and commitment to its customers,” he added. 

“Having worked with both entrepreneurial start-ups and complex global matrixed environments, I’m excited to take on this new challenge to expand business in the APJ and MEA regions [and] ultimately expand Freshworks’ global presence and deliver value to businesses of all sizes.” 

In March last year, the customer engagement software vendor launched a new global partner program as part of moves to expand its regional channel. 

The new program comes with three tiers – preferred, authorised and registered – and a new partner relationship management system. 

The software-as-a-service company is also offering partners free enablement and supporting certification alignment with sales, pre-sales and implementation. 

In addition, Freshworks said it will provide a new certification framework for systems integrators, plus dedicated in-region resources to preferred partners to grow joint business.