Freshworks makes it fast and easy for businesses to delight their customers and employees. We do this by taking a fresh approach to building and delivering software that is affordable, quick to implement, and designed for the end-user. More than 50,000 companies -- from startups to public companies -- around the world use Freshworks software-as-a-service to enable a better customer experience (CRM) and employee experience (ITSM) Headquartered in San Mateo, California, Freshworks has a dedicated team operating from 13 global locations to serve customers, including American Express, Sony, Vice Media, TaylorMade, Sotheby's, Stitchfix, OfficeMax, Multichoice, Delivery Hero, ITV, and Klarna. Freshworks transforms the way world-class organizations collaborate with customers and co-workers. The suite includes Freshdesk (omnichannel customer support), Freshsales (sales automation), Freshmarketer (marketing automation), Freshservice (IT service desk).

At Freshworks, we are creating a global workplace that enables everyone to find their true potential, purpose, and passion irrespective of their background, gender, race, sexual orientation, religion and ethnicity. We are committed to providing equal opportunity for all and believe that diversity in the workplace creates a more vibrant, richer work environment that advances the goals of our employees, communities and the business.

What learning trends are in store for 2023? The coming year will bear witness to some significant changes across the entire business world. Recession poses an ever-constant threat so it's important that businesses equip themselves for the future. On top of it all, businesses are having trouble finding new recruits due to a labor shortage. So 2023 will force businesses to strengthen their current ranks to protect against a shallow recruitment pool.

We are looking for Lead Engineer for the Machine Learning (ML) engineering development team. The primary focus will be to gather requirements from Data Scientists and Product teams, and come up with the optimal solution. Then design, implement and monitor these services for different ML use-cases. You will be working with Data Scientists to implement ML algo's, build and deploy API's to serve models. At Freshworks, we are creating a global workplace that enables everyone to find their true potential, purpose, and passion irrespective of their background, gender, race, sexual orientation, religion and ethnicity.

Since the outset of the pandemic, organizations have been increasingly launching initiatives aimed at automating business processes, turning to technologies such as robotic process automation (RPA) in efforts to reduce costs, speed up tasks, and improve accuracy of core business operations. Some leading organizations, however, are not stopping there. Seeking to push their automation agendas forward, they are embracing a move toward broader "intelligent automation" (IA), a strategy that weaves capabilities such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) into standard RPA to enhance its functionality. In addition to RPA, AI, and ML, intelligent automation strategies can also incorporate a mix of technologies such as natural language processing, chatbots, and others that complement each other, says Lakshmanan Chidambaram, president of Americas strategic verticals at global IT consulting firm Tech Mahindra. "These technologies together allow us to automate business processes to a larger extent, when compared to simple RPA automations," Chidambaram says.

All the sessions from Transform 2021 are available on-demand now. Nearly all IT managers (93%) are currently exploring or deploying some level of AI to streamline help desk systems, according to a new report from Freshworks. Half of IT managers said they have already implemented AI tools. Nearly 70% of IT managers said AI is either critical or very important for upgrading and modernizing their service desk capabilities. Even so, respondents said there are certain prerequisites for AI-enabled solutions.

Go Moment is the home of the smart concierge Ivy that is well known in the hospitality industry. Singh is also a product design expert and public speaker, and blogs at RajSinghLA.com. Rathinam is also well known and loved in the Seattle tech community and as a mentor to local startups. I caught up with the two of them, in the course of curating and hosting the Rethink CX webinar series sponsored by Freshworks. Like Paddy, I live in the Seattle, Washington area.)

Go Moment is the home of the smart concierge Ivy that is well known in the hospitality industry. Singh is also a product design expert and public speaker, and blogs at RajSinghLA.com. Rathinam is also well known and loved in the Seattle tech community and as a mentor to local startups. I caught up with the two of them, in the course of curating and hosting the Rethink CX webinar series sponsored by Freshworks. Like Paddy, I live in the Seattle, Washington area.)

We've been hearing a lot about artificial intelligence - AI - particularly when it comes to customer relationship management. Just do a quick Google search of AI and CRM and you'll see countless companies in the space announcing new tools, features and services leveraging AI to - as so many claim - increase productivity, grow sales and improve customer retention. It all sounds great, but unfortunately no one seems to be taking notice. The report - which compiled responses from more than 500 CRM users - found that only 12 percent of them actually use a specific AI-based tool, and only 11 percent say AI in their CRM allows them to focus on high-value customers. Sadly, almost three in four CRM users (73 percent) say that AI has yet to deliver on its transformative promise for business operations, only one in three CRM users (36 percent) can say AI is a strong value for the money and nearly all CRM users think AI is either too expensive (97 percent) or isn't extremely useful (89 percent).

Freshworks, a company that provides customer service software and automation tools for businesses, has confirmed that it's raising $150 million in a series H round of funding co-led by Alphabet's CapitalG, Sequioa Capital, and Accel. This takes the company's total funding to nearly $400 million and follows its $100 million series G round last July that included the same three investors. This time around, however, Freshworks is valued at $3.5 billion, more than double its previous valuation. It's worth noting that Freshworks hasn't officially closed the fresh round of funding yet, having merely signed "definitive agreements" with the aforementioned investors -- it doesn't expect the financing to close until the end of the year. It appears the reason Freshworks preannounced the funding was due to a leak last week on an Indian news site via anonymous sources.