Freshworks today announced the appointment of Dennis Woodside as Freshworks’ Chief Executive Officer & President, effective later today. Woodside, currently Freshworks’ President, will succeed Girish Mathrubootham, the company’s Founder, as CEO.

Mathrubootham will transition to a new role of Executive Chairman. Mathrubootham will remain the chairman of the Board of Directors, and Woodside will also remain a member of the Board of Directors.

“When I first proposed this next step to the Freshworks Board, we were starting to chart the next phase of our company’s journey. We brought Dennis on board to partner with me on crafting an ambitious growth plan, and my hope was that he could eventually lead the team of talented employees around the world to execute it, which would allow me to spend more time on the long-term product vision, innovation and AI strategy,” said Mathrubootham.

“Dennis has a deep understanding of Freshworks’ business, customers and our employees, and a strong track record of building and scaling large global teams – he is the right leader to become our next CEO. I’m thrilled to announce this transition.”

Girish Mathrubootham, Founder -CEO

Woodside joined Freshworks as President in September 2022. Since then, Woodside has accelerated Freshworks’ investments in enterprise grade products, and driven increased focus on the growth of mid-market and enterprise customers.

Woodside brings great leadership experience to this new role. Previously, Woodside served as Chief Operating Officer of Dropbox, helping grow revenue from $250M to $1.3B and ultimately raising over $1B in a successful IPO in 2018. Prior to that, Woodside held various sales and strategy leadership roles at Google from 2003 to 2014, including serving as CEO of Motorola Mobility after Google acquired the company in 2012. Before his long tenure at Google, Woodside was a consultant at McKinsey & Co. Woodside currently serves on the board of the Boys & Girls Club of the Peninsula in California and previously served on the board of the American Red Cross from 2016 to 2022 and on the board of ServiceNow from 2018 to 2022.

In his new role as Executive Chairman, Mathrubootham will remain highly engaged with our product vision, customers, and employees. He will work across the company to bring Freshworks’ long-term vision to life and consult with Woodside on strategic decisions. The transition frees him up to spend more time with our product teams in India, and our customers globally, and stay engaged with other external stakeholders.

“As I step into the role of CEO, I am deeply honoured to build upon Girish’s remarkable legacy,” said Woodside. “What he has created is truly special. Our mission and strategy remain the same. We stand before extraordinary opportunities and have the right foundation to make it possible – a winning combination of our strong focus on delighting customers and our product portfolio and innovation. I’m committed and excited to continue our journey of growth.”

Juniper Partner Advantage 2024 expands its partner ecosystem and AI-Native Networking offerings to maximize performance, productivity, and profitability

Juniper Networks, a leader in AI-Native Networking, today announced the next evolution of its global Juniper Partner Advantage (JPA) Program. The new elements will help partners leverage AI for IT Operations (AIOps) to offer managed networking services for increased reliability, agility and reach on the path toward unlocking new revenue opportunities and equip customers with solutions that enable a consistent experience-first approach across their networking infrastructure.  

As part of the JPA Program expansion, Juniper has introduced a new Partner Assured designation to provide partners who have rich Juniper practices with third-party validation from Information Security Systems International (ISSI) of their capabilities across the customer lifecycle. By equipping partners with market leading AIOps and verification of superior customer outcomes and lower operational costs, Juniper’s Partner Assured designation helps to accelerate partner profitability.

“By offering world-class partner programs alongside a suite of innovative and secure AI-Native Networking solutions, Juniper sets the foundation for partners to unleash their value, speed and scale,” said Gordon Mackintosh, Group Vice President, Juniper Partner Organization at Juniper Networks.

Additional Juniper Partner Advantage 2024 program highlights include:

• Managed Network Provider Designation: Juniper has transformed its managed service provider (MSP) designation, which saw a 44 percent growth in the number of partners receiving the designation last year, with new AI capabilities that can improve customer service and increase profitability for partners.
• New Advisor Designation: The new Advisor designation rewards partners for influencing customer decisions and optimizing customer success.
• Environmental Sustainability: As more customers require partners who are skilled with and committed to sustainability as a compliance imperative, Juniper amplifies partners’ driving sustainable outcomes through JPA. This encourages our partners, working with our customers, to make progress toward key climate goals, including decarbonization, addition of sustainable technology, and reducing and recycling of waste.
• Recognizing Vertical Expertise: Juniper is adding acknowledgement of partners’ vertical expertise to JPA, allowing recognition for those with rich vertical GTM motions and demonstrated proficiency that meet these unique customer demands.
• Enriched Partner GTM Engagement: This program enhances collaboration by offering account mapping, GTM concierge services, investment, and dedicated planning through the entire customer lifecycle.
• Deal Central Dashboard: This new tool consolidates Juniper partner deals, quotes and marketing leads, streamlining the deal registration process and enabling partners to respond in two hours or less for 80 percent of commercial deals and six hours or less for strategic deals of less than $250K.

Through the Juniper Partner Advantage Program and its innovative AI-Native Networking Platform, Juniper is committed to helping partners maximize performance, productivity, and profitability. Coming off the heels of 233 percent growth in participants YoY, Juniper has expanded its existing Champions Program to bring more scale and expertise to participating partners through a robust extended sales force delivering strong Juniper acumen to support our mutual customers. Additionally, as partners expand investments to gain deeper technology expertise, there has been 20 percent sales growth YoY for partners invested with three or more Juniper specializations. Together with its partners, Juniper is delivering speed, scale and value to its customers, ultimately making every connection count.

“Juniper’s innovative approach to AI-driven networking and the recent enhancements to the JPA program, helps us to differentiate our as-a-service offerings to support our customers across the entire customer lifecycle while providing us with opportunities to accelerate profitability.” Jim McKenna, Vice President, Strategic Partnerships, Black Box

“Customers turn to Presidio’s Managed Services for our team’s expertise and to strategically complement their organizations and manage their day-to-day infrastructure. Partnering with Juniper for their industry leading AIOps enables us to build out a comprehensive offering to our customers with tangible results.” Norm Egan, Vice President, Presales, Presidio

“The new Partner Assured designation provides an incredible opportunity for us to differentiate our customer offerings through third-party assurance of our capabilities to deliver exceptional outcomes across the entire customer lifecycle. This new designation, combined with our GTM approach and Juniper’s market leading AIOps, create a compelling offering for our customers.” Mohamed El Haddouchi, Managing Director, Nomios Netherlands and Group CTO

At LEAP 2024, Liferay, will present its cloud-enabled, open-source based unified platform that supports AI-enhanced features. The comprehensive platform empowers businesses with end-to-end personalized customer journey capabilities in sync with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, with digital experiences at the forefront of the country’s initiatives.

In alignment with Saudi Arabia’s Cloud First Policy, which prioritizes cloud computing for accelerated digital transformation, Liferay’s DXP is now available on Google Cloud Marketplace as the only DXP fully available with all its functionalities in the Kingdom. It facilitates a convenient deployment option, leveraging the robust infrastructure of Google Cloud Platform (GCP) in Saudi Arabia, in line with Liferay’s commitment to scale digital experiences and accelerate digital transformation efforts.

Liferay enables rapid solution creation with its comprehensive platform, offering out-of-the-box features for an immediate flexible start with scalable options, low-code customization, and seamless integration with legacy systems through connectors and custom extensions. This enables organizations to innovate, elevate operational efficiencies, ease decision-making, and improve customer interactions.

“Saudi Arabia holds strategic importance and remains a top priority for Liferay,” said Moussalam Dalati, General Manager – MEA and France at Liferay. “With steady growth in the region, we remain committed to support organizations in their quest to reshape and tailor digital experiences. Our presence on the Google Cloud Marketplace is a testament to our commitment to continually streamline experiences and elevate customer journeys. LEAP 2024 reaffirms our dedication, leveraging cloud and open-source principles aligned with the Kingdom’s vision for innovation and digital transformation.”

Liferay DXP enables data-driven tailored experiences across diverse stakeholders, including B2B, B2C, B2E, G2G, or G2C interactions on digital channels. The platform’s adaptability shortens delivery timelines, facilitating swift leverage of its capabilities. Liferay SaaS enables organizations to develop various custom solutions, including customer experiences, employee portals, and solutions for suppliers, distributors, and retailers.

At LEAP 2023, Liferay will host its regional partners, including Protiviti, Kaartech, Palmira, Link Development, and Appswave.

Visit the Liferay booth H1A-550 at LEAP 2024 to learn more about how the company is redefining digital experiences and shaping the future of engagement.