At Refresh 2024, AI takes center stage

As part of its mission to unlock business value and impact of AI, Freshworks held the first of its global annual event series, Refresh 2024, in New York City on May 29. Technology leaders, industry experts, and customers from diverse sectors joined to support this year’s theme—“Defy expectations. Ignite innovation.”—and highlight how AI can deliver delightful experiences for customers and employees. 

A few key takeaways from the event:

Accelerating the AI journey

Mika Yamamoto, chief customer and marketing officer at Freshworks, set the stage with her “State of the Industry” keynote. She spoke of the tsunami of changes confronting chief experience officers and urged tech leaders not to get left behind. She pointed to three key trends in the monster wave of AI: the future of workflows, conversations as the new UI, and real-time insights from unstructured data.

Siddhartha Agarwal, SVP of product strategy and operations at Freshworks, showcased Freddy AI as an example of how quickly and easily businesses can put AI to work. 

“Our focus is on uncomplicated AI,” he said, “giving you the full value of AI without needing machine learning engineers or data scientists.” 

Using expert guidance

New York Times bestselling author Charlene Li shared advice on how leaders can move from “promises to practicality” with their generative AI initiatives. AI will not replace people, she argued, and organizations generally approach AI from two different sides: fear of missing out (FOMO) and fear of getting in (FOGI). Her credo for leaders: “Think big, act small, and scale fast.”

Learning from real customers

A lively customer panel closed out the event. Speakers from GE Aerospace, Total Expert, and Coherent joined Freshworks’ senior VP of sales, Will Anastas, in discussing how companies are already deploying AI in the service of customer support. 

Miss us in New York City? Refresh is coming to Amsterdam on June 11. Register here.