Murali Swaminathan is shaping Freshworks’ next phase of growth by prioritizing AI-driven efficiency, enterprise expansion, and customer engagement. As Chief Technology Officer, he leads the company’s global engineering and architecture teams, focusing on enhancing product scalability, ensuring enterprise readiness, and integrating AI to deliver tangible business value. With Freshworks moving beyond its small-business roots to compete in mid-market and enterprise segments, Swaminathan emphasizes quality, predictability, and customer feedback to refine the company’s offerings. His approach to AI is clear: it’s not just a trend but a transformative tool that improves productivity, optimizes support operations, and delivers measurable ROI for businesses.
Swaminathan holds a master’s degree in software engineering management from Carnegie Mellon University and a bachelor’s degree in electronics and instrumentation from Annamalai University in India. Before joining Freshworks in 2024, he built a distinguished career spanning three decades, holding leadership roles at ServiceNow, Recommind (now OpenText), and CA Technologies (now Broadcom). At ServiceNow, he led the company’s flagship IT service management portfolio, developing products that enhanced digital transformation for global enterprises. Now at Freshworks, he is driving AI innovation through products like Freddy AI, Freddy Copilot, and Freddy Insights—each designed to elevate customer and employee experiences through automation and predictive analytics.
As Freshworks expands its footprint across North America, Europe, APAC, and emerging markets like the Middle East, Swaminathan is ensuring the company’s infrastructure scales seamlessly. His focus on compliance, multi-region data residency, and strategic cloud partnerships with AWS and Microsoft Azure reflects his commitment to delivering enterprise-grade solutions. Beyond technology, he sees AI as a business enabler, not just a feature—helping companies streamline workflows, reduce operational friction, and unlock new efficiencies. Under his leadership, Freshworks is not just adapting to the AI era—it’s helping define it.