SINGAPORE – Zendesk, Inc. (NYSE: ZEN), a San Francisco-headquartered customer experience and engagement software company, has solidified its position as one of Asia Pacific’s (APAC) fastest-growing technology companies with the expansion of its Singapore office. Today, the company announced that in partnership with the Economic Development Board (EDB) it will invest in and develop local talent that will see its product development and engineering team double over the next three years.
Zendesk established its footprint in Singapore by acquiring Zopim Technologies in April 2014 to expand the company’s chat capabilities. Since then, its business in the region has grown rapidly, with over 30 percent year-on-year growth. APAC now contributes more than 10 percent of the company’s global revenue, and the expanded regional hub is a key factor in Zendesk reaching its goal of being a billion-dollar company by 2020.
Currently, the Singapore product and engineering teams lead the end-to-end development responsibilities for Zendesk Chat. The team is also a key component to the company’s successful globally distributed development model, working closely with Zendesk’s product and engineering teams in San Francisco and Dublin, as well as supporting teams in Copenhagen, Melbourne, and Montpellier.
The partnership with EDB will help expand the team’s scope into new initiatives, including some of the company’s recent announcements, such as the launch of its open and flexible CRM platform Zendesk Sunshine; the acquisition of Smooch; and WhatsApp for Zendesk, a new WhatsApp Business API connector. It also firmly positions Zendesk’s Singapore office to play a larger role in driving global innovation that will further impact the company’s growth momentum.
Some of the roles Zendesk will be looking to hire as part of the partnership with EDB include software engineers, product managers, devops engineers, security engineers, user experience researchers, and program managers, supporting the nation’s commitment to bridging the tech talent gap.
Kiren Kumar, Chief Digital Industry Officer, Digital Industry Singapore, said, “Zendesk has become a strong partner to Singapore, having set up a world-class product development and engineering team here. This investment reflects Zendesk’s continued and long term commitment to Singapore, in growing a strong pool of digital and tech talent and providing exciting job opportunities for Singaporeans. This expansion is also timely given the explosive growth and strong market potential of the Asian and Southeast Asian markets.”
Sandie Overtveld, Vice President APAC, Zendesk, said, “A growth in digitally-savvy customers has changed APAC’s consumer landscape, and companies in Singapore have recognised the need to better meet customer expectations with more seamless and personalised experiences. Expanding our capabilities in the region allows us to leverage both local and regional talent, as well as deepen our relationships with regional customers – such as Grab, Circles.Life, NTUC FairPrice, and StashAway – to continue developing solutions that are closely aligned to their needs.”
Abhishek Deshmukh, Managing Director of Singapore and Vice President of Engineering, Zendesk, said, “The products and solutions we develop in Singapore are used by brands in more than 160 markets, in 60 different languages, and by more than 1 million customer support agents everyday. The partnership with EDB builds on the commitment we made two years ago, and will further enable us to tap into and invest in Singapore’s world-class engineering talent, and explore opportunities to partner with education and research institutions across the region to complement our focus on global product innovation.”
Zendesk’s newly-expanded Singapore office, located in Marina One and spread across 50,000 square feet, will be the company’s first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified office, as well as one of the first companies to be WELL certified in Southeast Asia.
The partnership with EDB also supports Zendesk’s commitment to creating great places to work, providing talent with a world-class environment and resources to develop and expand employees’ knowledge and technical capabilities.
