Freshworks Inc. a leading US-based provider of cloud-based business software, has announced its partnership with Sterling Bank Plc as a client.
A news report on the collaboration distributed by African Press Organisation (APO) Group indicated that being a technology pioneer in Nigeria, Sterling Bank realized the importance of upgrading its current IT service desk to a modern, robust, cloud-based platform to empower its employees and also enhance the business efficiency of its technology teams.
The report stated that the 2014 CIO imperative pushed the Bank to align with industry best practices and comply with the CBN IT roadmap for financial institutions in Nigeria.
The group reported further that partnership was informed by the fact that the Bank found its current IT platform incapable of fulfilling some of the critical requirements stipulated by the ISO 20000-1 standard just as the legacy platform was also insufficient in supporting some of the bank’s strategic goals around digitization and implementing IT as a Service (ITaaS).
In addition, it noted that after a successful proof-of-concept of Freshservice, Freshworks’ flagship IT service desk solution, Sterling Bank transitioned to the modern, efficient, ITIL-aligned service desk to power its technology teams to realize strategic organizational goals while improving operational productivity and overall business efficiency.
Director for Middle East & Africa, Freshworks, Arihant Jain, was quoted as saying that “Africa is a very strategic market for Freshworks”, adding that “the opening of this new market is an important milestone for us, as it demonstrates our expanding commitment to Africa and further strengthens Freshworks’ position as a leading provider of business software.
“The combination of our industry-leading software solutions along with an already strong customer base in the region will allow us to partner with more African businesses as every company in this region is looking for innovative solutions to improve their customer and employee experience”, Jain added.
He explained that with focused plans to expand into the African market, Freshworks was increasing its commitments to the region with additional investments in marketing, sales and partnerships to better serve the growing customer base.
In his remarks on the deal, Sterling Bank’s Chief Information Officer, Olayinka Oni said:“We were very impressed with the way Freshworks presented its service desk features, backed with business benefits from an end-user point of view.
“At the end of the POC, we realized that Freshservice was a perfect fit to meet all our organizational needs and goals. We are delighted to be partnering with a market-winning platform to modernize our internal processes and enable us to derive the most value from this tool”, the banker added.
