Maureen Chong, RVP of Asia and India at Zendesk on Scaling CX Success in the Asian Tech Market

Maureen Chong is the Regional Vice President, Asia and India at Zendesk, leading go-to-market teams and driving strategic growth in these markets. With over 20 years in the IT industry, she has spent the last four years at Zendesk, helping companies transform their CX strategies through innovative technologies like AI. Previously, Maureen held roles at Akamai, SAP, Oracle, and IBM. She holds a Computer Engineering degree from Nanyang Technological University and an MBA from the National University of Singapore.

We had the opportunity to connect with Maureen Chong for a candid interview on leadership, growth, and customer experience, here are some of her valuable insights:

Q1. What motivated you to pursue a career in customer experience, and what key steps did you take to enter this field?

I’ve always believed that delivering exceptional customer experiences fosters deeper connections and builds lasting trust. Being in customer-facing roles from the very start of my career, I recognised how crucial this is. Working at leading tech companies like IBM and SAP, I witnessed firsthand the disconnect many businesses faced in aligning their innovations with real customer needs. This inspired me to bridge that gap by championing customer-centric strategies that make technology both accessible and impactful. Leveraging my engineering background gave me a deep understanding of technology at a granular level, while my MBA sharpened my business acumen. I intentionally sought roles spanning sales, strategy, and operations to develop a holistic view of the customer journey. Living and working across Asia and India has further enriched my perspective, enabling me to tailor customer experiences that resonate across diverse markets.

Q2. How have you leveraged emerging technologies such as AI, machine learning, and blockchain to enhance customer experience in your organization?

At Zendesk, we recognise that AI for service is fundamentally different from AI in other industries. That’s why we built the Zendesk Resolution Platform—the first AI-powered platform designed not just to manage tickets, but to move every issue toward resolution. This complete system seamlessly orchestrates AI, human expertise, and knowledge into a unified workflow, ensuring the right outcomes for customers. Integrated quality assurance guarantees that every resolution meets the highest standards. While AI is often viewed as a tool for efficiency, we believe it also enhances human connection by enabling personalised, proactive customer interactions that deepen relationships and build trust. This approach revolutionises customer experience by blending advanced technology with empathy, creating truly meaningful engagements.

Q3. What are some of the most significant challenges you've faced in improving customer experience, and how did you overcome them?

One of the most significant challenges I hear from customers embarking on their customer experience transformation is simply knowing where to begin. Many recognise the critical importance of delivering great CX but feel overwhelmed by the scale and complexity of the journey ahead. They are often held back by disparate legacy systems that don’t communicate well, creating fragmented experiences for both customers and agents. Conflicting business priorities can also dilute focus and slow progress, while the shortage of skilled customer support leaders makes it difficult to drive consistent, high-quality service.
To overcome these challenges, I work closely with product teams to translate these customer pain points into clear priorities. We focus on delivering integrated, flexible solutions that break down silos and simplify adoption. We also emphasise enabling customers with guidance, best practices, and training to build the right skills internally. By staying closely connected to customer voices, we ensure product development aligns tightly with real-world needs, helping companies start and accelerate their CX journey with confidence and clarity.

Q4. What strategies have you found most effective in delivering exceptional customer experiences through your products and services?

Delivering exceptional customer experiences starts with having a unified view of the customer, breaking down silos across teams and channels to ensure every interaction is informed and seamless. Leveraging AI and automation plays a crucial role, allowing businesses to provide efficient, accurate resolutions quickly while freeing agents to focus on complex, high-value customer needs. Equally important is investing in empowering employees with the right tools and continuous training, so they feel confident and equipped to deliver personalised, empathetic service. Combining these strategies creates a cohesive, responsive experience that builds lasting customer trust and loyalty.

Q5. Can you describe a specific instance where data analytics helped you identify customer pain points and drive product enhancements?

We proactively reach out to customers when we notice significant surges in customer support tickets during their peak business periods. Recognising the challenges they face in managing increased demand and maintaining service quality, we recommend implementing various self-help tools such as robust knowledge bases with RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) search, alongside AI-powered co-pilots and AI agents. These solutions empower customers to resolve common issues independently while enabling support teams to focus on more complex cases. This data-driven, proactive approach helps clients handle seasonality and peak workloads more efficiently, resulting in faster response times and a noticeably improved customer experience.

Q6. How do you balance the need for innovation with the necessity of maintaining user-friendliness in your products?

Zendesk’s mission is to deliver exceptional service for every person on the planet, grounded in the belief that every customer is always human. We prioritise human-centric design, deeply empathising with users’ pain points to guide our innovation. Innovation, for us, means simplifying experiences and enabling users to achieve more with less effort. We engage users early and continuously to ensure a harmonious balance between groundbreaking features and familiar usability. Our ultimate goal is to deliver elegant solutions that solve real problems and make users’ daily interactions more effective and intuitive. A prime example is our outcome-based pricing model, which innovatively ties AI investments directly to tangible business outcomes, providing customers with greater transparency, flexibility, and control over autonomous resolutions enabled by AI—ensuring innovation remains user-friendly and impactful.

Q7. How do you stay updated with the latest trends and developments in customer experience and product management?

Attending industry-wide customer experience events allows me to engage in a healthy exchange of ideas and gain insights into how other organisations are successfully delivering exceptional customer experiences. These interactions provide valuable learning opportunities and help me stay aware of emerging trends and best practices. Additionally, working within a company deeply invested in CX innovation naturally keeps me connected to the latest developments and thought leadership, enabling me to continually refine our approach and better support our customers.

Conclusion

In this insightful conversation, we’ve gone behind the mic with a true champion of customer experience Maureen Chong, who blends deep technical expertise with a relentless commitment to human-centered innovation. From navigating global markets to building AI-driven platforms that are both powerful and personal, her journey reflects the evolving nature of CX leadership today. What stands out is her belief that empathy and innovation are not mutually exclusive but rather, essential partners in delivering truly impactful experiences. As customer expectations continue to rise, her approach offers a roadmap for how businesses can stay ahead by listening closely, acting intentionally, and never losing sight of the human at the heart of every interaction.

“Thank you for joining us for this edition of Behind the Mic. This conversation is part of our lead-up to the Conversational AI & Customer Experience Summit, where we spotlight changemakers who are shaping the future of CX. We hope Maureen’s insights left you inspired and informed. Stay tuned for more stories from leaders shaping the future of CX.”