Zendesk has appointed David Hall-Johnston as Chief Technology Officer for Asia Pacific and Japan, as the customer service technology company looks to help enterprises across the region scale AI beyond experimentation and into core business operations.
Based in Melbourne, Hall-Johnston will lead Zendesk’s regional technology strategy and work with customers on AI adoption. His remit will also include helping align the company’s global product and technology roadmap with the requirements of enterprises across Asia Pacific and Japan.
Hall-Johnston joins Zendesk from Dell Technologies, where he was Chief Technology Officer for Australia and New Zealand and led the company’s technology and innovation roadmap. He brings more than two decades of enterprise technology leadership experience, including senior roles at Hexaware Technologies, Cathay Pacific, the Australian Energy Market Operator, ANZ and IBM.
“Asia Pacific and Japan remain central to our global growth as organisations across the region move from experimenting with AI to deploying it across business-critical service operations,” said Adrian McDermott, Chief Technology Officer at Zendesk.
McDermott said the shift requires organisations to establish both a clear business case and the technical foundations needed to support AI deployment at scale.
The appointment comes as Zendesk reports growing demand for its AI offerings. The company said its AI bookings more than doubled in fiscal year 2026, reflecting increasing enterprise interest in using AI across customer and employee service operations.
Across APAC, organisations are increasingly looking to connect AI agents with enterprise data and human expertise to resolve customer and employee issues end to end. As these systems become more closely integrated with core operations, enterprises are also focusing on architecture, integration and governance to ensure AI can be deployed securely and at scale.
Hall-Johnston said, “The next phase of enterprise AI is about moving beyond pilots and embedding AI into core business operations.”
He added that organisations will need to securely connect AI agents to enterprise data and systems so they can take action and manage increasingly complex tasks from end to end.
His appointment comes as enterprises across APJ assess how AI can be integrated into service operations while balancing the need for security, governance and human oversight.