David Ward is a seasoned CEO based in Bristol, UK, with a proven track record of driving transformative growth across multiple geographies and industries. Known for his strategic acumen and dynamic leadership style, David has successfully led both startups and large multinational organizations, spearheading initiatives that have delivered exceptional financial performance, revenue growth, and innovative product development.

As the founder and CEO of YakChat Ltd, David launched a pioneering SaaS business that now serves over 1,000 customers across the United States, Canada, the UK, and Australia. Prior to YakChat, he served as CEO of Geomant, where he led contact center product and systems integration services and spearheaded the development and spinoff of the SaaS contact center for Microsoft Teams business, Buzzeasy Limited. Before that, David held the position of Professional Services Director for Europe, the Middle East, and Asia at Avaya.

With extensive expertise in start-ups, mergers and acquisitions, and software product development, David has led global operations and achieved substantial sales growth. His educational background includes a Master of Technology from Brunel University and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Loughborough University.

THE CONVERSATION HAS MOO'VED

Think about how your customers actually want to talk to you. It’s not through email or phone calls anymore: it’s messaging.

In the UK, that means WhatsApp:

• 100+ billion messages are sent on WhatsApp every day
• 80% of WhatsApp messages are read within 5 minutes
• Up to 3x higher response rate than email

Yet for most organisations, WhatsApp is not used, or conversations are spread across unmanaged mobile phones, creating compliance blind spots, limited visibility and constant app-switching.

YakChat solves this by bringing WhatsApp directly into Microsoft Teams.

Built specifically for the Microsoft ecosystem, YakChat empowers customer service, sales, recruitment and operations teams to engage customers on the channel they use most – without leaving their Microsoft Teams workspace.

No switching applications. No unmanaged devices. No disconnected conversations.

While WhatsApp drives the highest customer engagement, YakChat also supports SMS and RCS, giving organisations the flexibility to reach every customer on the channel that works best for them.

WHY ORGANISATIONS CHOOSE YAKCHAT

• Response Advantage: Get up to 3x the response rate of email by using WhatsApp, helping teams reach customers faster and keep conversations moving.
• Built for Microsoft Teams: Capitalise on the UK’s favourite messaging channel directly from Microsoft Teams with high-impact, interactive conversations and media sharing.
• Centralised & Compliant: Bring WhatsApp under business control. Use personal or shared inboxes, message assignment and broadcasts while maintaining the strict archiving, security and compliance your business requires.
• Connected Ecosystem: Integrate with Microsoft Teams, Outlook, SharePoint, Entra ID contacts, Power Automate and Copilot Agents to connect messaging with your contacts, workflows and AI-driven automation.

Start getting replies faster on the channel customers prefer. By embedding WhatsApp (and other messaging channels) directly into Microsoft Teams, YakChat accelerates response times, eliminates shadow IT and delivers the compliant, frictionless experience your customers expect.