Smartsheet names new APAC & Japan leaders as AI use surges

Smartsheet has promoted Jarrod Kinchington to Vice President and General Manager of APAC and appointed Takeshi Osawa as President of Japan, as it reports rising AI adoption and customer growth across Asia-Pacific and Japan.

Kinchington will oversee Australia, New Zealand, South-East Asia and India as Smartsheet expands in the region. Osawa will lead the Japan business, which has grown quickly since the company opened a Tokyo office and now serves more than 400 customers.

The leadership changes come amid stronger demand from technology, manufacturing and professional services companies. Smartsheet said its operations in Japan have grown about 400% since launch, and it has added offices in Singapore and India to support regional expansion.

Organisations across APAC and Japan have increased their use of Smartsheet's Model Context Protocol Server, which links AI tools to live data in its work management platform. Since the product launched in March 2026, adoption in the region has risen by more than 500%, according to the company.

Customers have carried out more than 600,000 AI actions through the service, or about 4,000 a day on average. Most involved creating, updating or modifying live work.

The tool is being used with services including Claude, Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT and Google Cloud Gemini Enterprise. The figures suggest businesses are moving beyond pilot projects and using AI tools in day-to-day workflows.

Regional growth

Kinchington takes on the wider APAC role as Smartsheet looks to deepen its footprint in a market it sees as increasingly important to its global business. He has been part of the company's regional leadership team as it opened offices in Sydney, Tokyo, Singapore and India.

"Customer demand continues to accelerate across APAC, fueling strong growth and reinforcing the region's importance to our global strategy," said Kinchington, Vice President and General Manager of APAC at Smartsheet. "Organisations here are looking to transform with AI, but many are starting from a fragmented foundation. Before they can scale AI, they need a platform that shows them how work flows across the business and provides the governance to manage AI responsibly. That's especially important in APAC, where compliance requirements are stringent. Smartsheet connects work across the enterprise and gives organizations the visibility and control to safely scale AI."

Osawa joins Smartsheet with more than 25 years of experience in enterprise technology, including roles at Autodesk, SAP Fieldglass and Cloudera. His appointment reflects the company's focus on Japan as a distinct growth market within the region.

"I'm honored to join Smartsheet at this pivotal moment for the Japan business," said Takeshi Osawa, President and General Manager of Japan at Smartsheet. "What resonates deeply with me is Smartsheet's approach: rather than replacing the systems and processes Japanese enterprises have invested in, we connect them securely to deliver visibility, governance and real-time insights across the organization. As AI adoption accelerates, I believe what companies need is not simply adopting AI itself, but translating AI into 'execution' that leads to concrete business outcomes. That's the kind of long-term business partnership Japanese customers are looking for. Together with our customers and partners, we aim to make Smartsheet an indispensable platform that supports the transformation and growth of Japanese businesses."

Sector demand

Professional services, technology and manufacturing were among Smartsheet's fastest-growing sectors in APAC and Japan over the past year. In professional services, Bangkok Bank was a new customer, while Anderson Mori & Tomotsune Foreign Law Joint Enterprise and First Sentier Investors use the software to centralise client delivery and resource visibility.

In technology, EmberPoint automated 70% of its business process steps using the platform, while EML Payments was named as a new customer. In manufacturing, Smartsheet pointed to Motul Asia Pacific's use of the software during a warehouse migration and identified Maruti Suzuki as another recent customer.

Smartsheet presented those examples as evidence that customers are applying AI and workflow software to operational tasks rather than limiting them to isolated productivity projects. That trend has become a central theme in software markets as vendors seek to show measurable business use cases for generative AI tools.

Zalaris provided another customer example. "Smartsheet is the backbone of how we run our consulting business," said Mike Ellis, Global Head of Zalaris Consulting at Zalaris. "We've unified seven business units across 34 countries on Smartsheet to create a single source of operational truth. Now with Smartsheet's MCP Server and AI capabilities, we're transforming our data into real-time intelligence. We can pull insights from across our entire tech stack, including Smartsheet, our BI and CRM platforms, and more, enabling greater automation and efficiency. As a result, we're seeing approximately 67% productivity gains, allowing our project managers to take on more projects simultaneously."

Smartsheet's sales leadership said the region remains a priority as customers increase spending on work management and AI tools. "The opportunity ahead is significant," said Scott Torrey, Chief Revenue Officer at Smartsheet. "APAC organizations are making strategic investments in work management and AI capabilities. Smartsheet is the platform that brings these together-giving teams the visibility, speed and governance they need to execute complex work with confidence. Our leadership team is fully committed to supporting that growth."