EcoOnline welcomes David Orstad as Chief Customer Officer (CCO). David brings more than 25 years of experience leading customer organisations across SaaS and private equity-backed businesses, and joins at a point of critical momentum as EcoOnline continues to grow worldwide and deepen value-led partnerships.
In this Q&A, David talks about how he approaches customer excellence and where he plans to make an impact at EcoOnline. He shares what he is listening for, what “keeping customers close” looks like in practice, and how EcoOnline can help customers achieve outcomes that positively affect the wider business.
For those who have not met you yet, can you share a bit about your background and what led you to EcoOnline?
I’ve spent most of my career in SaaS, leading teams across the customer lifecycle. I’ve held senior leadership roles at Epicor and Accruent, and most recently was SVP of Professional Services and Support at Calabrio, with responsibility spanning managed services and parts of customer success. A big part of my focus has been helping teams grow in a way that stays human, repeatable, and useful to customers.
What excites me about EcoOnline is what we provide and what we are creating. EcoOnline has already seen strong success because the work matters: our technology saves lives, improves the environment, and makes customers’ businesses more resilient. That combination of purpose and practical impact really stood out to me. It’s rare to find a company where the mission and the day-to-day customer outcomes are so closely linked.
Tell us more about your role as Chief Customer Officer at EcoOnline. Which teams will you be leading?
EcoOnline is recognised as a Leader in Verdantix’s 2025 Green Quadrant for EHS Software and featured in its 2025 Smart Innovators in Chemicals Management report. For organisations in ANZ, that iMy role as CCO covers everything in the customer journey after a company chooses EcoOnline as its software partner. At a high level, my responsibility is to strengthen a consistent, joined-up experience across that journey, so customers get the same standard of partnership and support regardless of where they operate or which parts of EcoOnline they use. The goal is simple: make it easier for customers to achieve meaningful impact and to sustain that value over time.
In practice, I lead our Professional Services, Customer Success, and Support teams, and I’m also overseeing the introduction of a Managed Services offering. Managed Services will be an option for customers who want ongoing support beyond implementation to accelerate improvements and sustain value.
In your first few weeks, what have you been focusing on to really understand our customers and their experience with EcoOnline? What has stood out to you so far?
For me, it’s been about three things: our people, our customers, and our products.
I’ve spent a lot of time with our teams, and I’ve been impressed by the depth of knowledge here, the industry expertise, and how well people understand what customers are trying to achieve. I’ve also been energised by the customers I’ve met. They’re engaged, they’re ambitious, and they’re excited about what EcoOnline software can enable for their organisations. And the third piece is the product itself. The capabilities across EcoOnline’s safety and sustainability suite are fantastic, and there’s a real opportunity to help customers get even more out of it in a way that feels straightforward.
The thread that connects all of that is outcomes. We have the right ingredients, and my job is to bring them together so we stay anchored on what success looks like for the customer: the business objectives they’re driving, and how we help them achieve those outcomes more consistently, wherever they operate.
Looking back, what is one lesson that changed how you think about developing customer experiences?
The biggest lesson is to design the journey through the customer’s lens, not an internal lens. Internally, it’s easy to organise around teams, handoffs, and ownership. Customers don’t and shouldn’t see any of that. They experience one journey.
So the work is to stay close to what customers are trying to achieve, remove friction, and keep the journey clear. When that’s done well, customers spend less time navigating the process and more time seeing value from EcoOnline software.
When an organisation chooses EcoOnline, what do you want them to notice about working with us early on?
I want customers to notice what many already have with EcoOnline today: we care about outcomes, not just go-live. Early on, I want working with EcoOnline to be smooth and well-guided, every time. Customers should sense that there’s a strong plan, that we’re helping them prioritise what matters most first, and that we’re moving at a pace that helps them realise value quickly, without adding complexity.
Most importantly, I want customers to know that EcoOnline is invested in a long-term partnership and that we keep showing up in ways that help them succeed in their jobs.
What are the moments that make or break long-term success for customers? How will you strengthen those moments at EcoOnline?
Two moments matter most. First is onboarding and early rollout. That’s where confidence is built, and where disruption can be reduced by making onboarding as frictionless as possible and improving time to value.
Second is what happens after go-live. Long-term success is about adoption, embedding new ways of working, and staying anchored on priorities as needs evolve. That’s where clear guidance and ongoing engagement make a real difference.
To strengthen both, I want to ensure the right mix of meaningful touchpoints through data and AI-informed human support and best-in-class self-service, so customers are guided throughout the journey, not just helped when something breaks.
EcoOnline supports customers globally, with local expertise. What does “great” look like when that balance is working well for customers?
Great is the best of both. Customers get the strength of a global organisation behind them, with mature, well-tested processes, while also having that local connection, with support that reflects their region, industry, and day-to-day realities.
EcoOnline already has strong local knowledge across teams. My focus is on making that balance more consistent, so it’s the same level of phenomenal service everywhere. When it’s working well, customers know who to go to, get relevant guidance fast, and every interaction links back to what they’re trying to achieve with EcoOnline software.
To deliver real impact for customers, with which other teams in EcoOnline do you expect to work most closely day to day?
It’s a team sport. It comes down to Sales, Marketing, and Product teaming closely with the Customer organisation, so customers experience one EcoOnline at every step.
In practice, that means shared context and shared goals. Customers shouldn’t notice awkward handoffs between teams. They should feel one EcoOnline.
And it can’t stop with a few departments. Long-term customer impact means everyone at EcoOnline becomes more customer-facing, staying close to real customer feedback and using it to continuously improve how we show up.
One of our five company values is Champion Protection, rooted in customer excellence. What does that mean to you in practice, and how will you “keep customers close” as you lead the customer organisation?
To me, Champion Protection means never losing sight of why customers choose EcoOnline in the first place. They are working to protect people and the planet, and they need a partner who helps them make real progress, rather than just respond to issues and requests.
“Keeping customers close” means staying connected to what they are trying to achieve and showing up in ways that genuinely help. That includes listening well, being proactive, and using the right mix of self-service and human support so they can get answers quickly, move forward faster, and feel confident they are on the right path.
It’s also where my “customers for life” mindset comes in. Success is not only that customers get started with the EcoOnline software. Success is that they realise value, sustain it over time, and then grow with us, expanding how they use EcoOnline software as their needs evolve and as they see the impact it delivers.
Finally, what’s a small moment from your first few weeks at EcoOnline that made you think, “Yes, this is the right place”?
It’s genuinely hard to pick just one, because there have been a few moments that stood out. I’ve loved seeing EcoOnline software in action through product demos with our Solutions Engineering team, and I’ve really enjoyed early customer conversations, listening to their stories and the outcomes they’re working towards.
But if I had to choose, it would be meeting the senior leaders in our customer teams. The depth of knowledge and the passion for delivering value make me confident we can deliver a consistent, scalable experience as we continue to grow and welcome more to the EcoOnline community.
Thanks, David. We’re excited to have you leading our customer teams in this next phase of global momentum, strengthening what customers already value about EcoOnline today, and deepening the impact we deliver through long-term partnerships.
Media contacts
Alyssa Fishwick
Senior Director, Global Public Relations
EcoOnline
Tel: +46703646396
Email: [email protected]
