1. From` internet of things’ to `internet of me’, how is technology helping you in doing your business better today?
The Internet which began by being a democratic and equal experience has evolved now to being a completely custom experience. The average user today demands a completely relevant and personalized experience on an ongoing basis. If it is not relevant and not personal, he/ she has already moved on to the next site, the next set of pages, the next customer prerogative. This is merely one manifestation of the huge iceberg lurking beneath. Being spoilt for choice has made customized content and communication a huge marketing imperative. The roles of effective social media engagement and analytics are of course, obvious. However, underlying all of this customized messaging and marketing is the thread of sincerity and human connect. The plethora of information available and the choices in plenty, have made it even easier for smart, discriminating customers to call the bluff. Fluff will fall through, relevance will endure. Messages will linger but only if they are true and replete with meaning.
2. IT Marketing is changing rapidly, what according to you can organizations do today to equip themselves better to adapt to these changes in shorter timelines?
IT Marketing is changing rapidly but the fundamentals remain the same. As customers, prospects and key stakeholders deal with a constant bombardment of information across media on a minute-to-minute basis, it becomes even more critical to customize the content and messages to suit their needs, their time and their preferences. Social media and digital platforms are now almost routine to enable a continuous thread of communication and connectivity with customers.
Whether it is with applications and upgrades, investments in newer methodology, real-time customer behaviour analysis and intuitive social media analytics, technology is paving the way for smarter marketing strategy. In the end, however, it all boils down to relationships. The challenge of effective marketing will continue to be, enabling a meaningful & relevant connect and building a relationship with the customer. And with relationships, there is no silver bullet really. Relationships take time to build and even more time to yield results. It’s not really about shortening this cycle but mining it more meaningfully that will become the differentiator for powerful marketing. And that’s where technology can add a lot of value.
3. What is one thing absolutely critical for the IT marketers who are in business today to be future ready?
It is impossible to future-proof your marketing function and part of the growth actually lies in evolving and changing. However, the one thing that I would call out as a critical tool to make the function future-ready is to hire great talent. Good resources with a great attitude can give that crucial boost to the future-readiness of Marketing. Hiring right not just helps address rapid changes in the way we do business but often helps anticipate change and gets the function ahead of the curve.
Profile: Jayanthi Sethuraman is Global Head of Marketing at Tally Solutions. With over 17 years of professional experience in marketing for technology, she has worked with IT Majors including HP and IBM where she has held a variety of roles including Marketing Strategy, Corporate Communications, Advertising & Brand Management, Marketing Operations, Field Marketing and Demand Generation. Jayanthi has experience in marketing for the IT infrastructure and services industries across multiple geographies. In her last assignment as Marketing Head for Fujitsu India and Africa, she was instrumental in setting up and leading the marketing function for Fujitsu in India and as part of her assignment, she led marketing for Africa along with her responsibilities for India. She was also the Marketing Operations Head for Western Europe, Middle East and India at Fujitsu, as part of her tenure. Jayanthi holds an M.S. in Advertising from Syracuse University, USA. In her spare time, she participates in industry forums, University and academic programs related to the development and mentoring of talent in marketing.
