In order to acknowledge the contributions of some influential marketing leaders, Insights Success has enlisted “The 10 Influential Marketing Leaders, 2019”.
Google 3rd-Party Cookie Deprecation [Update] + 5 Best Strategies
The Art of Leading Through Effective Marketing
1.
2.
3.
4. E
arketing is one of the essential components of business growth. It plays very important role in imprinting the
Mvalue of the brand on the customers. Marketer leaders are the one who ensure and decide marketing goals for the
business and its accountability. To be effective market leader, it is essential to understand the needs of the buyers.
Leader should market something as a solution to the problem of the customers. The quality of the marketing is been judged
by the customer’s satisfaction. Influential or impactful marketing is the art of communicating to vast amounts of people, in a
simple and easy way to understand, what one’s products or services are and how they can make their lives better.
Being a master marketer requires potential to increase the overall productivity of any business. We live in a time where any
business can become a brand if executes all marketing effectively. Marketing leader should be able to motivate and inspire to
others in the team and he/ she should also be able to guide them for the efficient marketing so as to reach out to larger people
with something valuable. Life is about interacting with others and the task to be influential marketing leader is to be able to
convince people the merits of one’s products and services in a meaningful and graceful way.
If one is able to master the art or skill of marketing, one can have a shot at winning at life, because through this way one has
the potential to create impact in the lives of the people. People are always ready to trade their money for the things they find
more valuable than spending money somewhere else. To be effective marketing leader one should also utilize latest
technology, social media strategy, consumer research, consumer management strategy to one’s advantage. One should be
prepared to adapt to the evolving trends and should be flexible in one’s approach and strategies to incorporate the most
effective ways into one’s marketing strategy.
The most essential component of being influential marketing leader is to have excellent oral communication skills. Excellent
communication skills have the potential to develop the affinity between the marketing person and customers. Language
Improving Profitability of Businesses
through Effective Marketing
5. creates affinity; therefore one should be able to communicate with people in a language understandable by them. One should
be able to build a rapport with the customers and one should be trustworthy. If people see the quality of trustworthiness in a
marketing person then people naturally gravitate to listen to that person. This gives one opportunity to convince people the
importance of one’s products and services. Trustworthiness, ability to utilize all resources to one’s advantage, character, and
integrity of the person make one effective marketing leader.
In order to acknowledge the contributions of some influential marketing leaders, Insights Success has enlisted “The 10
Influential Marketing Leaders, 2019”.
Featuring as our Cover Story is a notable marketing leader named Patti Girardi. She is the CMO of Valet Living. She is
known for motivating her team members to get the best results out of their performance. She has served in multiple
companies where she has helped to increase sales and create a brand name. With her stellar leadership skills, she is setting
benchmarks in sales and marketing.
Also, make sure to go through the articles, written by our in-house editorial team as well as CXO standpoints of notable
industry personalities to have brief insights of the sector.
Let’s start reading!
“ “
Sharad Chitalkar
To be effective marketing leader one should utilize latest
technology, social media strategy, consumer research,
consumer management strategy to one's advantage.
6. CONTENTS
Patti Girardi
Reforming the Marketing Craft
through Consistency
Cover Story 10
Expert’s Outlook
Living Through Fourth
Industrial Revolution
Tech Advice
The Fuss about AI
3628
7. Andrea Saravia
Exemplifying Enthusiasm
and Prociency Together
Abdul Sani Abdul Murad
Sharply Exhibiting Role of
Business Marketing Leader
Marianne Späne
Hard working, Persistent,
and Passionate Leader
34
18
26
Articles
Imparting Wisdom
Sustaining Entrepreneurial
Spirit in the Modern Era
Imparting Wisdom
Successful Personality Traits
to Learn from Elon Musk
3222
The Art of Leading
Attributes of a Good
Leader
16
11. Cover Story
Reforming the Marketing Craft through Consistency
Patti Girardi
Your job as a marketing leader is to
elevate the discipline to an art and
a science that is rooted in strategy,
measurement and results.
13. Cover Story
Marketing is the bridge
between a product and its
target audience, and
marketing leaders are the ropes
strengthening it. A marketing leader is
always focused on making his/her
products and services more
approachable, and for that he/she needs
a set of skills and determined
teamwork. Along with the many other
qualities a marketing leader requires, a
management competency for the
performance assessment further helps
in ensuring excellent teamwork.
Management competency helps to
understand the true capacity of
employees and how to encourage them
to perform at their best.
Patti Girardi, CMO of Valet Living,
is one such leader who is known for
motivating her team members to get
the best results out of their
performance. She has served in
multiple companies where she has
helped to increase sales and create a
brand name. With her stellar leadership
skills, she is setting benchmarks in
sales and marketing.
Her interview with Insights Success
exhibits her inspiring journey as a
marketing leader and portrays her
commitment to Valet Living.
Below are the highlights of her
interview:
Kindly elaborate on your journey in
becoming a marketing leader.
As hard as it is to believe, I actually
found marketing by accident. I joined
Cox Communications, the 4th largest
cable operator in the United States,
directly from business school as
Manager of Special Projects, which at
the time, included launching all of the
new cable offerings consumers have
grown accustomed to today: digital
cable, high-speed internet, and digital
telephone service. But as these
strategies developed into tangible
product offerings, the need to market
them was calling, and I transitioned
into a brand management role, which I
residents front and center to make their
lives easier than they could have ever
imagined. As Chief Marketing Officer
for this amazing brand, I’ve been able
to expand the scope of my leadership
across branding, creative services, lead
generation, inside sales, marketing
communications, database marketing,
e-commerce, mobile marketing,
product marketing, public relations,
research, social media, event/trade
show marketing, web strategy, artificial
intelligence and sustainability.
How do you diversify your
organization’s offerings to appeal to
the target audience?
Valet Living is the only full-service
amenities provider to the multifamily
housing industry. It arrived at its
industry-leading position through a
crystal-clear understanding of its
competitive advantages and intimate
knowledge of the apartment industry.
Valet Living’s wide range of services
include doorstep waste and recycling
collection, apartment turns (preparing
apartment homes for new residents),
maintenance (supplementing onsite
maintenance teams with additional
labor or “porter hours”), pet solutions
(pet parks, waste and wash stations)
and its resident-facing amenity services
offering called Valet Living Home™.
Valet Living’s core competencies of its
proven track record and pioneering
edge in the multifamily space have
allowed the brand to set the standard
for residential living in each of these
verticals. In particular, Valet Living
Home’s resident-facing amenity
service solution - offering home cleans,
pet walks, package delivery, wellness
classes, and laundry pick-up - is truly
unique in that, although powered by
technology, these amenities are
delivered by the best people and
processes in the business. As the above
amenities include B2B, B2C and
B2B2C services, the challenge for
marketing is to approach each one with
strategies that are most suitable for
each respective audience.
connected with in a way that I had
never experienced professionally.
Cox’s explosive growth afforded me
the opportunity to move into a number
of field and corporate positions,
culminating into the opportunity to
lead web strategy and e-commerce
during a transformative time for the
industry – during this period, we grew
Cox.com to surpass call center traffic
as the company’s primary service
channel, something naysayers said
couldn’t be done.
From there, I moved over to the
programming side of the cable
television business as Vice President of
Affiliate Sales and Marketing for Fox
Cable Networks. This role brought not
only the challenge of aligning sales and
marketing initiatives to consistently
outperform aggressive sales targets, but
also heightened visibility throughout
the media industry and access to best-
in-class leadership programs like the
Betsy Magness Leadership Institute for
Women.
The opportunity to marry my life-long
passion for the culinary arts and career
goals arrived when Compass Group,
the world’s largest foodservice
provider, presented the opportunity to
lead marketing for its domestic college
foodservice division and the challenge
of rebranding the business for
Generation Z -- the 8-23-year-old
cohort emerging as the most coveted
youth demographic -- overtaking
Millennials in both size and influence.
This industry-leading rebrand infused
“gathering” into traditional foodservice
as a way to transform the college
dining experience into a vehicle for
promoting high-intensity relationships
– much like the pre-technology
experience of sitting down to a family
meal.
And then, there was the offer I couldn’t
refuse – the opportunity to
fundamentally disrupt the multifamily
housing industry through a major
rebrand for amenity service provider
Valet Living that puts multifamily
14. For people seeking excellence in a
property management partner, Valet Living
is the tried and tested resource that supports
communities where people want to live and
that improves property value.
What attributes are required to
overcome the challenges faced in
Marketing?
Your job as a marketing leader is to
elevate the discipline to an art and a
science that is rooted in strategy,
measurement and results. Since
creative without strategy will almost
never triumph over personal opinions;
research, testing and fact-based
analysis are truly the most effective
ways to engage internally so that
programs can succeed externally.
How do you strategize your game
plans to tackle the competition in the
market?
I’m a big believer in classic
frameworks like SWOT analyses and
Porter’s Five Forces model. Once
you’ve established a brand identity that
is driven by strategy using these time-
tested tools, it is then critical to stay
loyal to the brand. If your brand truly
promises differentiation in a way that
others can’t, it’s not necessary to
attempt to “one-up” the competition at
every turn. But it is necessary to own
your differences.
What are your insights on the
implementation of technological
advancements in Marketing?
Technology is amazing – as long as it
truly furthers a connection with your
target audience. Amazon has done an
incredible job of using technology to
personalize the digital shopping
experience – expressing both warmth
and competence with every click in a
way that even some of the most
sophisticated call centers cannot. But
technology gone wrong - the
implementation of live chat
applications with one-week response
does Valet Living see itself in the
near future?
Valet Living is disrupting the resident
amenity space, and it is truly exciting!
Although there are other mobile
applications in the amenity services
arena, there is nothing like Valet Living
Home. While powered by technology
for the convenience of our residents,
amenity services like home cleans, pet
walks, and package management are
delivered by W2, uniformed
background-checked associates who
are trained by hospitality experts. Valet
Living Home is tech-enabled, not tech
first. This ensures a consistent, high-
quality experience that is unmatched
by any other solution in the
marketplace. As we continue to bring
Valet Living Home to additional
communities at a rapid clip, I will
continue with relentless focus to bring
Valet Living’s vision to life – driving
resident usage of the platform and
ensuring that residents choose to live at
a Valet Living community above all
others.
What is your advice for
budding/upcoming Marketing
Leaders?
The most important mark you can
leave on an organization is results.
Drive results, and find ways to
communicate them across the
organization that aren’t overly self-
promotional. And recognize that
marketing is still very much a science
that must be learned. It’s important to
step out of the “flyer-making”
mentality and learn from those who
have invested decades in perfecting the
marketing craft.
times, for example - only damages a
brand’s relationship with consumers.
According to you, what are the key
factors that a Marketing Leader
should consider while deriving
comprehensive marketing
strategies?
By far and away, the most important
factor is having a crystal-clear
understanding of the organization’s
business objectives. From there, it’s
about developing strategies that
connect with your target audience to
over-deliver on these goals and then
applying marketing fundamentals like
the classic 4P framework to reach your
target audience. With the Valet Living
portfolio comprised of B2B, B2C and
B2B2C services, there is no one single
approach that works for all. Before
making any final decisions, I’ve found
that there is also no substitute for
gathering input from the leaders of
each business line as well as field
representatives on the front lines.
How do you keep up with volatile
trends in the Marketing discipline,
pertaining to your expertise?
It’s easy to be distracted by the latest
buzzwords and the temptation to treat
all challenges with a tech-forward
solution. But at the end of the day,
marketing is really just about
connecting with consumers. The
classic marketing rules of effective
design and the 4Ps of marketing live
on today for good reason – they work!
The question is, how can technology
complement marketing fundamentals
to further business goals?
What are your future
endeavors/objectives, and where
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19. Leadership is about using the
power of a position to
empower a group of people in
order to attain a common goal. A
leader’s task is to implement the plans
that usually look good on paper,
through a delegated team, in a specific
time with an ongoing motion. She/he
may use the traditional method or may
think out of the box. It depends on the
leader as how to do it; the ultimate
motive is to get the job done.
Although, each and every individual
has a different approach on leadership,
some might say it is about setting
examples, some might say it is about
sharing the authority; what matters is,
taking the right decision when it is
most needed.
Leadership varies from one
organization to another. An
organization is a dynamic body and
creates new probabilities every now
and then. And with new probabilities,
come new challenges.
Although, it is impossible to overcome
every challenge, the business
environment has adopted certain
leadership styles for the efficiency of
business:
The Participative Leader
Participative Leadership is the process
of sharing authority with the work
force in order to get optimum
efficiency. The team, after getting
access to certain powers, works
responsibly to accomplish the goals set
by its leader. The shared leadership
also helps in case of any requirement
of change, as the employees adapt
quickly in such environment.
Incidentally, this style of leadership fits
best in a scenario when there is a
limitation of time.
The Transformational Leader
A transformational leader inspires the
team through effective communication
and an intellectual environment.
However, these individuals require
more detail oriented managers to
when it comes to leadership, there is no
scope for lack of communication. A
Leader who fails to develop this skill is
looked up as incompetent, because it is
his job to send the message loud and
clear. Although, it is also important to
listen as it is an integral part of
communication.
Ÿ Integrity
C.S. Lewis said, “Integrity is doing the
right thing, even when no one is
watching.” Be it giving credit to one of
the team members or be it admitting a
mistake, a leader wears integrity as a
badge of honor. They do what is right,
no matter what.
Empowerment
As mentioned earlier, Leadership is
about using the power of one’s position
to empower a group of people in order
to attain a common goal. A good leader
shares his authority with the team in
order to get the job done. By doing
this, he shows confidence in the team
and obliged by the gesture, the team
works with full enthusiasm to
accomplish the goal.
Ÿ Decision making
There is risk in decision to making.
Great leaders take great decisions
when the stake is high and it is the
success of those decisions that make
them great. To add up, a good leader
takes right decision at the right time.
In conclusion, a good leader can be
defined by the dynamics of his style in
leadership, the values that he brings to
the organization, the methods he uses
to make the best of the resources, and
the kind of decision he makes in the
given situations. At the end it is about
the attitude of an individual to bring
the change for good.
successfully implement their strategies.
Transformational Leadership is
considered among the most effective
employees of the organization. One of
the examples of this type of leadership
is when a leader is assigned on a higher
level for effective environment.
The Transactional leader
The transactional leadership, as the
name suggests, enables the leader to
incentivize the team corresponding to
their performance. The team gets
rewarded when it attains the goals and
the Leader has the power to review the
results and act accordingly when the
team fails to do the same. The goals
and the strategy to attain them are
decided by the leader and the team
itself.
The Situational leader
Situational leadership is a theory that
the best leader will adapt to the
required leadership style according to
need of the hour. A Situational leader
may adopt democratic style while
discussion business with senior
executive, but may switch to
transactional at the time of team
review. However every individual has
a natural style of leadership and it may
be difficult to switch roles at a certain
point of time.
Qualities of a good leader
There is an old proverb that says,
“Give a Man a Fish, and You Feed
Him for a Day. Teach a Man to Fish,
and You Feed Him for a Lifetime.” So
is the case with leadership. One of the
basic qualities of a Leader is to pass on
the leadership skills.
Following are some of the qualities of
a good leader:
Ÿ Communication Skills
Communication is the basic
requirement for efficiency in a
business. As the level of hierarchy
elevates, the requirement of
communication grows. Especially,
17May 2019|
The Art of Leading
20. Marketing is vital for businesses to create a level
of intimacy between the customer and the brand.
Marketers are the one who ensure and decide
marketing goals for the business and its accountability. One
such marketer is Abdul Sani Abdul Murad, the Group
Chief Marketing Officer at RHB Banking Group who is
leading the company’s brand marketing and is responsible
for its media strategy, consumer research, consumer
management, and marketing strategy.
In an interview with Insights Success, Abdul Sani shares the
insights about his RHB Banking Group and its services that
create the fast and seamless customer experience.
Considering his resilience and inspirational aspects,
Insights Success recognizes Abdul Sani Abdul Murad, as
one of the influential marketing leaders to watch in 2019.
Below are highlights from the interview conducted between
Abdul Sani and Insights Success:
Give a brief overview of yourbackground as an influential
marketingleader.
I am a true blue marketer who started at one of the world’s
largest fast moving consumer goods company, Unilever, as
their marketing scholar. I managed various business
categories for 10 years and helped grow a number of them into
market leaders before joining Malaysia’s largest foreign bank,
HSBC in 2008, as their Marketing Chief, for 9 years. We were
awarded by the HSBC Group Headquarters for being the best
marketing team in the Asia Pacific in 2010 for producing the
best marketing campaign in the HSBC world in 2009.
Subsequently, I joined one of Malaysia’s largest banking
group, RHB in2017, as theirGroup ChiefMarketingOfficer.
It was truly humbling when I received the marketing
distinction recognition in 2013 and was awarded the
Malaysian CMO Award for being the Best Marketer in
Influencer Marketing in 2018 by Marketing Magazine.
Abdul Sani
Abdul Murad
Sharply Exhibiting Role of Business Marketing Leader
Marketing
Leaders
The
10Influential
2019
18 May 2019|
21. How do you diversify your organization’s offerings to
appeal to the target audience?
In a growing digital economy, our research provided insights
into how people are using the digital tools at their disposal to
run their lives. Through this, we saw an opportunity to build
better trust and bolster relationships with our customers by
diversifyingour offeringsintothedigitalchannel.
One of the many digital banking initiatives we have rolled out
is called ’banking by your doorstep’. It is an offering which
enables customers to open their bank account online and have
it delivered at the comfort of their home or office. The
proposition of having the bank officer come to you to do the
regulatory KYC verification and delivering your banking
account serves time-pressed customers well. Customers do
not need to set foot in the branch anymore when opening a
bank account. This unique offering is one of its kind in the
market we serve and has seen a strong adoption rate with over
75% of ourtotalbankingaccountsbeingopenedonline.
What were the past experiences, achievements or lessons
that haveshaped yourjourney?
In the early years, we often see shampoo advertisements
showcasing beautiful models with beautiful hair to entice
customers’ purchase intent. This is almost a must-have ritual
when marketing a shampoo. However, we defied the
marketing norm by producing shampoo advertising aimed at
Muslim women who wear headscarves without showcasing
hair.We took an emotional approach instead, by leveraging on
strong consumer insight and stitched a well-crafted brand
story to deliver the message, which won the hearts of many
people and took market share leadership from another
shampoobrandthathas beenamarketleaderfor decades.
This experience taught me that people don’t buy products
anymore because they buy into emotions and experiences
instead. Brands need to connect with customers simply by
beingmorehumaninhow itengagesthem.
How do you strategize your game plans to tackle
competitioninthe market?
RHB has been around for more than 100 years and we want to
be around for several hundred more. We believe we have been
around for that long because we have been in tune with society
by focusing on delivering our brand’s core purpose. We take
the outside-in perspective by taking customers’point of view
and becoming an advocate for customers within the
organization.
Where do you see yourself in the near future and what are
yourfuturegoals?
I do wish to see more marketing leaders taking on leadership
roles in successful organizations. It will be a great fulfillment
if I can play a part in providing a conducive training ground
for young marketers who share the above inspiration.As they
say, tobeagood leader,you havetobreedotherleaders.
What is your advice for budding and emerging marketing
leaders?
We live in a technology world that’s changing at breakneck
speed in a business environment that’s highly regulated and
bound by commercial constraints. However, the marketing
future still depends on how well marketers build strong
emotional bonds with customers. Just be warm and human; do
not allow yourself to be sucked into the technological
quicksand that could cost you to lose your human touch.After
all, your customers will never get tired of being romanced by
the brand they love and this feeling will never run out of
fashion. Remember that if you’re not romancing your
customers,someoneelsewill.
“We need to create an
environment where people
feel safe to take risks because
there isn't any failure in trying,
simply because you could
either succeed or learn.
“
Abdul Sani Abdul Murad
Group CMO
RHB Banking Group
19May 2019|
22.
23.
24. usinesses operate, survive and progress in a highly
Bdynamic economy, where change is the rule, not
the exception. The change may be slow, sudden or
almost extensive. One of the important forces of change is
the change in technology. Most of these changes are used to
enhance human capabilities to accomplish meaningful
work. These changes are sometimes thriving on the
entrepreneur.Asuccessful entrepreneur works to visualize
these future changes rather than waiting for it and create a
moredesirableenvironmentintheorganization.
Technological breakthroughs do occur and it takes courage
for an entrepreneur to accept the change and its
implication. Technology breakthroughs like computers,
color television sets, electronic sets, fuel-efficient vehicles,
etc. have encouraged entrepreneurs to manufacture these
products. Thus changes in technology from time to time
pose several alternatives before the entrepreneur.This is an
ongoing process in which the entrepreneur sets goals and
strategies to meet changes in technology. But for strategies
like marketing, human resource, supply chain, financial
and legal strategies, etc. connection with people is
important. Entrepreneurs define the formal relationships
among people and specify both their roles and
responsibilities. Because the end product is an integrated
system of people & technology and to administer these
systems, entrepreneuris required.
Technology is helping us solve problems where human
power alone is not enough. Different types of businesses
require different technologies, but again, it is impossible to
solve all integration needs with a single technology. This
article will help you understand, that technology is only the
part of the original solution and how in different sectors the
entrepreneur'ssurrounding reallymatters.
Ÿ Accounting
Technology allows us to complete tasks faster. It replaces
the tiresome tasks of manually storing, compiling, sorting,
etc. and the ability to use data with a simple digital
solution. For example, Sales ledger in the early days was
time-consuming, expensive and all paper-based process.
Technology helped increase productivity with the
development of spreadsheet software like Microsoft
Excel. Employees today are far better at finding what they
need when they need it. Though only this will not achieve
the outcome. Here, let's take a clear look at how the
entrepreneur's spirit is really helping to achieve the desired
goal.
Technology is good for bringing the change not forcing it.
It cannot make employees more efficient. Yes, the right
technology can help to make the work easier, but if an
employee is truly falling behind or is just inefficient, all the
technologyintheworld willnotsolvethissituation.The
in the ModernE a
Sustaining
Entrepreneurial Spirit
22 May 2019|
25. truth is such employees can be sometimes inefficient due to
either inexperience or laziness. An entrepreneur can
identify this problem by improving communication in such
departments. This explains why human interference is
important to address this situation, where technology is
just a bandage, fix the problem for a short time. Adding
new and faster technology will not fix the problem.While a
better solution is sitting the departments down together and
talking about the problem with the entrepreneur will be a
realsolution.
Ÿ Retail
Technology allows retailers to be available day and night
interacting with customers how, when and where they are
ready to shop. Retailers depend on technology to manage
inventory, track customer-purchasing habits, predict
trends and deliver goods and services. Wireless
communication, QR codes and Augmented Reality are
some of the changes in technology to the retail industry.
Ultimately, the entrepreneurship element remains central
even if it is embedded within AI, advanced analytics, etc.
Because a customer's shopping experience is more
important than price and product quality. Entrepreneur
encourages employees to use their creativity to ensure
every customer experience is memorable. Entrepreneur's
human interaction adds the value to the company and
maintainsloyalcustomers.
Ÿ Communication
In virtual workplaces, employees can interact and develop
ideas by connecting through the use of video conferencing.
This may include training and important meetings from far
places to the employees. Technology can also be used as
real-time feedback from the employees which allows the
entrepreneur to improve the needs of the employees.
Entrepreneur's good communication is necessary to allow
efficient flow both internally (among employees) and
externally(using technology).
Ÿ Automation
The robots are coming and can actually help us, to be more
productive,freeingus frommostofthetime-consuming
23May 2019|
26. and repetitive tasks. One of the most important areas of
application of automation is computer-aided
manufacturing. Today CAD/CAM technology has been
applied in many industries including machine
components, electronics products, and equipment design.
Even banking and financial institutions have embraced
automation technology in financial transactions. But just
because technology is advancing it does not mean it will
replace human. Technology can do an adequate job, but we
still need humans. It is certain that people to people
communication remains fundamental where the
entrepreneur'scontactinthevariousstagesis required.
Ÿ Security
Technology becomes even more critical when operating
the business online. It is important to protect the businesses
from cybercriminals who could steal data or lead to
website downtime. Encryption and decryption protect
information from being accessed by a third party or
cybercriminals. It takes only about a minute without
slowing down anyfileor document.
Ÿ Storage
Technology has led to the development of cloud computing
to store business information and has been accepted by
many in the world of business. Cloud Computing is cost
effective and convenient to the company management and
employees can access data from anywhere by just using a
device that can access the internet. It helps entrepreneurs to
trust these technologies and build a strong trust among
internalmanagementof thecompany.
Overall Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain technology,
Cloud Computing, Internet of Things, 3D printing, etc.
today are helping entrepreneurs to use this technology in
every field to grow their businesses. But technology alone
cannot create a company culture, where human
interactions are valued. Because it is people who are
assigned to work on this technology and to encourage them
the entrepreneurs keeps their spirit alive. By creating an
interested working environment, interactive dialogues
among employees, support and motivation to the
employees, reward system, etc. reflects the culture of the
company. It is an entrepreneur who understands what the
needs of the company are, by creating a connection with all
the stages of management that brings the desired output.
Hence, entrepreneurial spirit and technology should go
hand in hand. Therefore we need evolving technology as
well as intelligent humans. We need guided missiles as
wellas guidedmentocreatethebetterworld.
24 May 2019|
27.
28. Marketing has come so far with the new
advancements in technologies such as AI and
automation. The job of marketing has become
more convenient as well as cumbersome at the same time,
as marketing leaders have to perform several tasks to reach
out to their potential customers. Despite these differences of
modern and traditional marketing practices, many leaders
have smoothly carried out all the marketing functions and
achieved the desirable results. With intent to recognize their
significant contributions, Insights Success has compiled its
list of The 10 Influential Marketing Leaders, 2019.
This list is incomplete without the inspiring work of
Andrea Saravia, the Global Marketing Director of
Ufinet. Andrea has been a marketing and branding
specialist for 24 years now and possess an MBA specialized
in business leading and marketing from ESIC, Madrid,
Spain. She has been Ufinet’s Marketing Director for 5 years
now, and has tackled many challenges ever since, such as
positioning Ufinet’s brand in a difficult and ever-changing
market as is the telecommunications sector.
Started Young
Andrea started her career in 1995 as an Executive Key
Account Manager in an advertising agency. Since that
moment she knew she was made for marketing. Being able
to get to know many company’s profiles and businesses at
their core and to embrace the knowledge that every sector
had to offer, allowed her to grow in a very integral way,
opening her path to achieve results no matter what the
segment she worked with. She has operated in many sectors
including advertising, PR, law, interior design, magazines,
nutrition, and telecommunications, which she has loved
most.
Andrea started working very young, at the age of 18. She
did not have any experience before. The job in the
advertising agency was very stressful and she had an
important overload of work. She did not know at the time
how to manage her emotions, the pressure and her time. It
took her many years to know herself and find the best way
to get things done without losing control. Later, she learned
not only to get through every single obstacle that came her
way, but even crave them as they make her life much more
interesting and challenging.
Source of Inspiration
There are various factors that inspire Andrea the most. She
firmly believes in a phrase which states, “do what you love,
love what you do”. Being able to do this has given her the
opportunity to tackle all the challenges that come her way
and grow as a professional leader.
Another subject for Andrea has always been learning new
things every day. In her opinion, people would be surprised
knowing all the hidden treasures they can find by just
opening their mind. Having a work-life balance is a key
matter, enjoying both professional and personal life with
family and friends. Few other additional moves that have
inspired her to raise includes giving the extra mile -always;
working smart, not hard; taking risks even though you may
fail; and finally challenging yourself to dream.
Andrea
Saravia
Exemplifying Enthusiasm and Proficiency Together
Marketing
Leaders
The
10Influential
2019
26 May 2019|
29. Repositioning as a Big Player
In 2014 a private investor bought Ufinet from Gas Natural
Fenosa Telecom. The most challenging task was to re-
position the company as Ufinet, a big player in the
telecommunication’s market, participating in various trade
shows in several countries, creating the firm’s online image
from scratch, such as the company’s website, a Linked-In
profile and other social channels (inexistent at the time),
and moreover interiorizing the business’s great assets,
vision, mission and values within the company’s personnel.
That was key to create awareness about the company’s
ethics, its top-notch services as well as creating an excellent
post-sales package to get the firm’s clients not only to
choose Ufinet for its strengths and advantages, but also for
falling in love with a strategy of taking care of their own
business growth.
Being Authentic with Customers
According to Andrea, Ufinet has one of the best strategies
in the telecommunications market, being a neutral carrier of
carriers. This means that the company does not reach the
end customer and therefore, it does not compete with its
clients, which is one of the main issues it uses to tackle
competition. Nevertheless, its competitors are also its
clients, which make the task much trickier and more
difficult. So, the best way to market its company remains to
be honest and authentic with its consumers.
Another key factor is the closeness Ufinet has with its
customers. Every client has its own Key Account Manager,
who is available almost 24/7 for them. This provides the
company with an additional hands-on approach, as it gets to
know and fully understand their most important needs and
obstacles.
When asked about the future goals Andrea states, “I love
my job. And I can say that Ufinet is one of the best
companies I have ever worked in. The values under which
this company breathes are amazing. So, I aim to keep
working here as a CMO. I believe that my expertise, my
passion and my creativity will keep this company growing
and “rock-n-rolling” for many years to come.”
An Essential Advice to be Incorporated
Andrea advises emerging entrepreneurs to strive for success
and quality every time. She says, “You will fail sometimes,
of course, but the key here is to learn about each error and
fiasco to make a better job next time. If you don’t push
yourself after every failure, you will never acquire the
wisdom to succeed in the future. Just do it, make things
happen and never ever stop until you achieve what you
desire most.”
“Be resilient and embrace
change with passion – it’s
the only way you will be able
to grow as a person and a
professional.
“
Andrea Saravia
Global Marketing Director
Ufinet
27May 2019|
30. The Fuss
about AI
For enterprises there are certain imminent crisis that
demand that they change rapidly and market is not at all as
forgiving as it was a few decades back, someone is
constantly rooting for you to make a mistake.This is leading
enterprise to transform under the integrated environment of
Digital Transformation.
Voice Technology has lately become a stable AI process and
would completely change the way we interact with
technology in the future. Visualization will remain at the
heart of it however with conversational technology, we can
expect a shift to more verbal ads, like radio, but more
personalized and actionable, but still to make a decision on
which product to buy you would want to see it visually.
Also search will become more specific and hyperlocal,
where we will be prompted to give verbal feedbacks, that
would amount to popularity of products and places, how it
happens with mobile applications today.
Siri, Cortana, Alexa have brought conversation technology
to people for some time now. They come bundled up with
smart phones and can be used to do basic searches, to look
up certain things, cue up songs etc. Speech technology has
come much further than that. With its advancement we can
now control our oven, tv and other house hold devices, can
search complex data from cloud or can make phone calls
for ourselves. It can change the way we function in our
daily lives, our time with our family, services we receive
and the jobs we do. It can eliminate learning curve of
devices, repeatable chores, and compiling excel sheets. And
it will not happen eventually, it’s happening now.
Developers will innovate to create more audio centric user
interface, there will be discovery period for them to find out
how to minimally prompt user to give inputs and implement
voice modulated visual commands. We can see speech
approaching a point where it would become so reliable that
we can just use it, like how we do it with other humans, and
not even think about it.
Ihave been a strong advocate of conversational
technology (VoiceTech/NLP) and AI and have pitched
for it in various conferences, Guest Lectures at leading
business institutes and to corporates and I am often being
asked what will happen to our jobs? So this is true that
Artificial intelligence seems like a big untameable monsters
to most, and everyone is little anxious about future.
And that could be true sitting in 2010, but past few years
new old research and young progressive companies and
devision of enterprises are willing to make it their sole
purpose that the infuse digital transformation in their
company and provide assistance to others. But, with the
prevailing reputation that comes at a cost of educating
everyone, really everyone.
They see it as a risk and any have burnt their hands trying
to tame novice early stage AI models. But thats fine, thats
how we grow. I believe that we are intellectual beings with
curious minds, why would we want to do repeatable jobs
which machines can do with greater efficiency. We can
delegate these chores and teach the machines to help us
better and imitate human decision making, innovate at
personal level and “Democratise Artificial Intelligence”.
Democratising AI through platforms for like voice
technology - Natural Language processing so the technical
algorithms can stay with specific user base while use of the
AI algorithms can be made as simple as conversing with
machines. Thats a sure shot way to upskilling resources for
example: Team of Analysts can train dashboards and
Business Intelligence tools to map business KPIs and
generate Compelling Business Stories and Insights in
natural language for everyone in the organisation to benefit
from, and then keep building the training over it through
machine learning. We are personally running trials with
Fortune 50 companies on this, so when I say you need to
start looking at ways to incorporate new technologies I
mean it.
28 May 2019|
31. I am personally inspired to bring acceptance
for conversational technology globally and I
believe that the real success for this would
not be when big corporations and industries
would be using it but when every small and
medium business and every household would
be using it and help us to get a hold of our
receding grip on reality from visually
attractive and distracting screens on our tv, on
out laptops and our smart phones.
We have seen this kind of a shift with
automated technologies and processes which
has led to reduced laborious work, efficiency
increased and averted accidents. Smart
phones brought technologies closer to the end
user. So, I took side with Artificial
Intelligence and Machine Learning
technologies, that will aid seamlessly while
co-existing in our realities. And impact is not
just on us in our personal capacity but for
businesses too and professionals who spend
endless nights collating data and make pretty
ppts to show to the bosses.
I believe that spreading the word on changing
technological demography is not our
responsibility or our burden. But you know
why I make it my purpose??
Because it is a major step in evolution of
technology and I know we need to harness it,
shape it now, before someone else does it for
you.
Preksha Kaparwan is the Co-founder, CMO, V.UX Designer of Realbox.AI.
The versatile IHM Pusa graduate initially served as the chef but got inclined
towards technology and business analytics and founded RealBox in 2015.
Within three years of its inception, they have raised $300k for Realbox and,
their customers include fortune 50 and big 4 enterprises. As a thought leader
she has been part of TEDTalk talk shows. She was awarded 'The sparks 2018'
by your story for tech services for her exceptional contribution
as a Tech Evangelist.
Preksha Kaparwan
Co-founder & CMO
RealBox Data
Analytics Private Limited
About the Author
Tech Advice
29May 2019|
32.
33.
34. Successful Personality
Traits to Learn
from Elon Musk
Legends never need an introduction. They tend to be
victorious despite of their uneventful histories. They
stick to captivating traits such as Discipline,
determination and self-belief which help them accomplish
wonders in the long run. One such example of an extra-
ordinary person is Elon Musk, a South African Business
Magnate, Investor and an engineer.
Musk is the founder, CEO, and chief architect of SpaceX;
co-founder, CEO, and product designer of Tesla Inc.; and
co-founder and CEO of Neuralink. As of February 2018, he
is the 53rd-richest person in the world and has a net worth
of $20.8 billion, which is far more than the net GDP of
Greece taken into consideration.
While each entrepreneur possesses a unique set of traits that
makes him/her successful, this Tech founder has a few traits
much different from any other ordinary CEO, which has
allowed him to build some of the world’s most respected
and innovative organizations. Musk once quoted, “When
something is important enough, you do it even if the odds
are not in your favor.”
Let’s have a look on these personality attributes and
characteristics that make him a contender for the most
innovative intellectual entrepreneur of the century alive.
Hard-work and Characteristic Work Ethics
Elon Musk is a hard-working innovator, working for about
100 hours a week, and has been productive since many
years. He may even be considered as the hardest working
employee of the company, setting standards for his
colleagues to follow and implement. Since the field of work
lies inside his radius of interests, he enjoys it to every
moment and bit when it comes to learning and execution.
Strong Risk Tolerance
Founding a start-up involves a great deal of uncertainty and
risk. A study found that after 10 years of being in business,
96 percent of the start-ups fail. Going by the statistics,
Musk must have faced the same odds against him, when he
had decided to leave an otherwise comfortable life to start a
risky and uncertain business venture.
For instance, Musk left his PhD program at Stanford
University to find a company called Zip2 with his brother in
the year 1995. Later, the company was sold to Compaq
computers, profiting Musk a bit over $20 million.
Following this, Musk once again took a great risk by
investing millions of dollars to found a company called
X.com, one of the world’s first online banks.
‘Always Be Learning’ Attitude
An astounding and less-known fact about Elon Musk is that
he is self-taught in programming and in many advanced
level subjects. He read and understood a variety of books,
which helped him gain endless and persistent knowledge
and understand diverse concepts.
The best piece of advice on learning and implementation is
to constantly think about how things could be done in a
better manner and question self to seek the answers.
32 May 2019|
35. Feedback Loop
It is of prime importance to recognize the present symbol or
otherwise ‘status quo’ in the market as an organization and
re-position accordingly. Musk solicits constant feedback of
the companies and executes ‘self-analysis.’ He induces
efforts and divergent strategies to improve customer
feedbacks and strives towards perfectionism.
For example, he seeks out his critics and tries to converse
with them. This habit of self-reflection at regular and
considerable periods is pivotal for any entrepreneur or
organization to succeed in the long run.
Tendency for Vertical Integration
Vertical integration is a strategy where an organization or a
firm acquires business operations within the same product
vertical. Both Tesla and SpaceX embrace this concept. For
example, Tesla not only produces electric cars; they also
generate public awareness about their cars via Tesla
showrooms across various countries. And SpaceX does not
only have the primary goal of rocket propulsions; they
develop their own rocket architecture as well.
Faith in Self and the Founding Team
Musk undoubtedly possesses a profound belief in his own
capabilities as well as the potential-seeking factor of its
founding team. He does not hesitate to gamble on large
scale unless he is genuinely aware of the expected end-
results.
It is equally essential to maintain clarity of doubt in any
large scale organization. Under his supervision, Musk
encourages in creating a positive and comprehensive
environment across his firms.
Preferring to Stand Out From the Crowd
Musk elects to bring up innovation at every level of his
understanding. He tends to impart theoretical knowledge at
the base level, applying changes and executing the same on
the practical level. He relies more on transitional aspects
such as research and development, thereby increasing the
probability of ground-breaking inventions.
Tesla Motors, a far headed firm headed by Elon Musk, is
anti-ordinary. Its compelling marketplace has become a
one-stop destination for potential buyers where they can
interact about product specifications. They also have video
testimonials that far outperform in the sales-dominated
industry.
There is no ambiguity that Musk, by far, has been a pillar of
inspiration for budding entrepreneurs and investors because
of his prolific and optimistic approach towards life
All these traits possessed by Musk, in some manner or the
other, coincide with most of your habits. The only thing that
stands as a potential barrier between these two is
identifying your strengths and working on them on a
continual basis. Go on, apply these traits into your daily
life, and you may become the next big CEO the world is in
need of today!
33May 2019|
Imparting Wisdom
36. to be appointed Head of the Pharma Division. On her long
path she always invested in education like leadership,
finance and marketing next to her 150% job. This
combination brought her 15 Years ago into global
leadership role. To be successful she believes that one needs
to be hard working and persistent but also passionate for
what one is doing.
During her tenure with Siegfried, she has served in
numerous roles, including heading the Siegfried Drug
Product Division, including Operation, R&D, Regulatory
Services and Business Development Department. After 25
years in the business, including several years at Aceto, she
has managed projects throughout the value chain from
chemical intermediates and steriles to biologics. She credits
her success in the industry to her ability to look at the
market with new eyes and a fresh perspective as well as
strong engagement and passion for the work she does. By
analyzing opportunities through a new lens, she has brought
in new business that was not previously thought about.
Customization of Services
At Siegfried Group Marianne along with her team is
involved in the pharmaceutical business that offers products
Marianne
Späne
Hard working, Persistent, and Passionate Leader
Marketing
Leaders
The
10Influential
2019
One need to understand one's market segments that
one is dealing with and it is essential to have a
clear idea about one's target customers. If one
combines this know-how with market outlook analysis and
industry understanding one paves the way to the right target
audience. On the other side one should also need to
understand the requirements of the staff needed to have the
right skills to get in touch with the target audience. One
such cognizant marketing leader is Marianne Späne. She
joined the Siegfried Group in 2004 and was appointed
Global Head of Business Development, Marketing & Sales,
Member of the Executive Committee since March 2010.
Marianne Späne felt very early that she has a very positive
charisma that can motivate other people and combined with
her guiding principle to be hard working and fair as well as
open or even eager to be involved in changes she had the
dream to be an influential leader. At an early age she wanted
to get a broad understanding of the different departments in
a Company. Initially she started in Supply Chain positions
in the cosmetic environment, then changed to Business
intelligence and financial analysis in the chemical world
and gathered experience in Business development in the
pharma world. With all this experience she got the chance
34 May 2019|
37. and services. One segment has own developed products and
the other segment offers company's technology to develop
pharmaceutical products according to the demand of
audience. Company uses two different sales teams the one
who has very dominant sales and market skills the other one
who knows deep technology with high service level
thinking. To customize the different offerings to appeal to
the target audience she also prioritizes Business Outlook
Intelligence and understanding of Size, Geography and
Culture of customers.
Walking the Talk
Marianne considers it is important to have a deep
knowledge about the market environment and company's
customers' needs. She focuses on building up relationship
with company's customers and analyzing their needs and
requirements to be in a position to offer customized
solutions. She says that company's spirit is walking the talk.
In her own words, “We understand the market, identify
opportunities, explain requirements and needs to the
departments, define business and legal terms, agree with
customers about contracts and accompany him/her
throughout the whole journey. BD/Sales/Marketing is for
me and the team much more than “Selling”....”
Learning through Experiences
According to Marianne, as a Sales and Business
Development person one is supposed to be very good in
communication, relationship building combined in
company's business with technical and financial knowledge
accompanied with passion for what one is doing. She
explains that she learned how to cope with pressure,
deception and hope through various learning experiences
and she never give up finding a solution. She says, “keep
your motivation, follow your target consequently and you
will be successful.”
Being Decisive and Authentic
Marianne says that as a leader one is a role model and one
needs to make many decisions. She believes that one should
learn very quickly and sufficiently to have convincing
arguments for one's decision. She encourages forming a
team that is heterogeneous and not homogenous to have
enough constructive discussions within one's team. She
says it can be little bit more difficult to manage but one will
profit from a strong team that can work independently and
is well prepared for difficult negotiations. She advises to be
authentic even amidst challenges as well. She reminds
sometimes silence is a stronger means than speaking and
says that combination can make one more successful.
Being Open to Learning
Next to her actual global role to strengthen and grow the
business of her company Marianne is interested to make use
of her knowledge and experience in interesting Board
positions. She says, “Never stand still, be open for changes
and never stop learning.”
Marianne advises emerging marketing leaders to think
about what are one's strengths and weaknesses and start to
develop one's strengths and cope with one's weakness. She
suggests working hard and having fun in what one is doing
and one will be successful. She encourages accepting
failures and seeing them as experience to grow. She
emphasizes to never give up and follow one's target. She
asks to develop one's personality but also reminds to stay
authentic. She advises to celebrate successes but never rest.
She asks to be always open to always have the track with
one's environment.
““I never give up”, “I am
always open for new
challenges but I do it my
way” and “I like people”.
“
Marianne Späne
Global Head of Business
Development, Marketing & Sales
Siegfried Group
35May 2019|
38. Dr Danil Korchagin is an
innovator and senior expert in
ICT. He specialises in signal
processing, data analysis and
software engineering. Having
worked for industries,
organisations and academia,
Danil Korchagin has
comprehensive experience in
both the industrial and
academic worlds. He has
managed many ICT projects
with outstanding performance
outcomes. He is founder of
Aicue.
About the Author
Dr Danil Korchagin
Founder
Aicue
36 May 2019|
39. Danil Korchagin set up Aicue,
a technology company that
targets to change the way
audience videos are consumed on the
web, in 2011. In this article, he
shares his point of view on ongoing
fourth industrial revolution and its
impact on everyday life.
We live in amazing time of fourth
industrial revolution. The industrial
revolution surpasses the scope of
ICT, transforms the world and
businesses, jobs and life styles. The
concepts such as digital
transformation, artificial intelligence
and connected objects, incarnated
into smartphones, are already hiding
in our pockets. The self-driving cars
leave science fiction and arrive into
reality. The old professions go into
oblivion and get replaced by new
exciting jobs.
The artificial intelligence based
solutions are already present in many
cross-domains and quite often used
by professionals and businesses to
smarter use time and improve
productivity. These solutions can
manage financial portfolios and
decrypt genetic code, pilot robots and
drive cars, entertain people and even
be creative. As an example, the
cliperie.com platform creates new
compelling clips by automatically
linking audience videos all together
from big data cloud.
The big data becomes de facto fuel
of XXI century and industrial
revolution. The amount of
information, which is being gathered
and transmitted by digital gadgets,
sensors and internet of things,
surpasses any imagination.
Constantly increasing and improving
population of digital objects results
in constantly improving quantity and
quality of data, while the next 5G
mobile networks are going to take
care about increasing digital data
traffic. The big data surrounds us and
helps to come up with efficient
solutions.
There are already more than fifteen
billion connected objects worldwide.
The population of connected devices
will surpass fifty billions in less than
five years. The internet of things,
network of connected devices, is
already present in commercial and
LivingThrough
Industrial
Revolution
Fourth
Expert's Outlook
37May 2019|
40. industrial, consumer and infrastructure areas: from
connected wearable heart monitor wristbands to
connected pullovers, from connected security cameras to
connected alarms, from connected parking lot sensors to
connected displays of available places.
The internet of things in turn enables smart tiers of
technologies as smart homes, smart parking, smart traffic
control and smart cities. The smart home hubs control
communication among connected thermostats and stores,
heating systems and other connected objects to enable
home automation, energy savings and higher quality of
life. The smart cities enable to reduce traffic jams and
adjust public transportation in real-time, tighten security
control and predict unforeseen events, reduce noise
pollution and improve air quality.
Constantly connected digital gadgets continue to pull
further more people from reality to social networks and
virtual worlds. The choice of remote communication
still outfights real life communication. The picture of the
family together with each member navigating within its
own virtual world on smartphone starts to be everyday
occurrence. The same picture can be observed in the
trains, airports and other places. However, some people
started to apply reasonable moderation.
Even when people put away connected gadgets and back
to physical world, the following interaction might be
with nearby humanoid robot. Powered with same
artificial intelligence as their virtual compatriots, they
can follow conversations, understand individual social
signals and respond appropriately. Their social
interaction ability keeps improving, making future
humanoid robots irreplaceable companions and assistants
in nursing homes and hospitals, hotels and
commercial stores.
The industrial robots are separate topic. The global
robot density in the manufacturing industries is
accelerating around the world and there is already at
least one industrial robot per 100 working people in
more than 20 countries worldwide. The ongoing trend to
automate production helps industries to be more
competitive on the global market and has positive impact
on job market in many countries due to manufacturing
stays at home instead of being moved overseas.
The tangible shift in professions happens with all
industrial revolutions. The current one is not an
exception. Some professions get automated, freeing up
people to do new tasks: data management, data
interpretation, digital marketing management, robot
supervision, process control, process moderation,
intervention in unforeseen situations, quality control and
so on. The automated places can enable work week
reduction and equilibrate shift in social insurances
caused by increasing life expectancy.
The advances in technologies enable to process more
data with less energy and smarter use available
resources. The paradox in our society is that the focus
still stays on profitability and growth over durability and
climate sustainability. As consequence, the digital
footprint on global energy consumption keeps
increasing from year to year and can reach one fifth by
2030, regardless it is feasible to pursue industrial
revolution at moderate pace within fixed energetic
envelope until there is an excess of renewable energy.
The years will pass. The artificial intelligence, big data
and internet of things will become ordinary tools in
many areas of our life just like electricity and telephones,
internet and personal computers did during previous
industrial revolutions. No one will be questioning them
anymore. They stay under human control. The human
society is free to decide up to which extent new
technologies and innovations have to be validated,
regulated and certified for future everyday use.
38 May 2019|