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Tania Salarvand is the Global Head of Marketing at ThoughtWorks, a global software consultancy. She is responsible for developing and championing global marketing strategies aligned to key business priorities across sales, recruitment, and technology thought-leadership. Her passion is in understanding the end user journey and exploring ways to enhance it. Prior to ThoughtWorks, Tania spent 15+ years in management consulting, working with a variety of clients across marketing, sales, business, and tech strategies. Here we talk to her about her involvement with ABM at ThoughtWorks.
Interviewed by Swastika Singh
/ / How has the ABM function evolved in your company over the past few years?
ABM has become more of a focus over the past few years as we evolved our business strategy. Interestingly, we may have done ABM activities under the pretext of account management earlier, but having a holistic view of our ABM goals, intentions, outcomes and activities that drive our growth mission is really critical.
/ / Do you have a separate ABM team? Do they operate under the sales or marketing function?
ABM is the responsibility of our demand marketers within the marketing team. We do, however, partner with the sales team to develop strategy and execution tactics to drive account goals. ABM cannot be done in a silo. It is the collaborative effort of many roles within the organization to ensure that we are addressing the key needs of each account.
/ / How do you select your ABM accounts?
Our selection process is a collaborative effort with our sales leadership. Many variables play a part in selecting the accounts.
/ / What are the technologies & trends driving ABM today?
There are many ABM tools available currently, but the most important thing is that automation, and access to data and insights, is the catalyst for developing a truly impactful ABM program. The intimacy with which an organization can get to know its customers in a very authentic way is what defines the success of ABM. There are technologies like AI that some organizations are using to understand their customers better, but for us, personal engagement has proven to be the most powerful.
/ / Do you provide account-specific website experience?
Yes, on a case-to-case basis.
/ / What are the channels of communication you use in ABM? How much weight is given to mobile and social media?
Many, I would say! We give more weight to the ones we feel resonate better with a particular client group.
/ / What are the new opportunities that ABM has opened up for your business?
At this point, it has created new ways of engagement for us with our clients that best meets their specific needs.
/ / What are the challenges you have faced in implementing ABM?
As with any marketing initiative, it takes time. It’s not a sprint, but a journey we take our internal and external audiences along.
/ / What are the trends and technologies that you think will drive ABM in the future?
ABM has to be a priority both for marketing and the business at large. I think new trends and technologies will evolve from what is seen as working today - be it data, insights, or experiences - and they will need to allow for human interventions where necessary. This ability to leverage data and tech in the right ways to enhance an experience is key to building long lasting relationships and trust.