CMOs are integral in a company's business strategy, focusing on growth marketing that encompasses demand generation, product positioning, and customer engagement throughout the buyer's journey. This approach stresses the importance of leveraging data-driven insights, AI, and machine learning to optimize marketing efforts and enhance customer experience. Additionally, these CMOs prioritize building and maintaining strong brand identities by positioning their companies as trusted partners and leaders in their respective industries. Through initiatives like thought leadership, customer-centric programs, and strategic rebranding, they aim to create lasting brand equity and drive sustainable growth.
Overall, the modern CMO is seen as a strategic leader who plays a crucial role in not only marketing but also in shaping the future direction of the business. Here are some of the dynamic marketers speaking about their initiatives taken for a strategic growth.
To improve customer satisfaction, we are focusing on omni-channel customer engagement, ensuring that our customers have a consistent and seamless experience across all touchpoints. As much as we have built our widespread online presence with dozens of digital initiatives, we are also investing in establishing our direct presence across the country and as a result. New technologies like AI and machine learning are helping us revolutionize our approach to customer engagement. We use these technologies to optimize our digital advertising spend, improve the accuracy of our customer segmentation, and personalize customer journeys across various channels. This allows us to enhance both efficiency and effectiveness in our marketing efforts.”
Komal Somani, WTD, CHRO, and CMO, ESDS Software Solution, shares her long-term vision for the company’s marketing strategy and how it aligns with broader business goals. Somani envisions transforming the ESDS marketing department into a "sustainable and strategic growth engine" that plays a pivotal role in enabling the future of India’s digital transformation.
Komal says, “My long-term vision for the ESDS Marketing department is to establish it as a Sustainable & Strategic growth engine and enable the future of digital India initiatives. This vision aligns with the overall business objectives by focusing on demand generation, brand building, and customer advocacy, ultimately driving revenue growth market leadership and positioning ESDS as a one-stop solution for all IT requirements. At ESDS, We build and maintain a strong brand identity by crafting a clear and consistent brand message that resonates with our target audience. We focus on delivering high-quality content and thought leadership to position ourselves as industry experts. Strategic partnerships and sponsorships enhance our brand visibility and reputation, while customer-centric approaches foster loyalty and advocacy. Consistent brand representation across all online and offline touchpoints ensures our brand remains cohesive and impactful. By staying true to our values and engaging meaningfully with our audience, we ensure that ESDS remains a trusted and influential brand in the IT industry.”
Jaydeep Singh, General Manager, Kaspersky India region, recognizes the critical role India plays in the global cybersecurity landscape. He explains, “Our B2B strategy is to partner our customers and provide them an ecosystem of strategic solutions that protect their businesses, to grow with them and ensure that they get the protection that they need. From endpoint detection and response to threat intelligence services and sophisticated industrial solutions, our focus is to enable our SME, Enterprise and Government sector customers to build strong cyber defence and prevent cyberattacks.
Puneet Chadha, Chief Marketing Officer, Redington Limited, has a clear vision to position Redington as a catalyst for the democratization of technology. For Puneet, marketing isn’t just about promoting products; it is about transforming Redington’s marketing efforts into a strategic growth engine that makes technology accessible and impactful for both partners and customers.
He says, “This vision is intrinsically linked to Redington's overarching goals of sustainable growth, market expansion, and operational efficiency. A customer-first approach, coupled with advanced analytics, will be instrumental in achieving these objectives. The marketing department will drive brand equity, increase market share, and provide sales teams with actionable insights for enhanced customer engagement and retention. Ultimately, we will be a key enabler of Redington's mission to empower partners and customers in the ever-evolving technology landscape. Redington has implemented several key initiatives to enhance customer experience and satisfaction. Our investments in technology, training and infrastructure are pivotal in achieving an efficient business environment, streamlined operations, and superior customer service.
Redington maintains a strong brand identity by fostering seamless partnerships and embodying core values of adaptability, objectivity, transparency, and trust in all our business practices. Our brand is built on the foundation of democratizing technology by reducing friction – Technology Friction, Market Friction, Knowledge friction and Societal Friction. We are committed to showcasing how Redington empowers businesses of all sizes to harness the potential of technology thereby helping our OEM and Channel Partners grow.”
Arvind Saxena, Head of the Marketing Centre of Excellence (MCoE) for Global Smart Cities (GSC) at NEC Corporation and CMO, NEC Corporation India, has a clear long-term vision for the company's marketing function. He is focused on establishing NEC as a technology leader, problem-solver, and trusted partner, while simultaneously driving societal progress.
He says, “The long-term vision for NEC India’s marketing function is to establish NEC as a technology leader, a problem-solver, and a trusted partner, all while driving societal progress. By blending technological innovation with human-centric solutions, we aim to create a powerful brand narrative that positions NEC as indispensable to India’s digital transformation. Building and maintaining NEC’s strong brand identity hinges on three pillars: thought leadership, innovation, and localized storytelling. First, NEC India actively participates in high-impact industry forums, including keynotes and thought leadership sessions, where it shares its vision for digital transformation, smart cities, and public infrastructure. This not only positions NEC as an industry leader but also ensures that the brand remains at the forefront of technological and societal discussions.
Internally, NEC promotes strong brand alignment across all levels of the organization through campaigns like #GrowWithNEC, which fosters a unified culture and builds advocacy from within. By emphasizing inclusivity, social responsibility, and the positive societal impact of its innovations, NEC maintains its brand relevance and strength, both in the Indian market and globally.”
Naved Chaudhary, General Manager and Head of Marketing and PR, Ingram Micro India, emphasizes the pivotal role of customer experience in today’s competitive business environment.
He says, “Customer experience or satisfaction is a significant differentiator in the competitive business landscape today. That’s why we have taken multiple initiatives to enhance and elevate our customer experience. The most compelling one is the launch of our fully digital, intelligent global experience platform – Ingram Micro Xvantage. It enables our partners to get ready for the digital era of doing business, empowering them with the one-stop solution to learn, partner, build, manage and buy a wide range of products, solutions and services through a seamless, personalized experience.
At Ingram Micro, we aspire to build and maintain a strong brand identity,and our strategy is primarily centered around a deeper understanding of our audiences, consistent brand voice and messaging, and innovative ways of storytelling. We invest in analyzing customers’ needs, expectations, and pain points and ensure that all our messaging – across print and digital channels – resonates with them. This helps us build a brand perception that’s deeply trusted by our customers. We also leverage the power of storytelling in an innovative way to highlight our journey, offerings, values, and the impact we have been able to create. Ingram Micro has successfully been able to bridge the gaps between partners, vendors and customers across the globe for decades. While technology is at the core of our offerings, we also ensure that we add the “human” angle to our interactions and transactions.”
Arpita Sengupta, Director and Head Marketing, Red Hat India, is spearheading a shift in the company's marketing strategy, moving from traditional mass marketing to a more precise, data-driven approach.
Arpita explains, "Red Hat is shifting from mass marketing to precision marketing, focusing on using data and personalized engagement to target customers more effectively. This approach emphasizes nurturing existing customer relationships over acquiring new ones, ensuring interactions are more relevant and meaningful. We are adopting a digital-first, customer experience-first strategy. We will have a more focused approach and expand on our strategy leveraging further:-
In the fast-paced world of cybersecurity, where threats evolve daily, Nicki Dewhurst, Vice President Marketing - APJ, Sophos, understands the critical role a marketing department plays in driving business success. She asserts, “For a marketing department to be successful, it must be fully aligned with the overarching business objectives. This alignment is crucial for driving success in both marketing and the business as a whole. My vision for the team is to enhance our consultative and strategic capabilities, focusing on demand creation and providing strategic guidance on awareness and pipeline generating initiatives. We aim to deliver exceptional marketing programs with flawless execution that yield tangible results. Achieving this requires a strong, cohesive team of passionate marketing professionals who are empowered to produce their best work.
I firmly believe in deeply understanding your target market. They are your audience, stay focused and avoid distractions. Keep your messaging simple, and deliver your value with honesty and clarity. Consistency is key; repeat your message frequently. Ensure alignment with your company values, recognising that every person in your organisation represents the brand. This alignment brings brand values and identity to life in everything we do and in every interaction we have. As a company with a distinctive identity, we strive to embody our core values in everything we do.”
Anjali Gupta, Marketing Head, Sify Technologies, articulates a clear vision for the future of the marketing department. Positioned as a technology service provider, Sify aims to be a trusted bridge to digital transformation for its clients. She states, “Our marketing efforts focus on promoting our expertise in data center, cloud, network, digital and security services, ensuring that our brand is synonymous with cutting-edge technology solutions and is known to be a tried, tested, trusted brand over the past 25 years.
By fostering deeper client relationships through our account based marketing campaigns and emphasizing value-driven communication in every touch-point that we have, we ensure that our marketing initiatives contribute directly to Sify's mission of enabling digital business transformation across enterprises. Our content strategy emphasizes thought leadership, positioning Sify as an expert in digital transformation through insightful blogs, whitepapers in partnership with analyst firms, videos and webinars. We also invest in brand storytelling, highlighting success stories and case studies that resonate with our target audience across different industries.”
In today’s fast-paced B2B tech environment, the role of a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) extends far beyond traditional marketing duties, according to Ash Parikh, CMO, Trellix. Ash believes that a modern CMO must be a key contributor to a company’s broader business strategy, driving both new business growth and renewals while ensuring operational efficiency.
He notes, “The "growth marketing" mindset permeates across all aspects of our marketing organization - across demand gen, product marketing, and corporate marketing, to engage early, throughout, and after a buyer's journey to ensure we have an enduring seat at the customer's table in a highly competitive market. We initiate customer engagement with thought-provoking thought leadership with easy to consume bite-sized informational blogs, articles, videos, social posts, and expert panels. The very word "market" is in the title of a Chief Marketing Officer. And that single word is one of the most powerful definitions of what a CMO does - which is to drive positive customer engagement, which in turn drives customer experience and satisfaction. Marketing definitely plays a key role in engaging with customers throughout the buyer's journey, be it via the company's website and other digital channels, content, events, social media, etc. Another equally important responsibility of a CMO is to align closely with the CRO, CCO and CPO to drive initiatives that enhance customer experience and satisfaction."
Vijay Sharma, Country Head, Optoma, has set an ambitious goal for the company: doubling sales by the end of 2024, building on the momentum of last year’s success. Sharma emphasizes that Optoma’s marketing strategies are fully aligned with this objective, with a focus on maintaining a robust Go-to-Market strategy that has consistently driven growth over the past three years.
He explains, “This strategy outlines an integrated value proposition that emphasizes profitability and market hygiene. Our vertical domain-based approach has sharpened the focus for both channel partners and team members on their specific products. In this competitive market, we recognize that the customer is king. Like every successful brand, we take customer feedback very seriously and share it with our research and development departments. Their valuable inputs directly influence the design of our new product range, ensuring that we continue to meet and exceed customer expectations. Optoma is fully embracing digital transformation and innovations such as AI and ML in every aspect including marketing. Adaptation of these technologies has resulted in enabling quicker access to product information, enhanced service, and robust marketing support for the market.”
Rishikesh Kane, Assistant General Manager-Marketing, Brother International (India), is focused on driving growth through innovation and customer-centric strategies. Rishikesh outlines a clear vision for the marketing department, emphasizing the importance of increasing market awareness while continuously exploring new initiatives. He says, “Our long-term vision for the marketing department is to consistently increase market awareness while actively exploring and implementing new marketing initiatives. These efforts are aligned with our overall business objectives, particularly in driving sales growth. We have recently introduced WhatsApp support to reduce the time it takes to address customer complaints, streamlining the resolution process.We have also introduced TouchCentres at retailer locations across India. These demo centers allow customers to interact with and better understand Brother Machines before making a purchase. With over 250 TouchCentres now established, we are making it easier for customers to explore our products and make informed decisions. Our key strategies for building and maintaining a strong brand identity include conducting thorough market research, analyzing and engaging our target audience, and closely monitoring our competition and value proposition. These efforts help strengthen our brand’s presence and popularity in the market. Additionally, we focus on consistently communicating the characteristics that define our brand, such as quality and reliability, across all channels. This approach creates a positive reputation and builds trust with our consumers.”
Sudhanshu Tripathi, Chief Marketing Officer, Quick Heal Technologies Limited, is steering the company towards a future where cybersecurity is accessible, innovative, and integral to everyday life. With a clear long-term vision, Sudhanshu is focused on aligning the marketing department with the broader mission of simplifying cybersecurity.
He points out, “We are a purpose driven organization and our journey is aligned with our core purpose guiding us to innovate, simplify and secure. We are particularly thrilled about how we're integrating our AI innovations, like GoDeep.AI, into this vision. It's all about making "Cybersafety a fundamental right for all" while driving our business forward. We harness AI and machine learning to drive our product development, marketing strategies and operations. Our R&D facility, Seqrite Labs provides unmatched threat intelligence, forming the core of our marketing insights and strategies.
We run dynamic marketing campaigns for both brands, focusing on educating and engaging with Gen Z on the consumer side, while also conducting high-impact events and forming strategic partnerships in the enterprise sector. Our presence is constant and omnichannel, ensuring we are always connected with our audience. Our commitment to strengthening our brand extends beyond business. We’ve recently launched a state-of-the-art Experience Center in Pune, offering clients and stakeholders an immersive first-hand experience of our products. Additionally, Seqrite Labs publishes an annual India-centric threat report in collaboration with DSCI, widely promoted to underline our domain leadership and expertise. Our brand is not just about innovation, simplification and security; it’s also about values and impact. Through initiatives like the Quick Heal Foundation, we build trust and showcase our commitment to making a positive difference in cybersecurity and society at large.”
Rahul Yadav, Chief Revenue Officer, RAH Infotech Pvt. Ltd., has a clear and ambitious vision for the future of the company's marketing department. He sees it evolving, into a critical growth engine that not only amplifies brand authority but also deepens customer engagement and loyalty.
He explains, “By leveraging data analytics, innovative campaigns, and a customer-first approach, we aim to create scalable strategies that drive revenue growth and market leadership. This vision directly aligns with our business objectives of expanding our cybersecurity footprint and delivering cutting-edge solutions that meet the evolving needs of our clients. As a marketing leader, my key strategies for building and maintaining a strong brand identity revolve around three pillars: differentiation, consistency, and customer connection. First, we differentiate our brand by highlighting our unique value proposition and industry leadership in cybersecurity. This involves thought leadership, innovative solutions, and a clear focus on solving real customer challenges. Second, we maintain consistency in our messaging and visual identity across all touchpoints, ensuring that our brand’s values and mission are always clear and recognizable. Lastly, we focus on building authentic relationships with our audience by listening to their needs, fostering engagement, and creating experiences that resonate with them. This ensures our brand remains both relevant and trusted in a competitive landscape.”
Nagesh Belur, Chief Marketing Officer, iValue InfoSolutions Pvt. Ltd., is driven by a vision to elevate iValue Group as a strategic technology advisor and innovator in the technology distribution space. His focus is on building a marketing ecosystem that not only showcases iValue's solutions but also fosters personalized interactions through tailored events and customer-centric initiatives.
Elaborating this, he says, “Our long-term vision for marketing at iValue Group is to be the driving force behind our position as a strategic technology advisor and innovator in the technology distribution space. We aim to build a marketing ecosystem that not only highlights our solutions but also facilitates 1:1 interaction through tailored events and customer-centric initiatives. This vision aligns perfectly with our overall business objective of being a strategic technology advisor that continuously adapts to market nuances and evolving technologies.
We prioritize personalized engagement with our partners through tailored events and strategic initiatives. Our account-based marketing (ABM) strategy encompasses webinars, customer roundtables, and media-led activities. By collaborating with industry leaders like ISMG, DSCI, Economic Times, CXO Junction, and Technophiles, we emphasize the relevance of our technology stack in addressing emerging regulatory mandates such as SEBI Guidelines, RBI Guidelines, and the upcoming DPDPA. These regulations highlight the paramount importance of data privacy and protection for both individuals and organizations.
Consistency, thought leadership, and custom messaging remain our guiding principle in strategy. We make sure that the messages about the value created by our company, namely, enterprise-grade application protection and management in the hybrid-cloud model, are consistent. We remain selective about our offerings and encourage solutions like iVCoE and solutions based on the iValue Stack to position iValue as the industry’s innovator.”
Kushagra Sharma, Head of Marketing India & SAARC, Veeam Software, is committed to transforming the marketing department into a strategic growth engine for the business. According to him, the company’s push towards making marketing a strategic growth engine for the business goes beyond driving brand awareness and customer acquisition, underscoring the department's role in shaping the overall direction of the company. He outlines a clear vision built on three pillars: customer-centricity, data-driven decision-making, and innovation with agility.
To Kushagra, customer experience is central to Veeam’s marketing efforts, and the key to delivering a memorable customer journey lies in hyper-personalization and behavioral segmentation. He points out, "Hyper-personalization tailors content, offers, and interactions to each customer by analyzing behavioral data. This approach goes beyond mere demographic targeting, diving into customer actions, interests, and engagement patterns to create more relevant and satisfying interactions. By integrating data-driven personalization through advanced MarTech and Generative AI tools, Veeam ensures customers experience dynamic, contextually personalized engagements that anticipate their needs. Building a strong and lasting brand identity requires a multi-pronged strategy that emphasizes brand storytelling and consistent messaging across all channels. By aligning the brand with evolving market trends and focusing on customer engagement, Veeam is poised to maintain a strong, recognizable identity that resonates with its audience. We will lead purpose-driven campaigns with a sharp focus on revenue growth, brand leadership, and market expansion, positioning the marketing team as a critical force in driving the company’s future success.”
Dr. Damodar Sahu, Co-Founder & Chief Growth Officer, Data Safeguard Inc., is on a mission to redefine marketing in the age of digital transformation. For him, marketing is more than just promotion—it's about building trust and creating human connections in a world where data privacy is becoming increasingly critical. His approach centers on innovation, customer empowerment, and thought leadership, all designed to position Data Safeguard as a global leader in AI-driven data privacy.
He says, “Our vision is to build a marketing engine that not only drives growth but also redefines how trust is built in a rapidly evolving digital world. Marketing at Data Safeguard goes beyond promotion; it's about creating meaningful, human connections powered by data. By anchoring our marketing efforts on innovation, customer empowerment, and thought leadership, we directly support the company’s mission to lead the global AI-driven data privacy revolution. We’ve launched a “Customer Success by Design” initiative, which tailors our products and services to the unique needs of each client. Through continuous feedback, intuitive AI-driven tools, and proactive support, we aim to empower our customers to feel in control. We want to be more than a solution provider, we aspire to be a partner that elevates their experience to the next level.
Our brand identity thrives on authenticity, relevance, and resilience. We focus on building a brand that speaks to trust; trust that we’ll protect, innovate, and deliver. By consistently leading conversations around AI-driven data privacy and building partnerships that reflect our values, we create a brand that is both dynamic and deeply rooted in integrity. Every piece of content, every customer touchpoint, strengthens the narrative that Data Safeguard is not just a brand, but a beacon of trust in an uncertain world.”
Anita Kukreja, Head-Strategic Alliances & Brand, IceWarp, has a clear and forward-thinking vision for the company's marketing department. For her, marketing isn't just about creating campaigns; it is about driving growth and aligning with IceWarp’s long-term business objectives. She emphasizes the importance of using data-driven insights, innovative strategies, and a customer-centric approach to enhance IceWarp's brand presence.
Anita remarks, "Enhancing customer experience is at the forefront of our strategy. We have implemented several initiatives, including personalized communication, proactive customer support, and feedback mechanisms to understand and address customer needs better. We are also focused on creating educational content and webinars to help customers make the most of our solutions. Our goal is to build long-term relationships by providing value at every touch point, ensuring that our customers not only use our products but are also advocates of the IceWarp brand. Our key strategies include clear and consistent messaging that reflects our core values and unique selling propositions. We focus on delivering high-quality content that educates and engages our audience, establishing thought leadership in our domain. Additionally, we invest in building strong relationships with our customers and partners, as they are our brand ambassadors. Regularly gathering feedback and adapting to market changes also ensures that our brand remains relevant and resonates with our target audience.”
Abhijeet Mukherjee, Head of Marketing, Crayon Software Experts India, has a clear vision for the marketing department to become a driving force in fostering innovation and enhancing customer engagement. This strategic vision aligns seamlessly with Crayon's broader goal of helping clients maximize their technology investments while ensuring revenue growth, customer retention, and market leadership.
He explains, “Our long-term vision for the marketing department at Crayon is to be a driving force in fostering innovation and customer engagement. By focusing on data-driven strategies and personalized engagement, we aim to deliver measurable value to both our customers and the company. This vision aligns with Crayon’s overall objective of helping clients maximize their technology investments while ensuring revenue growth, customer retention, and market leadership.
Our brand strategy revolves around thought leadership, showcasing customer success, and consistent messaging across all platforms. We focus on positioning Crayon as a trusted advisor in IT and cloud services, ensuring our values—innovation, customer-centricity, and expertise—are evident in everything we do. Additionally, industry partnerships and community engagement help us reinforce our brand’s presence globally.”
Kirti Pandey, Marketing Head at Prama Hikvision India Private Limited, emphasizes that marketing has become a crucial strategic function in today’s competitive corporate landscape. "It is more important than ever before," she notes. The company's strategic marketing focus has evolved into a powerful business enabler and brand aggregator. Pandey believes that innovative marketing ideas and tools are essential for driving business growth and building strong brands. Prama Hikvision's long-term vision centers on achieving sustainable growth, enhancing brand value, and fostering customer loyalty.
At Hikvision India, we are striving consistently to evolve the B2B and B2C marketing strategies to enhance customer experience and satisfaction. We are focussing on the changing dynamics of marketing mix as the most important part of our plan. Additionally, we are continuously incorporating new technologies and social media strategies in our marketing initiatives to stay ahead. We are constantly evaluating how AI and machine learning can significantly enhance efficiency, personalization, and overall effectiveness of our marketing arsenal. Our innovative marketing strategy drives company value, brand equity, brand essence, brand objectives or specific products and services to investors, channel, market and customers. Over the years we have followed a ROI driven approach in all our marketing plans has helped us to be rooted in reality.
Conclusion:
The marketing visions shared by these industry leaders emphasize a common thread: the pivotal role of marketing as a strategic growth driver deeply aligned with broader business goals. Each leader has outlined a customer-centric approach, leveraging innovative technologies like AI and machine learning to enhance marketing effectiveness and operational efficiency.
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