Q&A with Jay Gaines, CMO at Forrester

MEDIA 7 | November 28, 2019

Ed Breault, Chief Marketing Officer at Aprimo is a marketer with over 18 years of industry experience. At Aprimo, Ed is responsible for the global brand and growth which includes all Paid/Owned/Earned media, Brand Experience, Product Marketing, Industry Marketing, Influencer Marketing, Strategic Communications, Content Marketing, Analyst Relations, Alliance Marketing, Public Relations, Events, Demand Generation and Account-Based Marketing. MEDIA 7: What’s your superpower? ED BREAULT: I would say it’s applying the full spectrum of art and science that is required in marketing today. Not just left or right brained, but whole-brained strategy. Being human yet data-driven and really understanding numbers and (the right) metrics to make connections to business drivers. Add storytelling to that, so I can effectively communicate to my team, the CEO and CFO as well as my Board of Directors on those metrics, and connecting all that we are doing in marketing to the mission of the business. Then quickly shifting gears to the art and creative aspects of marketing that are required to engage an audience and tell great commercial stories that take complex concepts and craft them in a way that is interesting for people to pay attention to. I have to be the ultimate point of truth for the brand. M7: At Aprimo, how have marketing leadership roles and responsibilities evolved over the past few years? EB: There are so many dimensions needed by marketing leaders today. There are several elements driving this evolution, it’s the new experience battlefront that is emerging and also marketers themselves driving changes. From a market perspective, there is a clear appetite for disruption and consumers are wanting more experiential elements to their buying experience and interactions with brands. Take a few direct to consumer disruptions like trialing products in-home, purchasing directly from a brand or even wanting to ensure that the producer’s trade practices are in line with the buyer’s or even a regulator’s for that matter. Then we want to try before we buy, and we emotionally care about the supply chain of products. Do we TRUST this brand to do business with them? Behind all of this is a story that needs to be told, and it is those marketers who know their audience well and make connections that will win the commercial game. Back to the marketer, there are so many diverse backgrounds that marketers bring now and I’m really intrigued by those who have unconventional backgrounds because they contribute something uniquely new to the field. I love hearing about the marketer’s journey.

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MEDIA 7 | December 5, 2019

Andrea Lechner-Becker, Chief Marketing Officer at LeadMD is an experienced Marketing and Sales Executive with a demonstrated history of working in the marketing and advertising industry. Skilled in Business Process, Marketo, Sales, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and IT Service Management, Andrea is also a strong business development professional and a storyteller. MEDIA 7: What inspired you to get into marketing? ANDREA LECHNER: Frankly, not having better options. I originally attended the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse thinking I’d major in Archaeology. I wanted to be Indiana Jones! But, after visiting the archaeology building – i.e. the cold, dark basement of the science building – where a girl sat to piece together pieces of an old Native American vase, I knew archaeology was not going to be the right path for me. And so, without being good at science and a major in art or art history was unlikely to pay my bills, I decided to go into “business”. I originally registered as a management major, but took my first marketing class and thought it was more interesting and switched my sophomore year. That was pretty much it. I’d never been involved in business classes or DECA in high school – I didn’t really know what to do or what jobs in marketing were even possible. I dumb lucked myself into it really. M7: As a storyteller, do you relate the brand to a story or story to the brand? AL: Both? Neither? I think there are stories in every brand, because there are people working on the brand and people engaging with the brand and people using what the brand creates. People, most often a single person, are at the heart of great stories. You can start with the “point” of the story you’re trying to tell. Say you have a software that help accountants better create reports for board meetings. It’s likely you’ll want to tell a success story about an accountant getting promoted to CFO in part because your software helped better communicate their work product to the board. You could have the idea for that and go looking for that story in your customers. OR, you could hear that story, and say, “That’s amazing!” and share it with customers, partners and internal people. Stories are all around us – the most important thing is to keep your ears and eyes open for finding them.

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Media 7 | February 23, 2021

Ben Lamm, Founder and CEO at Hypergiant, has been launching and building disruptive businesses for over a decade. Prior to Hypergiant, he was the CEO and founder of Conversable, the leading conversational intelligence platform that helps brands reach their customers through automated experiences on all major voice and text platforms. In addition to leading and growing his companies, he is active in angel investing, incubators, and startup communities, with investments in the software and emerging tech space. He has served as an active voice in the tech community, as well as an active mentor to fellow entrepreneurs on how to build disruptive businesses through accelerators and corporate programs.

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EMERGING TECHNOLOGY,CYBERSECURITY

Avenu Insights & Analytics | January 20, 2023

In a recent announcement, Avenu Insights & Analytics, a firm specializing in administration and revenue enhancement solutions for governments, has acquired Interware Development Company Inc, a cloud-based payment solutions provider for local governments. Interware's industry-leading payment processing solutions offer Avenu's existing customers a new, centralized payment platform. Avenu and Interware will jointly deliver software and services that boost government capabilities and enhance the overall citizen experience. The state and local governments will be able to collect permitting and licensing, utilities and tax revenue more efficiently through this integrated platform. Interware's dynamic payment solutions, combined with Avenu's advanced sales & marketing framework helps bring together existing third-party payment processing providers. This results in an optimized and uniform level of service which transforms the government's ability to tackle the rapid rise in workflow processes that restricts staff productivity and resources, ultimately affecting efficiency. With shared resources and an integrated strategy, the combined company will be able to offer its customers more services and greater technical expertise. Paul Colangelo, CEO of Avenu, said, "Governments are seeing an increasing need for an integrated payment solution software offering to streamline their administrative and budget activities and automate workflow processes." He adds, "The combination of Avenu and Interware will provide governments with a centralized solution to maximize their efficiency while shaping a more robust citizen experience." (Source – Business Wire) About Avenu Insights & Analytics Founded in 1978 and headquartered in Centreville (Virginia), Avenu Insights & Analytics offers a broad range of solutions and services to more than 3,000 local and state government clients across the country. The company's services include Clearview Pension Administration Solution (CPAS) - the first ISO 9001 registered pension software, IT project management, compliance auditing, tax administration, and much more. Avenu delivers software solutions that digitally transform government customers by providing online access to records, modernizing processes, and lowering costs.

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EMERGING TECHNOLOGY,GOVERNMENT BUSINESS

OPEXUS | January 19, 2023

AINS LLC, a government process management software service provider, recently announced its rebranding and will now function under the name OPEXUS. The new identity perfectly describes the company's dedication to public institutions, providing their communities with great technology experiences. The company has relocated its headquarters to Washington, D.C. Before the rebranding, AINS was acquired by an affiliate of Gemspring Capital in November 2021, after a remarkable year of growth. New customers touched an all-time high in 2022, including federal, state, and local government agencies in the United States, national and provincial governments in Canada, and a university as the company's first customer in higher education. Additionally, OPEXUS has established itself as the market leader in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) technology space, which played a significant role in the company's success and will remain a priority in 2023. OPEXUS (formerly ANIS) this year has been acknowledged as a first-time member of the GovTech100, a yearly list compiled and published by Government Technology featuring 100 companies committed to making a distinction in and selling to government agencies across the U.S. Furthermore, the OPEXUS team will focus on providing product enhancements and a range of new customer experience capabilities. It includes revamped user experiences for the existing software, a brand-new customer success team, and a more comprehensive network of cutting-edge tech partners to speed up the development of a range of new products. Department of Small and Local Business Development (DSLBD) Director, Kristi Whitfield said, "Mayor Bowser remains steadfast in her commitment to encouraging businesses to headquarters in the District of Columbia. More businesses establishing and maintaining roots in our nation's capital means more job opportunities for District residents as well as more opportunities for our local government to keep local dollars local by doing business with District-based enterprises. That's a win for all." (Source: PR Newswire) About OPEXUS Founded in 1988, OPEXUS is the leader in FedRAMP-certified government management software, supporting public institutions with 30 years of experience. OPEXUS, headquartered in Washington D.C., brings functional excellence to governments' middle office so that agencies can concentrate on the critical work of mission delivery. With a built-for-government product suite that includes solutions for audits, investigations, correspondence, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, and employee & labor, the company empowers 100,000 government users with exceptional technology experiences and collaborates with more than 150 government agencies across the U.S. and Canada.

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EMERGING TECHNOLOGY,CYBERSECURITY

Illumio | January 12, 2023

The Zero Trust Segmentation company, Illumio, Inc., recently announced its Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) in process designation at the moderate impact level for its Illumio Government Cloud. This is sponsored by Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS OIG). The US government's FedRAMP initiative harmonizes security assessments, approvals, and monitoring for cloud solutions. Illumio Government Cloud, which includes Illumio Core and Illumio Endpoint prevents breaches from spreading across servers and endpoints with Zero Trust Segmentation (ZTS). Illumio prevents breaches and ransomware in three easy steps: See risk by using vulnerability maps that show data center-to-cloud-to-endpoint traffic Set and automate the creation of granular policy to define categorization. Illumio's traffic-based policies streamline the process Stop the spread of breaches to safeguard workloads and applications and strategically separate compromised systems and high-value assets, guard the hybrid attack surface during an active attack Enterprise Strategy Group’s Zero Trust Impact Report found that Zero Trust Segmentation prevents five cyber disasters annually. Gary Barlet, Federal Field CTO at Illumio, stated, "Bolstering national cyber resilience is a top federal priority. As more eyes turn to defending our critical infrastructure, Zero Trust Segmentation remains a strategic, and federally-backed mandate for agencies looking to shore up critical assets and to stop the spread of attacks throughout an organization or agency". He further added, "Zero Trust Segmentation is a fundamental pillar of any Zero Trust strategy, and Illumio is the industry-defining leader in the space, helping the largest organizations, including more than 15 of the Fortune 100, stop breaches from spreading to dramatically reduce agencies' risk." (Source- GlobeNewswire by notified) About Illumio Inc. Specializing in Zero Trust Segmentation, Illumio prevents ransomware and breaches from spreading across hybrid attack surfaces. The ZTS platform visualizes all traffic flows across workloads, devices, and the internet, implements granular segmentation policies to manage communications, and proactively or reactively isolates high-value assets and compromised systems. Its ability to prevent breaches and ransomware in minutes, saves millions in application downtime, and accelerate cloud and digital transformation programs benefits for all types of businesses.

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