Q&A with Nancy Bhagat (Computer Associates)

 

 

MarketingNPV (MNPV): Are you seeing a push for marketing to provide better metrics? To be more accountable?

Nancy Bhagat: From talking to my peers in the industry, I see it coming from both the top and from within marketing. Companies that are having the most success have support from the top. Accountability is a very important aspect of marketing today. Gone are the days of the 'creative' as the measurement for how marketing effects business. We need to be more fluid in managing the impact we are having on the market to maximize goals and to perform constant analysis of everything that touches the sales opportunity.

MNPV: Are there certain metrics that you use to measure specific campaigns? Any formal forecasting processes?

Bhagat: We don't get down to campaign-by-campaign issues. We're a large company and we don't focus on one campaign because we have so many different campaigns going on. But portfolio management becomes more important to measure every aspect of the business from direct mail to advertising. Then we sit with key managers and examine spreadsheets to look at results, such as expected versus actual response rates.

Three years ago nobody was reporting anything necessary to look at metrics or conduct analysis. Marketing is an area that I believe is in its infancy at CA. Forecasting right now is based on trend analysis and we use our own metrics to look at marketing and advertising effectiveness. We have a lot of streams of data coming in and we're more equipped now than ever before to handle it. We're currently looking at marketing resource management tools, but we have to walk before we can run. We're trying to get our arms around the data to get comfortable with it all. We're just not at the point to use simulation or forecasting tools. We need to do a better job to track the data.

MNPV: Are all groups within CA willing to share information openly?

Bhagat: Historically, technology drove the process because CA is a tech-driven company and we did not always share information. But that has changed. We initiated Project 360 two years ago. This is a formalized approach to product lifecycle development, where we include 30 different functional groups within the company, from sales, marketing, support, education, etc. And at some point during a product development project, all groups are brought into the project, either as a contributor or even just to update people on the project. Every step of the way we make sure everyone is pulled into the process.

MNPV: What processes are you using to gain insight into customers?

Bhagat: It's not one magic formula. We look at a variety of processes from basic customer research to needs analysis to analyst feedback, and more. But research has to address where business is going and map solutions to those needs. We also have "incubation teams" that go out and look into new technologies where we look at their potential.

MNPV: Do you see marketing's role within CA as tactical or strategic?

Bhagat: Marketing at CA has grown over the years to be more strategic to drive business. My job is certainly both strategic and tactical, but marketing in general is becoming more strategic and the demands have grown tremendously.

MNPV: How do you see that role evolving in the coming years?

Bhagat: The progressive companies are really the visionaries that have gone beyond seeing marketing as a cost center, and tap into the value of marketing — and invest in it. The old-time companies that historically don't want to spend the money, it will show in their future potential

MNPV: What successes have you had?

Bhagat: Marketing didn't have that important of a role here before I came to CA. One of our most successful projects was to help relaunch the company in 2001. We discovered from research that, as a company, we needed to get closer to the customer, and we did that with a new logo and new campaign. And that success paved the way for marketing's acceptance here where people are now more open to new marketing initiatives.