Home > Companies > C-Suite On Deck > Q&A with Tara Ryan, Chief Marketing Officer at Incorta

Q&A with Tara Ryan, Chief Marketing Officer at Incorta

Media 7 | April 15, 2020

global marketing for technology businesses
Tara Ryan, Chief Marketing Officer at Incorta has over 25 years experience and success in global marketing for technology businesses in ERP, mid-market, SMB, security, industry offerings and has driven fast growth for multiple SaaS , IPO and public companies. 

Ryan works with executives and board on planning, creation and execution of global branding, communications, sites, field programs, public relations, investor relations and demand generation.

MEDIA 7: When did you first start working and what was it?
TARA RYAN: My first job for a real paycheck was at 15 when I worked at a deli in Fresno, CA where I grew up.

M7: With over 25 years of experience in global marketing for technology companies, how has the demand generation for tech firms evolved, and how do you see it changing in future?
TR: Marketing used to be a stand alone, unautomated function and in all honesty, a bit of a mystery. Now marketing is threaded through every single thing we do in business and with technology innovations, there is a real understanding of it, the programs we run, the expected outcomes and even the real time analysis of successes and failures. We used to plan a campaign, process out the creative, media and execution and wait to see effectiveness – now we do all at once. I see the future going back to simplification and less is more. We have added so many tools and ways to analyze. 


"The transformation or amazing shift into the customer experience economy is the biggest challenge CMOs face today."

M7: As a Data Analytics platform, Incorta simplifies and processes data to provide meaningful information at speed that helps make informed decisions. How crucial is it from a value delivery point of view, and how does that help Incorta to stand out?
TR: Incorta is special in that it allows business users to ask the same complex and meaningful questions of their data that typically require many IT people and data scientists to get the answers they need to improve their line of business. At the digital pace of business today, that can mean millions of dollars for business leaders in finance, supply chain or even marketing. Speed is a key differentiator for Incorta in that rarely has anyone been able to query billions of rows of data in seconds for a line of business owner. In the world of Big Data, AI, Machine Learning and Predictive Analytics, this is important. In other words, someone in charge of supply chain for a major food brand can reduce millions in wasted orders if they understand in real time what customers are ordering across the globe on any given day or hour. In times like and especially with Covid, the amount of data an organization can automate, organize, ingest and analyze against can mean millions in savings and efficiencies. The direct link between data, analytics and business impact is something I get really excited about.



"The B2B buying cycle is becoming much more consumer like and the B2C marketing journey is now adapted to a tech driven one, mostly by mobile and in app activity owning the minute by minute attention of all."

M7: What are the biggest challenges for a CMO these days?
TR: I think the transformation or amazing shift into the customer experience economy is the biggest challenge CMOs face today. I see a merge of B2B and B2C and a learning exchange for CMOs with experience in both. The B2B buying cycle is becoming much more consumer like and the B2C marketing journey is now adapted to a tech driven one, mostly by mobile and in app activity owning the minute by minute attention of all. TV has shifted to OTT, radio to subscription, Direct to push and email and website to search and content syndication and it goes on. CMOs must check our pride at the door and acknowledge that adaptation is now our constant.

M7: How should companies prepare for continuous disruptions in martech?
TR: I think the Martech stack has reached a point of saturation. The best way to prepare and analyze all that is new is to ask the question around revenue. How will any given innovation contribute to new revenue and will the new revenue cover the costs for said innovation. I see way too many start ups spending money on automation for the sake of automation.

M7: The outbound marketing scene is transforming rapidly. Which trends do you believe will sustain, and what are you excited to experiment with?
TR: I call it “all bound” efforts as marketing and sales fused efforts can happen in real time now. I get excited about high quality campaigns driven with AI and Machine Learning that deliver such personalization and relevance that the sales cycles gets condensed like never before. I think the trend of ABM will stick around in theme even if not technology tools as it helped us get back to realistic target audiences and database integrity, I am excited about  faster time to value and lower cost of entry innovators like Drift or Bombora. They quickly excite both marketing and sales teams and prove value in revenue driven efforts. I love when my teams come to me and have been able to experiment and bring a vendor onboard in days vs months.


"CMOs must check our pride at the door and acknowledge that adaptation is now our constant."

M7: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your work - what day to day processes have you had to re-tool to be able to pull them off remotely? What does your remote tech stack look like?
TR: Covid has presented an unexpected opportunity for marketing and sales teams to get access to prospects and customers with some undivided attention that is otherwise difficult to garner. It has presented a challenge in that we really don’t want to waste anyone’s time and value propositions and content should align to Covid C-Suite priorities around employee security, wellness, business continuity and creative ways to forecast and plan against an unknown future. Of course Zoom and video conferencing has become important but added weight on data integrity around SFDC, mobile apps, recordings and web based journeys have moved to center of conversations. Some groups have done a great job of hopping on event and field marketing and retooled for virtual based live events – it is very impressive.

M7: Do you think we will constantly be looking over our shoulders, and need to have a remote plan ready?
TR: My marketing teams have moved to more work at home over the past few years, especially at global companies. This sure comes in handy now. Digital marketing is also the lion share of all of our budgets so, especially in B2B, we should weather through but continue to judge on measurable value form our campaigns or marketing investments.  Moving forward, I thing entire marketing categories or mediums will shift, such as trade shows, outdoor, billboard, sport marketing, sponsorships – but I think those areas have been evolving anyway. I always insist that my team never put too much weight on any one medium, such as field events and that balance has paid off during times like now with Covid.

M7: What piece of advice would you give your younger self?
TR: No one ever wakes up in the morning thinking about your career other than you. You will need to ask for what you want and promote yourself -  don’t be afraid to that. Also, trust your instinct and don’t be afraid of change. Change can be a good thing, really!

ABOUT INCORTA

Incorta is the only Unified Data Analytics Platform powered by Direct Data Mapping. Purpose-built to help companies stay ahead of the accelerating rate, volume, and complexity of modern enterprise data, the platform delivers unmatched speed and visibility. Incorta is built with open standards and integrates with cloud-friendly tools and platforms, making it easy to consolidate data in the cloud and extract meaningful insights. By making any data source continuously available for analytics, the platform helps data engineers, data scientists, data analysts, and business leaders make more accurate, timely, and transparent decisions with faster access to richer data sets. Backed by GV (formerly Google Ventures), Kleiner Perkins, M12 (formerly Microsoft Ventures), Telstra Ventures, and Sorenson Capital, Incorta powers analytics for some of the most valuable brands in the world. Visit www.incorta.com.

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We would have systems go down, and we would have downtimes anywhere between an hour to two hours to sometimes up to twelve. I had never used Scale Computing before, but it has been one of the most stable platforms, and the best platform for streamlining our operations internally. With Scale Computing, everything is integrated and being able to manage it all so easily, in a single pane of glass, is hands down the most streamlined I've ever seen." Like most institutions of higher education, each college within Auburn University functions autonomously, with each dean deciding how best to appropriate their respective budgets and staff various departments in the interest of its students and programs. The SC//Platform brings storage, servers, virtualization, and management together in a single, comprehensive system. With no virtualization software to license and no external storage to buy, it lowers out-of-pocket costs and radically simplifies the infrastructure needed to keep applications running, making the deployment and management of highly available and scalable infrastructure as easy to manage as a single server. As Joel Beckum, IT Coordinator, Auburn University noted, "Scale Computing Platform does everything that I need it to. It simplifies my network infrastructure so that I can be an expert. I was a desktop support guy who's now a system admin. Scale makes me look like a pro. As far as my users know, I'm a genius." Willard Public Schools, an award-winning public school system in Willard, Missouri, has partnered with Scale Computing since 2011 for its long-term, future-proof IT infrastructure to power its educational institutions. After its initial implementation, Willard Public Schools decided to replace all of its remaining legacy infrastructure with Scale Computing, creating an all-in-one hyperconverged solution with reliability, maximum availability, and ease of use. With SC//Platform as its IT foundation, Willard Public Schools has a future-proof, efficient, high-performing IT infrastructure in place, allowing Willard's IT team to focus on more strategic projects. About Scale Computing Scale Computing is a leader in edge computing, virtualization, and hyperconverged solutions. Using patented HyperCore™ technology, Scale Computing Platform automatically identifies, mitigates, and corrects infrastructure problems in real-time, enabling applications to achieve maximum uptime, even when local IT resources and staff are scarce. Edge Computing is the fastest growing area of IT infrastructure, and industry analysts have named Scale Computing an outperformer and leader in the space, including being named the #1 edge computing vendor by CRN. Scale Computing's products are sold by thousands of value-added resellers, integrators, and service providers worldwide. When ease-of-use, high availability, and TCO matter, Scale Computing Platform is the ideal infrastructure platform. Read what our customers have to say on Gartner Peer Insights, Spiceworks, TechValidate, G2, and TrustRadius.

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VIRTUAL DESKTOP TOOLS

Application Readiness offers Automated User Acceptance Testing for Portable Windows Apps Containerized with Liquidware FlexApp

PR Newswire | June 01, 2023

Liquidware, the leader in digital workspace management solutions, and Application Readiness, a leader in automated cloud-based software packaging and application compatibility testing solutions, today announced that Application Readiness now fully supports the automated testing of Liquidware FlexApp™ packages. The joint collaboration helps enable enterprise customers to realize the benefits of FlexApp quickly. FlexApp easily containerizes virtually any Windows application into a virtual disk and delivers them dynamically - greatly minimizing base image management and delivering applications more efficiently. Additionally, Application Readiness has leveraged FlexApp's API to kick off the solution's powerful, unattended, automated packaging process. This is especially helpful for large customers that may have hundreds or thousands of applications, as commonly seen in Healthcare, Financial, and other industries that rely on numerous Windows apps. Application Readiness compares individual app's performance and functionality across leading application delivery methods - such as Liquidware FlexApp, Microsoft App-V and MSIX, as well as multi-session computing platforms - to give customers a report of maximum compatibility. According to independent testing by Application Readiness, Windows applications packaged with FlexApp perform excellently, with maximum compatibility on average, when compared to most other platforms. "We're thrilled that Application Readiness has automated the workflow surrounding automated testing of FlexApp packages for our customers," said Jason E. Smith, Vice President of Alliances and Product Marketing at Liquidware. "By combining the expertise of Application Readiness with the power of Liquidware FlexApp, our customers can ensure the compatibility and efficiency of their applications in any deployment method." "Through this integration, our customers can simplify the application packaging process while ensuring their applications are delivered in the most efficient manner," said Greg Lambert, Founder of Application Readiness. "We are excited to partner with Liquidware and become a Liquidware Ready Verified partner based on the integration work we have accomplished with FlexApp." Liquidware is hosting a webinar with Greg Lambert June 8, where we discuss how to plan and prepare for App-V End-of-Life and how to move forward. Register here to attend: https://liquidware.eu/webinar-appv-eol. Liquidware customers can take advantage of the integration with Application Readiness to ensure that their applications are delivered in the most efficient manner, maximizing user productivity and minimizing management costs. About Liquidware Liquidware is a leader in digital workspace management solutions for Windows desktops. The company's products encompass all facets of management to ensure the ultimate user experience across all workspaces – physical, virtual, DaaS or in the cloud. Enterprises across the globe utilize Liquidware solutions to dramatically decrease time spent managing desktops, while delivering increased security, flexibility, and scalability. Supported platforms include Microsoft physical, Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), Windows 365, Citrix Desktops, VMware Horizon, Amazon WorkSpaces, and Nutanix Frame. Liquidware products are available through a global network of partners. For more information, visit www.liquidware.com About Application Readiness Readiness is a small, agile company led by former ChangeBASE chairman and CEO Greg Lambert. Its only product is Readiness, the first cloud-based application compatibility assessment and conversion software. Over 12 years in the making, Readiness has been checked and processed applications against hundreds of thousands of rules. Greg saw how expensive and complicated the infrastructure required for application compatibility, patch impact assessment, conversion and remediation was. This, and for the fact that applications are evolving faster than ever, convinced him that Readiness must be entirely cloud-based, so there's never any infrastructure to buy or maintain, and rules are kept up-to-date automatically. For more information, visit www.applicationreadiness.com.

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STORAGE, BACKUP, VIRTUALIZED ENVIRONMENTS

Industry Analyst DCIG Affirms Arcserve UDP 9.0 as the Obvious Solution to Simplify Backup Complexities and Defeat Ransomware Threats

Businesswire | May 30, 2023

Arcserve, the world's most experienced provider of backup, recovery, and immutable storage solutions for unified data protection against ransomware and disasters, today announced the results of a comprehensive review conducted by independent research firm DCIG, of its Arcserve UDP 9.0 backup solution. The study found that Arcserve UDP 9.0 offers organizations a clear edge in protecting against ransomware while tackling the persistent challenges of managing backup and recovery complexities. Arcserve UDP 9.0 delivers a cloud-based, multi-tenant Cloud Console that centrally manages UDP and Cloud Direct, enhancing its protection of enterprise applications such as Oracle and MS SQL Servers. The solution includes architectural and user interface enhancements to improve performance, simplify management, and improve data resilience, availability, and durability through its support for multiple cloud object storage providers. These features, combined with Arcserve's existing integration with Sophos, provide organizations with a reinforced beachhead against ransomware threats. Jerome Wendt, CEO & Lead Data Protection Analyst of DCIG, commented on Arcserve UDP's multiple backup and DR capabilities, stating that "Arcserve UDP has for some time delivered advanced data protection features at its core that organizations routinely use. Arcserve offers both agent-based and agentless backup options, which give organizations the flexibility to use the best backup approach to meet specific application data protection requirements." Arcserve UDP offers multiple disaster recovery (DR) options, including DRaaS, Instant Restores, and Virtual Standby (VSB). DRaaS is available via its fully managed cloud services extension, Cloud Hybrid. Its DRaaS service keeps critical data and workloads protected offsite and available and positions organizations to continue operations during or after unplanned on-premises outages. The Instant Restore feature allows IT personnel to spin up a VM directly from a backup quickly. At the same time, VSB offers a highly available configuration for data and applications for even faster recoveries than its Instant Restore feature. "As ransomware attacks become more sophisticated and frequent, a weak backup solution is no longer an option. With Arcserve UDP 9.0, organizations empower themselves to defend against the latest ransomware threats and overcome the complexity inherent in IT environments," said Patrick Tournoy, executive vice president of operations at Arcserve. "DCIG's review confirms that Arcserve UDP 9.0 is a robust backup solution that can effectively protect organizations against these threats." About Arcserve Arcserve, a top 5 data protection vendor and unified data resilience platform provider, offers the broadest set of best-in-class solutions to manage, protect, and recover all data workloads, from SMB to enterprise, regardless of location or complexity. Arcserve solutions eliminate complexity while bringing best-in-class, cost-effective, agile, and massively scalable data protection and certainty across all data environments. This includes on-prem, off-prem (including DRaaS, BaaS, and Cloud-to-Cloud), hyper-converged, and edge infrastructures. The company's nearly three decades of award-winning IP, plus a continuous focus on innovation, means that partners and customers, including MSPs, VARs, LARs, and end-users, are assured of the fastest route to next-generation data workloads and infrastructures. A 100% channel-centric organization, Arcserve has a presence in over 150 countries, with 19,000 channel partners helping to protect 235,000 customers' critical data assets.

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