In part two of this exclusive Q&A, Bluewolf UK Managing Director Vera Loftis speaks to the emergence of cloud-based marketing technologies as a strategic business tool for customer-obsessed enterprises. Vera also outlines current attitudes to social and mobile adoption and how leadership is changing with the rise of cloud-based technologies.

There is currently a lot of focus in the industry on marketing technologies, like Marketing Cloud™. Can you explain what this focus means for businesses?

Well, traditionally we have thought about the role of the marketer as someone who pushes out content, but that has changed. Now, it is about listening and interacting with customers in the correct forum, rather than broadcasting mass communications. Marketing has changed immensely, and while organisations need to listen to their customers’ gripes and complaints from a crisis management perspective, they also recognise that cloud, mobile and social CRM platforms drive positive and proactive engagement that hasn’t been possible before. Brands are turning to platforms like Marketing Cloud, to use data from social channels to better understand their customers’ needs and then use that knowledge to shape the direction of their company and tailor their interactions with their customers.

Is this a fad, or is there real value in adopting technologies to support this?

The reality is that the consumers and buyers dictate this market. People have gravitated to social and love to interact with brands via these channels. The customer has more power than ever before and now has a platform and a voice to communicate. Brands need to embrace this and start to adapt to these changes, as social is not going to disappear anytime soon. There has normally been a power share between customer and brand but that has changed, and the customer is definitely the one who sets the agenda. While we have seen some individual social networks rise and fall, social media as a whole is here to stay. 

Where do the main pushbacks or concerns come from when speaking to customers about social?

I think it is more fear that anything else. Social is still a very new concept and we’re asking customers that traditionally don’t move very fast to start thinking very differently about selling and managing the customer experience. There are few companies that have had time to formulate a real plan to deal with this. When we think about big data and how to action it, it can be overwhelming. You know you need to start listening, and your strategy needs to change but the question always comes back to “how.” The truth is it is about taking measured baby steps to make this a reality.                                                                                     

We hear a lot about the changing nature of business leadership and how businesses are becoming flatter due to social and mobile. Are you experiencing this and what does tomorrow's business leader need to do to embrace this?

We see this a lot in successful businesses. The reality is that your employees are the people driving your business forward and their engagement is a major factor in a company’s success. Employees are looking for a different way of working, and smart leaders understand this. Social tools allow collaboration and smash down silos to produce a new kind of workforce. There is a lot of fluidity around the working experience that is driven by social and mobile, and of course business leaders need to adapt and see how this can be a benefit and not a risk. At Bluewolf, we rolled out a highly successful Initiative called #GoingSocial that has been tremendous for the company globally. By embracing social technologies, everyone in our organisation has a great way communicate, collaborate and share success. Using gamification, we’ve put incentives in place to encourage this engagement, and it’s resulted in a host of new content and contributions, particularly from our knowledgeable consultants. This has significantly increased traffic to our website and expanded Bluewolf’s social media presence, whilst building the personal brands of our subject matter experts. Internally, the #GoingSocial program has brought our global teams closer together and greatly improved real-time collaboration and knowledge sharing. At Bluewolf, we’ve achieved real business value from embracing social and mobile technologies, and we are now helping our clients do the same.