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Karthikeyan Palanisamy

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Karthikeyan Palanisamy

Knowledge Manager

Mindtree

Blogs (1)

Karthikeyan Palanisamy is a member of:

Positioning the product

Innovative and Value-driven. By "innovative", I mean that our products will have definite differentiation from competitors' products and will be ready to adopt new technologies and new scenarios. By "value-driven", I mean that our products will have 'value' built-in and is not just to fulfill customer needs; it will help customers predict early warnings, help make informed decisions and be operationally-effective.

Marketing

Marketing is the science of matching the customer expectations/needs with available or improved products; two words to be noted here. The word "science" and "improved". Science - because marketing activity is a step-by-step procedure and pretty established; I see the need for less innovation and more imitation here. Improved - certainly our products need to be improved, time and again. Improvement can be a new product for a new industry, customized product for an existing industry, improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of existing product. Importance of Marketing can be felt by seeing the examples of Apple, Flip Kart and Bajaj. Apple for its intuitive design, Flip Kart for its effective supply chain and Bajaj for its innovation capability. In simpler terms, Marketing brings business to any organization.

Importance of STP

Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning (STP) are extremely important as they set the direction for any product/offering. If you notice any successful business or a product, you will note that STP is very well defined. Segmentation emphasizes an organization's playground; Targeting denotes the specific type of people, who the organization needs to convert from customer to advocate; Positioning is what the organization wants the customer to remember about the organization. In the case of Bajaj Pulsar example - segment is 2 wheeler, Target is Youth Community (Age: 20 - 30 years), positioning is "definitely male" (emphasizing the manly traits. Bajaj Pulsar is one of the best products and marketing was handled very well.

Motivating

Perseverance: I tell my team on the importance of perseverance and patience. I also emphasize why listening is extremely important for a marketing executive. I highlight that marketing is not running behind customers randomly; it involves careful listening, study, analysis and mapping customer needs with our products/services.

Research: Customer behavior and needs are changing rapidly; we must constantly look out for industry and technological trends to service our customers better.

Innovation: Innovation is one factor that can push an organization to new heights, provided it is steered with specific business goal in minds. Every organization is innovating. Some are in right path; some think they are in right path. Whatever is the path, relevance and impact of innovative products is what determines the success of innovation.

Achieving Targets

Not applicable. Yet to play this role.

Importance of sales

If marketing is the brain, Sales is the face of a person. A brain can think or plan ‘n’ number of things; interface between the environment and thought process is face. A marketing team can strategize long and short-term plans; it is the sales team that is going to implement.

For us, Sales is one of our indispensable areas like finance, operations, delivery, knowledge management, etc.

Typically, a sales team needs a dedicated Sales Head who reports to Marketing Head and CEO. Sales goals should be aligned with marketing goals; Learning should be integral to sales team’s day-to-day business activities. Lessons learned from win/loss over deals, customer appreciations/escalations, industry trends and competitor strategies should be captured and shared among team members. Knowledge Management team should play a crucial play in addressing Sales and Pre-sales teams’ queries.

Future prospect

Marketing Director for a medium-sized service organization. Given my experience of 6+ years in service organizations and with operational focus on Knowledge Management, directing the marketing efforts for an organization is going to be a challenging opportunity. Two plus points I see here, first is I love challenges and the second is my MBA in Marketing & Operations.

Importance of 4ps

4Ps of Marketing are product, price, place and promotion. Nowadays, there are 3 more Ps (Physical environment, Process and People) if you take service industry examples.

4Ps or 7Ps are very important as they make the strategy for any product or service organization. No matter the number of Ps, the clarity of thought in addressing each area is very important. We may enter an industry with certain plans/strategies for 4Ps or 7Ps, but how quickly an organization can improve each area matters. Different organizations strengths fall under different Ps. Some examples can be Apple iPhone for Product, Tata Docomo for Price, Karnataka Tourism for Place, Big Bazaar for Promotion, PVR Gold Cinemas for Physical environment, 3M for Process and Vasan Eye Care Network for People.

Recommended Courses and Certification

a.Customer Management Skills
b.Crucial Conversations
c.Influencing the influencers by HRD consultant – Joseph George
d.Professional Skills
e.Big Data Analytics
f.Knowledge Management

Growth

Profit and Customer Mindshare. According to me, revenue generation is a hygiene factor. Profit making capability is an important trait these days. Every year the profit for any organization should be increasing upward as this gives credibility and reliability of organization in shareholder’s minds. It is the investor or shareholder, without whom, there is no organization. Customer Mindshare is another important factor as it increases the scale of organization’s profit margin. More the mindshare, more the probability of being a market leader. Take the brands like Apple and Samsung, though they are contenders, have greater customer mindshare than other mobile phone players.

Importance of Marketing

Every employee is responsible for bringing business to the organization; In my role, I work closely with the Sales and Marketing teams, in making the right decisions and servicing the customers effectively. Importance of my role is very high as I am responsible in getting up-to-date operational and project knowledge to Sales & Marketing teams during bidding and pre-sales activities. Just because a marketing person’s primary role is to interact with external field force, doesn't mean she/h need not interact with internal stakeholders. In fact, it is very important to be part of internal communities in the organizations and have up-to-date knowledge using organization's social platforms.

Future trend

Social Media (SM): SM is changing the way customers think about products and services. Nowadays, everyone wants everything quick. Instant communications and cutting-edge technologies are making the customers also to expect the business solutions fast. Customer also expects that the given solution should deliver value quickly and should be able to quickly adapt to future industry trends. No customer wants two different products for vertical integration.

Big Data: With social media, you never know who is talking about you at this moment in face book or twitter. Both are effective platforms for sharing good and bad things about an organization. News spreads like wild fire. Leave the controversial things; what customers are discussing, what they are buying, where they are going, what their friends are doing – all these questions are pertinent these days. We never know at which moment we are going to get a customer from a different time zone or a continent.

Branding

Brands are everywhere. Right from simple day-to-day items like Rice, Wheat to complex products like Tesla Model S (car) to services like Face Book. Brands are the identities for any business and nowadays there is a specific brand name and even an ambassador for a product or service. Rebranding is as important as branding; customer’s beliefs and expectations are to be carefully protected when an organization rebrands itself. Notable examples are Mindtree, Hero Motors, and Canara Bank.

Growth Prospect in marketing

Very quickly! In fact, every six months a marketing person can climb roles. Not because it’s easy, but the sheer number of opportunities available to prove. No organization is going to say ‘no’ to a “go-getter” who is determined to get new business. Every customer is unique and every experience is a learning opportunity. Achieving is one thing and let others know what and how you have achieves is another things; marketing person needs no training I believe. Achieving excellence in customer acquisition and shareholder value maximization is the primary attribute; success is inevitable. Mostly an effective marketing person will be elevated to greater heights by the organization and need not go step-by-step in a success ladder.

Motivating Factor

Diversity: In my role, I need to interact with all levels of individuals, from Developer to Delivery Manager, from Programmer to Program Manager. Every project is different and every experience in driving KM efforts is a learning opportunity. Mindtree has ingrained knowledge management in its business strategy planning since inception. KM plays a vital role addressing project delivery challenges and acquiring new businesses.

Impact: I have been successful in making individuals and teams understand the importance of KM in its role in Project Delivery and Sales & Marketing. Successful completion of knowledge mapping, project assimilation, reuse, win/loss analysis, storytelling and collaboration have made my role truly relevant to current business needs. Being relevant and making a difference to individual’s / team’s performance motivates me.