Women In Tech

Marketing is tricky. Couple that with a company that has to serve its customers on a one-on-one basis, and the challenge becomes a something akin a demolition derby, with the risk of messaging and communications and efforts to strengthen the bottom line, often crashing into one another. In the midst of all this chaos, which, by the way, is critical for any company to grow, the only way the confusion inertia can be converted into a productive campaign is if you have a strong, focused professional heading it all.

Technology companies often find themselves struggling with the speed at which business grows and the speed at which they are able to roll out campaigns. To achieve the balance, IT companies need to have effective marketing strategies in place, which can have a tangible impact on the business, enabling all the departments in the organization to work together in order to realize the objectives of the company.

Technology, around the world, is a male dominated field. You will find more men across verticals in most of the senior management designations in any random sampling you do – this seems to be a more prominent trend in IT companies. While we are appreciative of the fact that women working in more conservative environments might have more obstacles to overcome, you can’t ignore one important element in the canvas we are describing – there are challenges with every designation, every capacity and every individual. If there were no obstacles, our innate ability to strive for perfection, would be lost in space and time. People in the working world, are referred to as ‘professionals’ because they are able to maneuver through the obstacle course that the world of business throws their way. Believe it or not, the objects coming your way don’t focus on the gender to change the intensity with which they hit.

It has taken Pakistan’s IT industry more than 10 years to have women in the workplace who dominate their field and the companies they work in. With ‘Marketing’ being one of the drivers of business, (yes, even in the recession!), CMO Pakistan spoke with women who head the marketing departments within IT organizations in Pakistan. Over the next few pages, you will get insights from the women who matter in their companies, and who have a strong role to play as far as aligning the marketing strategy with their business objectives.

>Rabiya Riaz
Head of Corporate Marketing, Wateen
Rabiya Riaz is the head of Corporate Marketing at Wateen. A fast growing company, Wateen serves more than 20 million customers and has managed to get Pakistan on the global map for deploying one of the largest WiMAX networks spanning an entire country, in the world.

So here’s the million dollar question – a series of them, actually. What role does marketing play in a company that already has a name, a strong, established brand and gives people what they know why already need? “In today’s age, even in Pakistan, there are very few people who still need to be convinced that they need to be connected to the internet. With every service or utility provider already doing the marketing for this side of the argument, the debate has long since passed the point of whether people should or shouldn’t be getting online – it’s a question, today, of choice,” explains Rabiya. And with pull marketing showing many more results than push, the rate of conversion of the number of people playing loyal to one brand over another, is also growing by leaps and bounds.

Marketing campaigns can tell people that their brand or product is great until the cows come home and they turn blue in the face, but until the consumer isn’t attracted to the brand himself, the ‘doubt will always be there. “Customer testimonials mean a great deal to us. Just like the tangible, measurable online medium, customer feedback is a distinct indicator of our performance. We are in constant contact with our corporate and individual consumers where by gauging their feedback, and matching it to making our services better.”

“There isn’t a marketing formula that can be applied to all companies. Especially when it comes to the online space and a communications company as large as Wateen. We have several distinct target segments but our main objective for the bigger picture is consistent: we want everyone to have access to premium quality internet connectivity,” explains Rabiya Riaz.

Wateen, like any other service provider had teething issues when it first began its services. “When you are deploying services which cater to hundreds of thousands of people, you are bound to make some mistakes. You have to appreciate the speed at which technology grows – and we’re leapfrogging across generations and that advanced evolution process is bound to create a few hiccups along the way.”

There is also an awareness issue at hand that must be identified. “Initially, there was a serious awareness issue. People didn’t understand what WiMAX could do for them and what we were trying to bring to the table. Over time, just like we have learned and rectified our weaknesses, the market has also turned to use our services in ways which challenge the standards.”

Reaching Out to the People
Technology is, whether we like it or not, English. This in itself creates a barrier between the consumer and the platform. “At Wateen, we focus on being the enablers by allowing individuals and organizations to use communication in order to better the quality of their lives, hence one of the challenges we had, was to minimize this rift.” In addition to the bi-lingual marketing campaign, Rabiya’s team also selected ambassadors to represent the brand – ambassadors who had the trust and loyalty of the masses who we were trying to reach out to. “Reema and Meera were two names that came out on top in our research and market study. For one of our campaigns, we got Shehzad Roy on board as the face for Wateen, which also received wonderful feedback from the market!”
Rabiya explains that they have tried to use PR to supplement their marketing activities. “More than just inserts and press releases in the newspaper, we work proactively to support the blogosphere. Bloggers create chatter online and they are extremely influential online. People around the country and increasingly, from around the globe, refer to what is being reported or published on blogs, perhaps just as much as news websites. The more people that manage to get online and add to the blogosphere, will be a boon for Pakistan.”

So does Rabiya follow blogs? “I conduct a lot of searches. Because blogs are so well integrated into the fabric of the web, they usually show up on top. The number of people who comment on and keep topics alive, help people to see Pakistan in a different light.” Rabiya explains the trends she sees online in Pakistan based on what she can find through search engines. “Websites have to be optimized for the web. Even three years ago, if I was searching for something, the first few links on Google or Yahoo would always be news websites. Today, that has changed. The links for the first several pages, are often blogs that attract a lot of viewers and generate a lot more content through their topics and comments that people leave behind. All of this is content. And all of this content helps to show the world that there is such intellectual dialogue taking place amongst the online population here.”

Content, Rabiya explains, is critical to the success and progress of Pakistan. “It is our obligation and commitment to Pakistan that we will enable connectivity in as many places as possible, so that more and more people can get online and help make a much-needed positive change.”

And a positive change is exactly what is coming in. When Technology-centric news websites began highlighting the fact that the West was far behind a country like Pakistan which had the world’s largest WiMAX deployment across the country, Wateen seemed to have provided a quote for everyone to wear on their sleeve. “When bloggers and local, Pakistani websites began to publish material about how much work we were investing in laying out our infrastructure, international analysts also began to tune in. That’s how they gave us the recognition for having accomplished such a massive feat, and this was something that Pakistani blog sites picked up again.” And the conversation continued.

“Online viral marketing is really contagious! One blog writes about it, another links to it, yet another highlights something that the other two said, content and news aggregators begin having the chatter updated on their sites and through the RSS, pretty soon, what started off as chatter turns into a loud statement! The Pakistani blogosphere is extremely active, something we are all very excited about.”

But what about their opinions? The bloggers aren’t really ‘news authorities’ are they? “A blog is all about a personal opinion, but that opinion matters if it comes from someone who has the respect of the online community. There are several  blogs in Pakistan who are frequented because they have reported or broken news worthy pieces through their sites. People want to read and be influenced by their opinion. And in case there is a controversy, then because it’s such an open media, people will counter each other to try and get the truth out. Isn’t this the model of democracy that we want to be following? Enable the right to free speech and be accountable for your actions online.”

The Inside Story
Be it marketing or any other department, the executive who wishes to make a real impact, must have the necessary support of the other departments to ensure that the alignment can take place. “My management is very supportive of the marketing or PR activities that we want to engage in. At Wateen, we have a relatively decentralized ‘chain of command’, if you want to call it that. Each department actively participates in the discussion that quite literally shapes our company’s future. But our participation, our ideas and our involvement is critical.”

Rabiya has always been a vocal advocate of the role that marketing has to play in the promotion of a brand. “Sure, traditional media helps. After all, the bulk of our potential customers are offline and we want to encourage them towards the communication that we are making available to them, regardless of their physical geographical location. But we also have to put our money where our mouth is. Just talking about uplifting a community isn’t enough. We must engage in those activities to truly realize our commitment.” Supporting advocacy issues and sending the right message out to users, be it peace through concerts and entertainment, or competition, through LAN gaming competitions, Rabiya and her team has always focused on activity-building. “It almost sounds silly to put it like this, but it’s all about action. We want to be active within the community because brands that are active, are able to demonstrate to the community that they are a part of them.”

If you take a walk around the halls of Wateen’s offices around the country, you’ll find a large number of women who hold executive positions. “The corporate environment of the company is very aware of gender diversity and equal opportunity – that’s why you’ll find a lot more women in the organization who hold key decision-making positions. That’s a very refreshing fact to come to work with everyday.”

And Wateen engages in some life saving and life alter ing work. “Telemedicine, for example, is something that is based on a strong, robust and redundant internet infrastructure. With almost 70% of our rural population suffering from very poor healthcare if any at all, we are working with IBM and other the US State Department along with other partners, to make healthcare available to the masses through the Rural Telemedicine program. We are constantly working to ensure that the solutions and connectivity we provide, has a tangible impact on the lives of the people who use the solutions.”

Wateen has been keeping a keen eye on the market and been growing consistently. “Quality is a big issue with users. Of course they want the best quality whether it is for their phone connection, their surveillance equipment or their internet connection. Of course we could have been expanding our services to every corner of Pakistan and beyond, but that’s not what our plan of action is. We want our services to reflect our long term goals.”

Teamwork and collaboration is critical in the success of what Rabiya does. “Isn’t that the same for any team? If we have a strong team who believes in a similar vision, we can all start off by working towards realizing that vision. This is the first step in running down the right path – you need to know what path everyone is on to begin with!”