Optus Business director of marketing's appointment at SAI is part of a global restructure of the business aimed at becoming more customer-centric
Optus Business director of marketing, Hayley Clarke, is leaving the telco this month to become the first global CMO for Australian-based risk management services firm, SAI Global.
SAI Global’s chief commercial officer, Paul Butcher, told CMO Clarke’s appointment is part of a group restructure which comes into effect on 1 July, and is aimed at transforming the organisation into a sales- and marketing-led business.
SAI Global listed on the ASX in 2004 after splitting from Standards Australia. Since then, the group has made 40 global acquisitions and now operates across 29 countries. It provides risk management services to a host of industries including food and agribusiness, retail, healthcare, automotive and financial services and has more than 100,000 active customers.
Read more: Digital and social transformation: From doing to being
Historically, the organisation has operated in three distinct divisions: Assurance, or auditing, certifying and registering businesses; compliance; and information services, including standards, legislation and property. But following the appointment of new CEO, Peter Mullins, last year, it began embarking on a new strategy to align what were disparate functions and silos into an integrated business, Butcher said.
“The newly created role of global marketing director is part of that strategy, and will help us take an integrated approach to market globally,” he said.
“We are transforming ourselves from being product-centric to client-centric. The two key things that will help us with that are leveraging digital technology, and developing the right leadership.”
Butcher was appointed SAI’s chief commercial officer at the same time as its new CEO came on-board and will operate across the combined risk management business when the new structure comes into effect on 1 July. He said three operational leaders will then support this structure.
Butcher also claimed that while SAI Global has many of the world’s leading experts in the risk management field, it has not previously tapped into their knowledge to better interact with clients.
“Part of the challenge and the opportunity is to make this more accessible to customers,” he said, adding Clarke’s appointment will help it make such a shift.
Clarke has more than 15 years’ experience in B2B marketing, and previously worked for IBM’s marketing function in both Australia and Asia. She joined Optus as GM of marketing communications in 2010 and took up the chief B2B marketer’s post in November 2012.
Clarke joins SAI Global on 6 July and reports directly to the CCO.
An Optus spokesperson confirmed Clarke leaves the telco this month, and said it is now conducting an internal and external search for her replacement.
More Optus news
Follow CMO on Twitter: @CMOAustralia, take part in the CMO Australia conversation on LinkedIn: CMO Australia, join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CMOAustralia, or check us out on Google+: google.com/+CmoAu
Our latest CMO 2022 readiness episode on the great resignation and staff motivation and leadership is now live!
Creating meaningful brands should be a holistic and considered process. However, all too frequently it’s one that is disparate and reactive, where one objective is prioritized at the expense of all others. So, what are the key pieces to the ‘good’ brand puzzle?
Companies encounter a variety of challenges when it comes to marketing overseas. Marketing departments often don’t know much about the business and cultural context of the international audiences they are trying to reach. Sometimes they are also unsure about what kind of marketing they should be doing.
Using data is a hot topic right now. Leaders are realising data can no longer just be the responsibility of dedicated analysts or staff with ‘data’ in their title or role description.
Nice blog!Blog is really informative , valuable.keep updating us with such amazing blogs.influencer agency in Melbourne
Rajat Kumar
Why flipping Status Quo Bias is the key to B2B marketing success
good this information are very helpful for millions of peoples customer loyalty Consultant is an important part of every business.
Tom Devid
Report: 4 ways to generate customer loyalty
Great post, thanks for sharing such a informative content.
CodeWare Limited
APAC software company brings on first VP of growth
This article highlights Gartner’s latest digital experience platforms report and how they are influencing content operations ecosystems. ...
vikram Roy
Gartner 2022 Digital Experience Platforms reveals leading vendor players
What about this one FormDesigner.pro? I think it's a great platform providing a lot of options, you can collect different data and work w...
Salvador Lopez
Gartner highlights four content marketing platform players as leaders