IT Life: Marketing Tech For High-Tech Marketing

Screendragon makes a bunch of software for marketing people. Its chief executive Jan Quant told us what interests him in the IT business.

Screendragon – from what we can understand – has a set of project-management products. It’s the kind of the kind of thing that handles factory output, but they are tailored to a specific vertical market:  marketing. Inside that set, there are tools for managing marketing campaigns, as well as more intangible things like the “brand asset” and more concrete stuff like “claims and compliance” (when the brand needs help).

Quant has been in the IT industry for 15 years, and has worked with brands like HP and Kimberley Clark. To our surprise, for someone in thrall to the gods of glossy marketing, he is not an Apple fan, preferring the delights of a traditional relational database from IBM.

What has been your favourite project so far?
I believe brand fails can become viral in 22 minutes. It could fail all because of a picture taken of a live marketing campaign which did not get the OK from all involved. Agencies and brands therefore have a challenge to deliver campaigns which are accurate on a local and global level.

With this in mind, I think my favourite project was creating “The Fridge” for Kimberly Clark [The fridge was the name given to the customised version of Screendragon’s tools which Kimberly Clark used]. The software provides “just in time marketing” with meta-tagged marketing assets for all the stakeholders, both at client and agency.

What tech were you involved with ten years ago?
In 2003? Wow, I was providing client/server content delivery software as part of an application service provider (ASP) agreement (we now call this “SaaS”) for a variety of customers such as FIFA and Lotus cars! How the world of IT has changed, especially the terminology.

What tech do you expect to be using in ten years’ time?
Well I think we will still use older phones such as my Nokia Symbian phone, as it is indestructible! Honestly, it would give Titanium a run for its money. In fact, of course, mobile technology will have moved on by then to the extent of being an Artificial Intelligence companion to humans but there will be people who want phones which can call, text and take a low-res photo only. Durability will still be a key selling point. I also have a discarded Sony Android phone even my 15 year old son rejected so I reckon that might be retro-cool in ten years.

Who’s your tech hero?
Ted Codd at IBM who conceived DB/2. Without him, we would still be stuck with old, slow software which could have set technology and businesses back decades. Terms we are throwing at each other today like Big Data, BYOD and Cloud would not exist without Mr Codd. It goes without saying that I admire Sreendragon’s CTO, John Briggs too, of course!

Who’s your tech villain?
I used to be strongly “anti-Apple” not because of the company or their products but more for the fact that they seemed to encourage “slavish acolytes” who would espouse that all Apple products are “just (unquestioningly) better”. It was their lack of criticality/objectivity that would really annoy me! The ‘Kool Aid’ has been surely downed by some followers of Apple, however it does show the importance of brand.

What’s your favourite technology ever made? Which do you use most?
I love playing tennis therefore my Graphite tennis racket has to be my favourite piece of kit. I remember the days when wooden rackets were the only option, an absolute nuisance to use. It’s summer so I will be bringing my tennis racket out quite a bit but throughout the whole year, my Nokia phone would be the most used piece of technology.

What is your budget outlook going forward? Flat? Growing?
Definitely growing. The market for integrated marketing management software is now fully validated and growing year-on-year – and we are an important player in this space.

Apart from your own, which company do you admire most and why?
Apple but not for the reasons I stated above! Apple is where it is right now because it understands the importance of user interface and user experience design. The majority of Apple’s success was down to providing consumers products they did not know they needed. The challenges Apple face today are from rivals who give more freedom to developers to build products on their platforms, so Apple could think a bit more about getting the developer community involved. Even so, Apple builds products with the customer in mind.

What’s the greatest challenge for an IT company/department today?
The challenge facing both IT departments and companies is to remain relevant. Both departments face different challenges in order to remain contemporary. IT departments used to have the final say on software selection and purchasing, but now we see employees downloading and bringing their own technology into the workplace which takes authority away from IT management. For IT vendors, to remain relevant means they have to catch up with the current trends and understand what changes businesses are experiencing. As we have seen recently, some vendors can only catch up quickly by buying other IT firms.

To Cloud or not to Cloud?
Definitely to cloud. Relating to where I was ten years ago, I knew the future of IT would be linked to outsourcing of servers, software and infrastructure because it was easier and cheaper to run. The cloud is especially important for the customers we work with at the moment because these brands are spread out globally and the scalability of the cloud helps employees to become part of a team even though they may be located thousands of miles away.

What did you want to be when you were a child?
Well I always had high ambitions. I had a phase of wanting to be a pilot because what’s not to like about globe-trotting and getting paid for it? The technology on planes is quite impressive to the extent of the pilot not really being needed to fly the jet! I moved on to thoughts of becoming a rock star – the same globe-trotting ambitions but playing in front of sellout crowds would be cool. However realising that was never going to happen, I thought of being an accountant to rock stars, as everyone (especially rock stars!) needs a ‘numbers’ guy.

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