solutions marketing manager – converged communications

Region:

Global

Division:

Global Solutions

Office Location:

South Africa

Reporting to:

GM Converged Communications

Position:

Solutions Marketing Manager – Converged Communications

Required Start Date:

1 April 2008

Permanent / Contract:

Permanent

Position Summary and Primary Objectives

The role will be responsible for the formulation and execution of Dimension Data’s Converged Communications marketing plan. The candidate will be required to take full ownership and responsibility for marketing in this line of business. This requires an understanding of the technology, services, market opportunity, clients, competitors and regional nuances.

The candidate must be able to work with regions (who are at different levels of maturity) in guiding them through our value propositions and best practices and provide support in the form of strategy, marketing execution, expertise, plans, processes, community and programme management and should be able to work well with a virtual team.

The role will need to assist in identifying and maintaining value propositions that resonate with clients and to create the vehicles and initiatives to enable the organisation’s regional marketing heads to take solution-specific campaigns to market.

Main Duties / Key Accountabilities

• Initially the execution and later the development and management of marketing plans and programmes for the converged communications business globally, including value positions, positioning, market segmentation, competitor analysis, sales tools, collateral, references, online marcoms, campaigns, etc.
• Development of marketing and communication plans – in conjunction with global practice leads, corporate marketing, regional marketing and services, based on group strategy. Assist regions in execution.
• Become the converged communications subject matter expert from a marketing perspective and act as a marketing interface for all solution stakeholders globally.
• Assist practice leads in managing, maintaining and growing solution communities across various collaboration vehicles (portals, webinars, etc.)
• Ensure GTM is congruent with strategic vendors and garner their support (financial or otherwise) for campaigns and initiatives.
• Work with Global PR on industry analyst relations programme to develop solutions identity with key thought leaders and analysts
• Work with Internal Communications to ensure pro-active employee communication and continued education around these businesses
• Develop targeted/ direct marketing campaigns and act as catalyst for sharing regional best practices with the broad marketing organisation
• Deliver/ develop case studies/success stories and reference sites
• Deliver/develop training material in conjunction with Group HR
• Market research & intelligence (in conjunction with Market Research) to ensure that sales and solution teams are kept up to date with technology trends, competitor and market activity.
• Participate in client-facing and feedback initiatives
• Assess ad hoc marketing opportunities and support where appropriate

Requirements: Education, Training and Experience

·         Marketing Degree/Diploma

·         Previous experience marketing IT solutions and services

·         Experience with Unified Communications technology ideal

·         Marketing experience in a multinational company

·         Fundamental understanding of the technology environment

·         MS Office – Word, Excel & PowerPoint, FrontPage

·         MS SharePoint and CMS

Personal Attributes and Skills Required

·         Change agent

·         Exceptional executor (the role has no direct reports)

·         Desire to learn and grow

·         Past experience at successfully working in a highly-decentralised / virtual team environment

·         Structured thinker and communicator

·         Ability to communicate intangible ideas and concepts in a meaningful and value-driven way

·         Solid writing skills (examples of previous work required)

·         Ability to write and execute marketing and campaign plans

·         Good organisational, analytical and project management skills

·         Results/performance-oriented with an ability to measure effectiveness and business value of specific marketing campaigns

·         Commitment to delivering value to the internal and external client

·         Deadline-driven, while maintaining attention to detail

·         Proactive, information-seeking nature

·         Self-confident, assertive

·         Ability to work with all levels and groups within the organisation, both locally and internationally.

·         Skilled presenter

·         Willingness to participate in conference calls outside of working hours

·         Multi-lingual will be an advantage

·         International work experience will be an advantage

·         International travel will be required