Case

We sat down with Daniel Kjellström, Head of CRM & Direct Marketing at Tele2. Thank you Daniel for a very fruitful & interesting discussion!

How does your company work within the four dimensions of Martech, and what is your focus area moving forward?

In essence, we have the technology we need in place. This enables us to technically orchestrate customer interactions and allows us to focus on the other dimensions. We have also put a lot of emphasis on defining processes and ways of working that streamline our daily tasks.

Today, we are a cross-competence team responsible for CRM & direct marketing to consumers. The team consists of content creators, Marketing Automation campaign specialists, developers, project managers, and an overall planning manager. Within these competencies in place we form different sub-teams, these are changing over time and are formed based on what is in focus at the moment. The different sub-teams often have responsibility for a brand or a specific critical moment in the customer lifecycle. The teams manage their own prioritization in relation to the targets and forecasts. The team prioritization is aligned with the management team on a quarterly basis.

At Tele2, we also have cross-functional teams across several departments to create the best possibilities for leveraging the expertise we have internally. We have found great value in being agile in our way of working, which is why the process dimension has been essential to focus on. It is the combined expertise of these teams that enables us to achieve the best possible impact from our tech stack.

However, what continues to be necessary is to carefully manage our people. If we don’t have the right people and competencies, it does not matter which technology we invest in or what processes we have in place. Everything is based on having the right individuals and the right skills. Recruiting within the Martech field is challenging, and we believe it will continue to be so. A successful approach for us has been to shift the focus from finding precisely qualified candidates in terms of skills, and instead bringing in more junior individuals with the right attitude. With the right mindset in place, we can provide internal training in order to ensure we have the competence and skills we need. This approach has worked out very well for us!

“With the right mindset in place, we can provide internal training in order to ensure we have the competence and skills we need.”

The fourth dimension, which revolves around data, is an important aspect when combined with 'people.' The right data ensures that we focus on the right things. Therefore, our continued focus will be on ensuring that we have control over our data with the right people on our team.

What role or roles does top management play in your Martech strategy and efforts?

We have a dedicated top management team and there is a strong consensus and shared understanding that customer experience and personalization are important. What the top management team may be lacking is expertise in how to tactically and operationally deliver on this. Obtaining the desired impact from investments in Martech also takes time. As a publicly listed company, it is important to find a good balance between short-term quarterly results and long-term strategies and goals.

As mentioned earlier, team prioritization is aligned with the management on a quarterly basis. Team performance is measured through various KPIs. These include KPIs related to cross-sell, upsell, retention, customer lifetime value (CLV), and NPS. This is what teams are measured on, top management doesn't look at specific campaigns or content, teams are evaluated based on impact and the outcome vs the set targets. How teams achieve those targets is up to the respective teams - they are the experts.

‍

What do you think will be the next thing to look out for in the Martech field and how do you plan to work with AI? 

We already work with AI and test our way forward to see what works for us. Just like many others, we believe that certain competencies and tasks will be replaced or altered due to AI. Therefore, it is important to be involved from the beginning in order to learn fast and adapt. I believe it is important to have an enthusiastic approach, focusing on what opportunities these new AI technologies bring and to encourage our people to share that enthusiasm. To do so, we for example arranged a hackathon where we experimented with AI for large target audience segmentation and customized communication creation. This was a huge learning experience and a great way to engage our people.

“I believe it is important to have an enthusiastic approach, focusing on what opportunities these new AI technologies bring and to encourage our people to share that enthusiasm.”

Our continued focus will be on ensuring that we have control over our data, the right people in our team, and smart ways of working. Then we are better prepared to try new things within the Martech area regardless of whether it's AI or something else.

‍

Finally, would you like to share your “3 key steps to success”?

‍

1.
It always starts with people, and that's where we can make a big difference. No matter how good the systems and processes are, having the right people is crucial to achieving the full impact.

‍

2.
We have developers allocated directly to our teams. This has allowed us to avoid long and complicated processes and dependencies on other parts of the organisation. Having our own developers has given us the courage to experiment and test more extensively.

‍

3.
Dare to test and don't be afraid of failure. If you have the right people and mindset in place, then you dare to venture into deep waters and experiment.

‍

‍