Exclusive Interview with New Sitecore CEO, Mark Frost
Back in Copenhagen in 2001, five friends decided there was a better way to build and manage websites, and from there, Sitecore was born. Michael Seifert stood at the helm of the Sitecore organization from the very beginning, but on July 1st, after much careful consideration, he passed the reigns to newly appointed CEO, Mark Frost.
The New Era of Sitecore
We caught up with Mark, to pick his brain on his new role as well as hear his thoughts on
the topics of personalization from a global perspective, intelligent analytics, and what innovations he thinks we will see in the not so distant future:
Let’s start by you telling us a bit of your background in the space prior to taking the helm as CEO of Sitecore?
"30+ years of experience in Silicon Valley/Tech businesses, with 15 years doing cloud transformations at enterprise software companies such as Documentum, PeopleSoft, NeoVista and MarkMonitor. I’ve been known to drive business transformations and category leadership. For example, during my time as CEO of MarkMonitor, I drove record topline growth and customer acquisition, and ultimately completed a sale of the company, which was part of the IP&S division of Thomson Reuters, in October 2016.
Prior to that, I served as General Manager for the SaaS Business Unit of CA Technologies, where I was part of the Global Leadership Team and responsible for pioneering and leading the transformation to SaaS for this $4.2B IT management software company. I also served as EVP and General Manager for the SaaS Business Unit of MarketTools, where my efforts accelerated time-to-market and resulted in a more than 90 percent customer satisfaction score."
What are your thoughts on personalized performance software from a global perspective?
"The world’s consumers demand speed, convenience, and personalization from brands. Some of our recent research confirms that 6 in 10 consumers feel brands are currently falling short of their expectations. Combine that with the fact that more than half of the world’s population is using the internet, makes digital marketing platforms that deliver personalization become essential. This fact is one of the things that drew me to Sitecore—what we make is extremely useful. Brands need to interact with their customers online in a relevant way and deliver value quickly. That’s the personalized experience our platform offers."
On the topic of intelligent analytics, what is your take on the increased need for customer experience insights to be available in real-time?
"Intelligent analytics, applied in real-time, enable brands using our platform to provide their customers with rich, relevant, fruitful interaction that results in a far better experience and keeps them coming back."
What are your predictions in terms of innovations or trends we will see in the near future?
"IoT is driving adoption of wearable technology and more connected homes; virtual and augmented reality is big; basically, a proliferation of form factors will drive new scenarios and mechanisms for consuming content and tracking behavior outside of traditional web channels. Plus, machine learning and artificial intelligence will be making marketers’ jobs a lot easier now and in the future."
Sitecore Moving Forward
Mark's predecessor Michael Seifert captioned it well when he said "His experience and passion for solving customer problems while driving category and product leadership directly aligns with the company´s culture and my vision for Sitecore’s future.”
Being known as one of the earliest vendors to focus on the customer journey, Sitecore's laser-focus on not only meeting their customer's needs but, exceeding their expecations on the experience that is even possible, has definitely been put in the right hands with Mark Frost, who is poised to continue the momentum of explosive growth Sitecore has experienced thus far.
Laura Myers
A digital business, marketing and social media enthusiast, Laura thrives on asking unique, insightful questions to ignite conversation. At an event or remotely, she enjoys any opportunity to connect with like-minded people in the industry.