Cloud-based financials software and enterprise resource planning (ERP) specialist NetSuite announced that it has appointed Fred Studer, a global marketing executive as its chief marketing officer (CMO).
In this role, Studer will be charged with overseeing all of NetSuite’s worldwide marketing initiatives and driving awareness and adoption of NetSuite’s cloud-based business management software.
He joins NetSuite after seven years at Microsoft where he most recently led product marketing, go-to-market strategy and execution for Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
“My aim will be to maintain the NetSuite brand in the midmarket, while continuing to grow momentum in the enterprise and maintaining the trust NetSuite has earned from its enterprise customers, companies like Williams-Sonoma, GoPro, and Shaw Carpets,” Struder told eWeek. “I want to help continue to drive that growth. At the same time, I want to tell another kind of NetSuite customer story – the small to medium-size business that chose NetSuite for its adaptability, flexibility and scalability and which, over time, has rapidly grown and continues to grow its company with NetSuite.”
Prior to his leadership roles in Dynamics, Studer was general manager of the U.S. Microsoft Office business. He was responsible for the U.S. subsidiary revenue and P&L for Microsoft Office products.
Before joining Microsoft, Studer spent 12 years at Oracle and for the last several years there was the group vice president of marketing, where his organization was responsible for identifying market opportunities, creating marketing strategy, and generating awareness and demand for Oracle applications and industries solutions.
“I’ve been very lucky in the great companies I’ve had the pleasure of working with over the last 23 years – Oracle, Microsoft, and now NetSuite. Each organization has taught me different things,” he said. “From Oracle, I learned about putting the customer first and how to market products around the value that they deliver to the customer.”
Struder noted he also gained valuable experience around the inner workings of a very large enterprise both at Oracle and at Microsoft.
“Leading the Microsoft Office business in the US for four years, I learned a lot about the consumer side of business and how to sell packaged software, helping to launch Microsoft’s first cloud offering with Office 365,” he added. “Of course, then I spent a lot of time deeply involved with Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM products.”
Struder noted all marketers, including those in cloud-based business management software, are having to change and rethink their marketing methods in order to target a new kind of buyer.
“In order to market successfully to a new type of buyer, we as marketers need to have as much insight as possible into that buyer so that we can approach them in the right way, for instance with a product demo rather than a phone call, and with the information they require at the right time in the buying cycle,” he said. “The focus now is no longer on a selling cycle but acting as a selling concierge to help buyers make decisions and to validate decisions they’ve already made. At the same time, we want to encourage buyers to share their experiences with their peers.”