Description:

Competing in a global world is a reality of the technology market today. The production of goods and services no longer recognizes political boundaries and corporate DNA is task-based, not geography-based. The "flat world" phenomenom used to be perceived as a threat, but it's now being embraced as an opportunity.

In this ITSMA Viewpoint, Malcolm Frank, senior vice president of marketing and strategy at Cognizant, shares five key lessons on how to achieve marketing success in the global marketplace:

• Employ "naked" marketing. In today's global world, spin no longer works. Customers, and even your employees, have unbelievably strong BS filters. If marketers don't understand this phenomenon, they risk being designated as corporate liars.
• Understand cultural differences: What's the Same? To be successful globally, you need a strategic intent and corporate culture that transcend national boundaries. Marketing's role in communicating the strategy and essence of the culture is invaluable.
• Understand the cultural differences: What's Different? Marketers need to pay attention to how people in different regions learn. Marketing is all about educating; if you can pique people's interest and educate them in a way that feels natural to them, people will be receptive.
• Internal marketing programs are vitally important! With global delivery, consultants may never see their clients, which creates some very strange situations from a management perspective. How do you close the gap between supply and demand in this circumstance? Internal marketing programs.
• Be "atomically" global. You have to globalize at the smallest level of activity so that the work takes place seamlessly across the globe with the best person for each task doing each task, regardless of his or her physical location.