Face to Face
Interviews

Getting up close and personal with influencers and finding out the ideas and strategies that shape-up their vision.

Umberto Milletti

Interviews

In-depth analysis of Industries and companies and how they manage complex and
demanding business environment.

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Umberto Milletti

In a digital world, the marketing function would want to derive revenue generation in greater precision than what it was earlier.

Umberto Milletti has been an innovator at the convergence of technology and content for nearly 20 years. In early 2005, Umberto founded InsideView and has since been leading our efforts to inform the entire enterprise.

In the mid-1990s, Umberto was a pioneer in e-learning as a co-founder of DigitalThink, where he designed and built one of the first multi-tenant software-as-a-service platforms to deliver and track learning for millions of participants. As an executive, Umberto helped lead the company to a successful IPO, revenues of $60 million, and its acquisition by Convergys in 2004.

Umberto holds a BS in electrical engineering from Tufts University and an MS in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Questions & Answers

  • Q:Please tell us a bit about InsideView, the company’s philosophy and how is it different from the professional networking platforms of the world?

    InsideView provides market intelligence to B2B companies to help them focus on revenue generation. In process, customers gain a better understanding of targeted companies (whether the right prospect or not) and key human resources within these companies (the right people to engage with). Business Intelligence is integrated with the Sales & Marketing processes, leading to increased effectiveness.

    InsideView is a 12-year old company headquartered in San Francisco. Outside of the US, they have operations in London & Hyderabad.

  • Q:You have said, “InsideView’s data is living and breathing.” Could you please elaborate, and how do you ensure it stays that way?

    It’s a dynamic world out there and data changes all the time - of people, their roles & responsibilities and other related aspects. The tech-based solution uses algorithms to analyse tens and thousands of dynamic data points (available in the public domain). And it does so on a real-time basis.

  • Q:Please share your thoughts on Triangulation Technology.

    Data about people, companies (or any other) may have multiple occurrences / references in the public domain. And when they do, the data needs to be validated. Triangulation Technology is used in the validation process to give assurance if it’s the same entity is being referred to or not.

  • Q:What would be your typical customer profile? What kind of expectations do they have from you, and how would you say the future is likely to be?

    The customer base is predominantly B2B segment and spans across verticals. The significant verticals are: Financial Services, Technology, Consulting & Business Services. Customers expect to target the right prospects in an effective manner, and maximising on revenue in process.

    In the next 12 – 18 months and increasingly so, these expectations will only accelerate to include a far more prescriptive approach to obtain specific recipes for success and close the loop. Customization is the order of the day. With an eye for the future, InsideView has invested heavily on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technologies.

  • Q:Customer Buying Pattern. How has it changed?

    The shift is palpable. There has been a far greater focus of tech adoption. Besides the obvious sales function, marketing has seen very high adoptions as well. The movement has been rapid. Usually the engagements have been with CEOs, CMOs and Head of Sales & Operations.

  • Q:4Ps and 5 Cs of Marketing – How has it changed in the digital space?

    In a digital world, the marketing function would want to derive revenue generation in greater precision than what it was earlier, and go beyond branding & traditional marketing activities.

    4 Ps – Product, Price, Place & Promotion (has been impacted the most in digital)

    5 Cs – Company, Customer, Competition, Collaboration & Context (has been impacted the most in digital)

  • Q:He referred to a book they have come up with – “Aligned To Achieve”. The alignment must also take into consideration the CEOs role, cultural aspects, measurement matrices, including process enablers. All this will have to integrate with Sales & Marketing, to render a wholesome picture.

    He referred to a book they have come up with – “Aligned To Achieve”. The alignment must also take into consideration the CEOs role, cultural aspects, measurement matrices, including process enablers. All this will have to integrate with Sales & Marketing, to render a wholesome picture.

  • Q:What kind of people work for InsideView to develop these solutions?

    The focus is on hiring people with certain traits. Skills can be developed later on. Traits such as: willingness to learn, dynamic thinking, collaborative approach, transparency. Hyderabad has about 180 people. The global workforce is approx 300.