The impact of COVID-19 is clear in a recent Research and Markets report projecting the size of the global cloud computing market will grow from USD 371.4 billion in 2020 to USD 832.1 billion by 2025. As digital transformation continues to mediate the impact of a global pandemic, enterprise-class storage-as-a-service is poised to disrupt the storage environment.
“The reality is that the whole world is moving to ‘as a service’,” said Jason Rose, global CMO for Pure Storage, an IT pioneer in storage-as-a-service (STaaS). “Most CEOs would be happy if their employees never set foot in a data center.”
A technology marketing executive with a long run of wins delivering innovative, global marketing programs, Rose joined ITWC president Fawn Annan in March 2021 for a fast-paced episode of CMO Talks, a podcast series presented by ITWC and IDC to address pressing marketing issues. Together, they explored how Pure Storage’s disruptive business model is changing the way storage is delivered in a multi-cloud world.
Rose credits his background in finance and CPA certification with helping him to excel at his job, but his animated approach and gift for metaphor are obviously contributing factors. During his 35-minute guest spot with Annan, Rose compares joining a new team to flying an airplane for the first time. He also describes those in pre-sales – a position he has held – as being the rock stars of the software industry. And in his vibrant discourse, the fine points of storage – things like block storage vs object storage – are likened to plumbing supplies.
Pride in Pure Storage’s approach to partner relationships surfaces in his account of the company’s mission to be 100% partner enabled and led as an organization. “Not only do we innovate in terms of the technology, but we also innovative in terms of our go to market,” he explained. “We will not do a deal without a partner. So, if you don’t have a partner, we’ll hook you up with one, but we’re not going to do the deal without one.”
He is similarly proud of Pure Storage’s recent Net Promoter Score (NPS) – the highest, he claims, of any infrastructure company. “Customer experience has a very high barrier to entry and is very hard to replicate,” he added. “I am super excited that’s one of Pure Storage’s core values and that we tie the entire company’s compensation to increasing the Net Promoter Score.”
In response to a question from Annan about where he is concentrating his internal collaborative efforts for creating the best customer experience, Rose said he is focused on ensuring that the customer experience doesn’t just end with a box dropped off on a loading dock. “We need to make sure that we look at the whole journey.”
For Rose, who describes his super power as product marketing, the modern data experience is often best communicated through inspiring stories, such as the one about Pure Storage’s server infrastructure enabling some of the people who were trying to develop COVID-19 vaccines more quickly. “We are seeing a huge acceleration of AI workload,” he said, “so you can actually do more computations, run more tests, and get better results.”
After explaining the importance of staying relevant in the business press, Rose moved on to some key takeaways for the episode, including a consideration of how best to measure marketing success. “Measuring marketing success just based on metrics is pretty myopic,” he said. “Keep the people piece in mind. If your CEO and your head of sales are happy, it probably means the metrics are in good shape.”
