ImageSource Q&A with VP of Marketing Marni Carmichael

By ImageSource Team on September 14, 2021

What was your experience before joining ImageSource? 

Marni Carmichael - Vice President of Marketing
Marni Carmichael

One of my first jobs was with Scantron. I had no idea I was entering into a career in digital transformation at the time. From there, I worked at Kofax in Product Management and Sales. I was hands-on with the technology and learned to set up and configure tools versus solutions. It was a lot of pieces, any one of which could make or break an installation. One of my favorite things to this day is talking with an end-user with a paper problem. When I see a pile of paper, I see solutions and can’t wait to get those into practice. Most recently, I worked for Fujitsu in their scanner business. I learned to manage larger teams and the many routes to market that larger companies take. My main takeaway from my career (so far) is to connect with people. Your colleagues, customers, and partners will motivate you to get a job done well. All the best ideas and best next moves have come from collaboration. I’ve never gotten far on my own.  

What energizes you most about the state of the industry from a Marketing perspective?

We are telling accurate and relatable stories about the solutions we provide to end-users and organizations. Few solutions are precisely repeatable, but the impact of the results is achievable across customers and organizations. I’ve just started a project with an analyst who asked to interview customers. The interviews have been so refreshing. Our customer-partners benefit from our technology and managed services. They are invested in the solutions, the technology, and the teams we build with them. The outlets we have for delivering information – by podcast, success stories, one-on-one discussions, and virtual or in-person events – have simplified and unified messaging, and it’s more accurate and ultimately more helpful for organizations making technology decisions.

How have things evolved for women in technology since you began your career?

More women are participating and sharing their experiences freely and in real-time. Like every other industry, we need the representation of women talking about technical solutions and asking questions that reflect their abilities to contribute and problem solve. I spent many years working side by side with engineers without an engineering degree. I had to ask questions that might get laughed at or insist on seeing the problem or the product. My job ultimately was to make the team or product successful, so I had to push myself to understand how I could contribute. In a Scrum meeting, I’d often have a non-technical approach or idea to solve product problems. Even today, sharing my first-hand experience is the best I can do to contribute to a solution. 

Seeing other women participating would have shorted my path and ultimately accelerated the product or project’s success. I didn’t challenge limitations because I didn’t see anyone beyond them. Today I try to collaborate with anyone figuring out where they fit and if their ideas work, and push myself to be the best example I can be.

What is the most exciting thing about the future of Content Management?

I am excited about Data Utility and Analytics. Most organizations with a content management practice aren’t yet utilizing the data in the content for decision-making and predictive analysis. We know it is a huge differentiator, as seen in Financial Services when institutions proactively offer a refinance or a specific type of loan based on historical customer behavior. I believe we will be reaching out to constituents with services based on their interaction with a state or local agency in the past for an unrelated transaction. Workflows can be elevated from routing documents and securing them for compliance to decision making and interactions between departments and strategic planning for budgeting and ROI analysis.


Have questions for our VP of Marketing, Marni? You can email her. You can view his profile on LinkedIn.

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