What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned in your career?
Julia Paganelli : The importance of considering multicultural factors and listening to our customers and employees. Working in an international environment means understanding and respecting different cultures and perspectives. By taking those factors into account and being attentive, we can better respond to our customers’ needs, adapt our communication and marketing strategies, and improve our collaboration.
For example, limiting our materials to English could put us at a disadvantage, because some customers favor French. Preferences in terms of communications and media also vary. The same applies to the format of customer meetings: We prefer early mornings for some regions and evenings for others. In the United States, organizing an event in mid-August is perfectly feasible, but in France it would be unthinkable.
In short, what works in one country may not in another. Adapting our strategies to local conditions is essential if we’re to succeed internationally.
Can you tell us about your role in the team?
Julia Paganelli : As Deputy Head of Marketing Ops, I’m responsible for the field marketing team. My role is to oversee and coordinate field marketing initiatives, including the planning and execution of events and campaigns, the production of customer communications, and the implementation of localized marketing strategies. For example, an open banking campaign will be adapted according to the region: In Europe, it will probably focus on PSD3, while in West Africa, it may address open finance uses and opportunities.
What are the challenges of your work?
Julia Paganelli : The challenges of my work for SBS are many and interconnected. I work closely with the sales teams to support their actions by providing the necessary tools and resources, while ensuring effective and consistent execution of our marketing strategies. This includes generating leads to support the company’s growth objectives and developing targeted campaigns, using analytical tools to measure and optimize our performance.
I also ensure our marketing approach takes the cultural and regional specificities of our target markets into account. In a constantly changing environment, it’s crucial to remain flexible and adapt our strategies to new trends, technological innovations, and customer expectations. At the same time, I make sure we maintain and strengthen the visibility of our brand through consistent communication actions, major events, and proactive management of our online presence and social networks.
You’re currently working on SBS Summit 2024. What can you tell us about the organization of this fourth edition?
Julia Paganelli : The SBS Summit will take place from October 8th to 10th in Paris. We’re currently working on the program details, communication with guests (customers, prospects, and partners), participant registrations, and logistical aspects, helping ensure the success of this major event. We’re expecting 500 participants over three days, with over 30 international speakers, an SBS & partners village, and a gala evening!
What’s the main new feature of SBS Summit 2024?
Julia Paganelli : For 2024, we’ve decided to organize everything face-to-face in a single venue, unlike previous years when the event was spread out over different locations, with digital and physical sessions. This should make the program easier to understand and enhance the guest experience.
The opening ceremony, sessions, workshops, and village will be in the same place. Only the gala will be held somewhere else – a prestigious space in the heart of Paris, exclusively for the occasion.
What excites you most about this event?
Julia Paganelli : What I’m looking forward to most about the forthcoming SBS Summit is the opportunity to meet customers in a unique and convivial setting. It’s a time of year when we can really connect with them, and a chance for them to meet each other, by bringing them together in an exceptional venue. It’s also an opportunity to offer customers a conference program packed with valuable content and put them in touch with our renowned experts and partners such as AWS and IBM, plus a number of innovative start-ups. SBS is at the heart of a cutting-edge ecosystem – our goal is to showcase that at the SBS Summit.
I particularly like the idea of creating memorable and informal experiences, away from formal office meetings. It’s a chance to forge lasting links and have enriching exchanges, like visiting a museum. These memorable moments remain etched in the memory and strengthen relationships over the long term.
Speaking of cultivating lasting relationships with customers, can you share a memorable anecdote?
Julia Paganelli : Over the last 15 years, I’ve been lucky enough to travel to various events, including pre-sales, but I’m thinking of something memorable that happened in France in 2010, close to where I live. At an evening event organized for Core Amplitude clients at a château in Tours, snowflakes started to fall. They were amazed as a sheet of white gradually covered the castle and took photos, many seeing snow for the first time. However, the buses had great difficulty setting off again in the weather, and we almost got stuck there until the next day. Now, 14 years later, those customers still remember the snow, but not the transport problems!
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