Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Elma Bašić
Evgeniya Chernetskaya is overseeing Marketing Operations Organization in 24 Countries of Central Eastern Europe and Central Asia. She is developing and driving all-up marketing strategies to promote Microsoft technologies enabling business of Microsoft Customers and Partners through innovations and Digital Transformation. Evgeniya is motivated with an opportunity to deal with newest technologies.
At the next Golden Drum Festival that will take place in Portorož on 17 – 18 of October, Evgeniya will talk about “Why and how creativity eats strategy for breakfast?”. It is going to be about why, how and who exactly would lead the change.
MM: You lead a multi-country team of marketers. How challenging is it to create a single communications strategy for all of them and how do you deal with these challenges?
Evgeniya Chernetskaya: Actually, real challenge is to create customized communication strategy which would resonate in different markets. We cannot expect targeted audience in Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Slovenia & Estonia, for example, to have similar triggers, resonating events & messages. Moreover, geo-political & business landscape in the region is not the same & sometimes challenging, thus we are looking into specific Segments, Industries, Customers when landing marketing strategies – basically playing with targeting & being creative Beside that, we have team of marketers in our biggest countries who are landing marketing strategies & communication plans – they surely have a much better sense of their countries, people, values and adjust messages or even engines.
So, no silver bullet especially these days when world is changing so fast.
MM: The impact of the IT industry on other industries is unquestionable. You see it leading the transformation and change. Into which direction do you envision it taking the business world of today? Is there hope that different industries will eventually become a part of the solution to the problems our world is facing?
Evgeniya Chernetskaya: Oh, I`m truly counting on this Jokes aside, every company is becoming an IT company no matter which industry its core business comes from. Competition, markets changes, global trends, societal matters & needs can be now enabled only by advanced technologies, therefore business transformation is inevitable.
By the way, I don`t perceive these changes as something extraordinary. Humanity has been facing a bunch of major changes – this time, they are driven & enabled by new technological capabilities, so it’s another natural curve of our existence.
Microsoft is investing tremendously into so-called AI for Good & democratizing IT to make it more accessible – Artificial Intelligence (AI) will transform industries, make us more productive, and help solve society’s biggest challenges, lead to important advances in education, healthcare, transportation, agriculture and many other areas. For example, in health care, AI systems are already helping people tackle big problems. A good example is Project Inner Eye, a project in which U.K.- based researchers at Microsoft have teamed up with oncologists to develop an AI system to help treat cancer more effectively. As another example, AI can reduce hospital readmission, enhance the quality of care for managing chronic disorders, and keep hospitals safe and efficient. An Institute of Medicine study released in May 2016 estimated that preventable errors in hospitals are the third leading cause of death in the US, trailing only heart disease and cancer. The number of deaths is estimated to exceed 250,000 patients per year. AI systems can be developed to catch errors by recognizing anomalies in best clinical practices, saving thousands of patients per year.
AI can also enable us to better address environmental concerns. Microsoft launched AI for Earth in London in June 2017—a new initiative dedicated to sustainability challenges, including agriculture, water, biodiversity, and climate change.
With the world’s population expected to grow nearly 2.5 billion people over the next quarter century, AI offers significant opportunities to increase food production by improving agricultural yield and reducing waste.
In precision farming, sensors are used to provide real time measurements such as moisture & soil conditions, which are then analyzed to help provide farmers with recommendations on how to maximize their yields.
Another area where AI has the potential to have a significant positive impact is in serving more than one million people in the world with disabilities. One example is this Microsoft Offering called “Seeing AI”.
I think that this could be the next trend for socially responsible companies – investments into solving global problems by means of technologies. And if not – it is greenfield for new business opportunities. All in all, its all about desire & intention to change something for good – we now have a lot means to make it work.
MM: In global terms, this industry is still a Mad Man industry. Gender equality is a burning issue. You are very active in promoting women’s leadership in driving economic growth principles. What is the situation with gender equality in the markets you cover? Please give us an example of an impact you personally made to improve the position of female leaders in this industry.
Evgeniya Chernetskaya: We are blessed to live in the time & part of the world where women are equal and I feel even more blessed to work for the company which treats diversity with so much attention – it is one of our core values.
I’m not deep into general statistics on this matter but have a feeling that in most countries I’m working with – the pace is positive. In Ukraine, for example, almost half of new Cabinet of Ministers are women; Microsoft is close to 50%/50% – we have women leading technical units, big markets, CEOs, VP, etc.
I’m personally standing more for equality as such, not just gender equality. Being Ukrainian, I feel certain attitude in Western World sometimes. From time to time, u can hear people giggling when they see gay couples or people wearing funky clothes or hair styles, not a lot of companies propose even conditions for people with disabilities, etc, etc.
For me personally, equality means a lot and I try to contribute as much as I can by my own example, supporting various organizations promoting women entrepreneurship, women in Tech, but, as I said, it goes far beyond only gender equality.