Martech Interview with Deanna Ballew, Senior Vice President of DXP Products, Acquia

As SVP of DXP Products, your job role involves leading cross-functional teams. Let us know how you built and mentored these teams to seek innovation in software development?

Innovation is the holy grail in the world of software. We know of the success stories of Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook; it is often talked about as unicorns that are magical – something that starts in someone’s garage or basement. However, we often confuse the concepts of invention and innovation; invention is something new to the world, while innovation is changing the way a person behaves. It not only takes something new, but the person needs to have a problem that is large enough that they want to change their behavior

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2. What obstacles did you encounter when pivoting your career to product management? How did you manage to overcome them?

No one understood the value of a product manager at the time I transitioned. Many project management tasks were expected of me, especially when it came to working within a scrum team. These tasks kept me from getting out in the market and in front of customers; it limited my ability to be strategic and form a vision. Nevertheless, I overcame these challenges by setting clear expectations with cross-functional teams.

3. What is the primary objective of Acquia Exchange, and how does it contribute to the digital experience landscape?

As the martech landscape is ever-evolving, Acquia Exchange enables our customers to easily detect what technologies they can adopt and integrate to enhance their digital experiences. There are thousands of vendors that customers can choose from with new technologies continuing to evolve. Digital experiences need to delight customers – being able to effortlessly compose and augment your digital experience platform (DXP) with any technology is key to quickly evolving a digital experience.

4. In what ways does Acquia Exchange focus on AI and product innovations, and why is this emphasis significant in the context of digital experiences?At Acquia, we don’t just deliver innovations through our DXP; we discover innovation by seamlessly fusing technologies together and packaging them up for ease of implementation and setup.Acquia Exchange showcases these innovations and provides our vast partner network a channel to bring their innovations to life for all our customers.

5. What piqued your interest in DAM (Digital Asset Management) and DXP (Digital Experience Platform)?

I’ve been in the martech space before martech was even defined – almost two decades. I have found it especially gratifying to see the rapidly evolving space and it evokes a personal eagerness for continuous learning. Marketers are early adopters of technology; they’re constantly searching for new ways to work, therefore I get the opportunity to explore new technologies and innovate with them