Paula Parkes, Group Vice President of Marketing for Asia Pacific at ServiceNow, speaks with The Ortus Club about transforming marketing into a high-octane revenue engine and the critical need for reskilling at the speed of AI. She also shared why high-level executive dialogue is the key to unlocking “mind share” in a digital-first world.
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Executive Summary: Key Takeaways
- The Conversion Quality Mission: Success is measured by “inching every cent of investment closer to revenue” through high-quality conversion.
- Reskilling at the Edge: The greatest challenge for leaders is the pace of empowering teams with AI. AI won’t replace marketers, but marketers who use AI will replace those who don’t.
- Bridging the Expectation Gap: Successful campaigns leverage deep research to find hidden complexities in customer service, such as disjointed systems that limit agent productivity.
- The “One Core Goal” Alignment: Cross-functional teams are supercharged when united under a single vision. They are becoming the defining enterprise software company of the 21st century.
- The Global Mindset: High-level leadership can be performed from any corner of the world. Success depends on optimising for time zones and leaning into personal productivity rhythms.
Paula Parkes has built a career at the intersection of marketing, technology, and sales. As the Group Vice President of Marketing for APAC at ServiceNow, she manages a diverse and rapidly evolving landscape. For Parkes, the role is about the imagination required to connect the dots across cultures and teams. She argues that the CMO’s true role is to own the market by winning “mind share” through bold, purpose-driven leadership.
What sparked your interest in the intersection of marketing and technology?
Paula Parkes reflects on her journey and how a passion for relationship-building led her to lead marketing across the diverse APAC region.
“I’m a curious learner, and I cultivated an early passion for the intersection of marketing, technology, and sales. I wake up every single day loving what I get to do. I love connecting dots and cultivating relationships across teams and cultures.
Being in Asia Pacific is an outstanding opportunity. Currently, my main focus at ServiceNow is on conversion quality. What does that mean? It’s really about inching every cent of investment closer to revenue. My mission is to ensure marketing earns absolute respect as a revenue partner, especially with AI giving us a front-row seat to deliver impact like never before.”
How did a multi-year campaign reach 783 million people across APAC?
Parkes highlights a customer experience campaign that transformed survey insights into millions of dollars in pipeline by addressing real-world service frustrations.
“We launched a customer experience campaign that was recently nominated for several industry awards. We surveyed thousands of customers and agents right across the Asia Pacific to understand the impact of AI and delivered country-level insights across the region.
We looked at the ‘hidden complexities’ sabotaging service. We found that disjointed systems limit agents to active issue-solving for less than one day a week. By addressing this gap, the campaign delivered long-running relevance over four years. It resulted in a media reach of around 783 million people and generated millions in the pipeline. I’m super proud of the cross-functional team that labored to raise the bar every single year.”
Why is reskilling the biggest challenge for the modern marketer?
While AI is a powerful tool, Parkes believes the real challenge is the speed at which leaders can empower their teams to innovate with it.
“The biggest challenge is harnessing the pace of change to unlock business impact. The thing that keeps me awake at night is the pace of reskilling and empowering marketing teams with AI. AI is not going to replace your job, but someone who knows how to use it better than you will.
We need to maintain a future-forward mindset to bring our teams along on this journey. Ultimately, it’s about supercharging human productivity and taking out some of that ‘soul-crushing’ work. We recently ran an AI maturity index and found that visionary leaders are four times more likely to have AI connected to workflows across functions, with 83% reporting revenue growth tied to AI.”
How does ServiceNow maintain a competitive edge in enterprise software?
Parkes credits the company’s success to bold leadership and a storytelling culture that fosters “consumer exponential thinking.”
“We’ve got some of the best bosses in the business, from our CEO, Bill McDermott, who united 24,000 employees on a single goal, to our CMO, Colin Fleming. Colin is a storyteller at heart with 20 marketing beliefs that are absolutely spot on.
Best leaders cultivate the best talent. In modern times, what helps brands win is imagination. As marketers, creativity is core to our DNA. The real opportunity is leveraging the power of tech to augment humanity in a way that is super, super meaningful. We live in an age where things that used to take hours are now done in a snap, and that’s amazing.”
What is the future of the CMO in a personalised, AI-driven world?
Parkes believes the future belongs to those who use data to ground personalisation in the moments that actually matter to the customer.
“The future looks as bright and bold as ever. Psychology and AI are a powerful combination that will keep us on our toes. Expect messaging personalisation to be grounded in real-need data.
If I had to describe the role of a CMO in one word, it’s ‘Market.’ All roads lead to market share through mind share. It’s about owning the airwaves and ultimately: revenue, revenue, revenue. While I haven’t found a piece of traditional leadership advice that doesn’t still apply, the application of that advice today must be far more agile and technology-integrated.”
What is your advice for leaders building a global career?
Parkes shares how moving countries with a five-month-old proved that talent can lead globally from any corner of the world.
“I long envisaged living my best life. A global role beside the beach. I moved countries and companies, all with a five-month-old baby. Being brave ultimately changed how I got to work and how I got to live.
It proved to me that you can do a truly global role from any corner of the world. You can meet talent where talent is. I’ve optimised for time zones and leaned into my own circadian rhythms for enhanced productivity. My advice? Be brave. Lean into the lifestyle that allows you to be your most creative and engaged self.”
Join the Conversation: The Ortus Club’s Executive Network
Paula Parkes’ mission to turn marketing into a revenue partner resonates with every leader in the APAC region. Staying ahead requires the kind of high-level executive dialogue that Paula describes.
Our executive roundtables provide the cross-functional, pan-regional networking that Paula identifies as crucial for “connecting the dots.” By joining our network, you gain access to the same kinds of peer-level insights that are shaping AI maturity and revenue growth across global organisations.
FAQs
Q: What is conversion quality in B2B marketing?
A: It is a strategy focused on ensuring that every marketing dollar spent is directly traceable to revenue impact, prioritising high-value leads over sheer volume.
Q: How does ServiceNow view the impact of AI on jobs?
A: ServiceNow leaders emphasise that AI is a tool to take out “soul-crushing work” and supercharge productivity, rather than a replacement for human talent.
Q: Why is imagination important in tech marketing?
A: Imagination allows marketers to see the possibility in technology, moving beyond manual tasks to create meaningful, augmented experiences for customers.
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