The Interview

Kluster's Take

Tom spoke with Ian Jenkins, VP, Global Sales Operations at Cognite. He explains his innovative approach to alignment.

Ian sees himself as a force multiplier inside the organisation. He explains that he’s dependent on other departments to be effective. Ian believes having good internal relationships is key. Through these relationships, you should always be improving productivity. This way, you’re able to scale and get more efficient in the way that you operate. 

Ian has worked in sales, operations, sales enablement and ran his own business. He has been able to get a strategic view of when things aren’t working and why that is. Ian has a series of tools that he uses to decide where the biggest bottlenecks are and make changes. His company has ambitious growth goals, they are looking for an edge to be as agile as possible. 

He has an incredible approach to alignment. This involves recreating the front-end of the business into pods. Marketing, Sales and Implementation reps work in a team, with a unique identity. They share the same goals and KPIs. This has improved Sales Velocity as well as their ability to pivot and respond. Resulting in a smooth buyer's journey.