Vanderbilt Together: In the Fast Lane with Ross Wilks

Can you tell us a little bit about your role at Vanderbilt?

I am the Product Marketing Manager for Vanderbilt, and my main responsibilities include leading product launch activities and developing sales enablement tools. I work closely with all three Vanderbilt product lines, and my number one priority is to ensure that we provide the best possible support for our customers throughout our product life cycles!

What do you enjoy most about the role?

I love the variation in my role. We have great, forward thinking Product Management and Marketing teams at Vanderbilt and we are constantly reviewing new technologies and innovative ways to enhance our products and position in the marketplace.

What challenges do you face in your role?

Looking after all three product lines from a marketing perspective is a challenge and with proactive Product Managers, it can mean busy roadmaps! Occasionally, I find myself juggling product launch planning and coordinating our internal creative team to ensure material is ready on time.

What has been your favorite project so far?

I am currently working on a campaign for SPC Connect, our innovative cloud management tool for SPC Intruder alarm systems, and have found the positioning, promotion, and incentives for cloud-based security systems interesting. SaaS is not something new but offers installers huge benefits for reoccurring revenue, and I like the way you present the benefits for this type of product. It is different to traditional physical security systems.

Can you tell us about a memorable activity or a notable project you have been involved in?

Coming out of a global engineering giant like Siemens and being given the opportunity to create a fresh, new corporate identity for Vanderbilt in Europe is something most marketers never get to experience. Although we are still on the journey, I am sure we will never forget the time spent as a team undergoing such an exciting task!

How do you see the industry changing over the next five years?

I think that market expectations are shifting towards systems that will offer simple architecture facilitating ease of quotation and low-cost commissioning – while market trends for physical, logical and intelligent automatic configuration is increasing. Bearing this in mind, I think the customer expectation is leaning towards one-time data entry (for users, permissions, configuration and system behavior) and this is something that we are embodying at Vanderbilt in our new product development strategies.

How do you like to spend your time on your days off?

Here I am behind the wheel of my dream Porsche. I am an avid fan of all things on four wheels and enjoy watching Formula One racing. I intend to one day fulfill my dream of driving a lap around the Silverstone Circuit.