14:31 With Steve Amedio
This month, we’re interviewing Steve Amedio, president and COO of Technekes. 14:31 is the time allotted and also a reference to our street address — 1431 W. Morehead Street.
How long have you been with Technekes and what brought you here? I joined in 2007, but had been consulting with Technekes for some time before that. One morning, Jack and Preston and I met at the old Caribou Coffee on East Boulevard and it was kind of a perfect storm. I was wearying of the extensive travel my previous job required, but was passionate about continuing my work with Technekes. Technekes was growing, but Jack and Preston were ready to have someone else help lead. They said they’d let me do what I needed to do expand the business, and I promised I would never create a business that they weren’t proud of. At that time, including me, there were 22 of us.
What is your primary responsibility at Technekes? I have two overarching responsibilities. I am committed to organizing, motivating and caring for the people of this organization. At the same time, I must ask them to continuously innovate, manage change and execute flawlessly to stay relevant for our clients.
What does Technekes do? We create demand.
What is one thing you’d want prospective clients to know about Technekes? When I meet with a prospect, I always ask the same question: Are you committed to growing your business? If so, Technekes can drive the process, and accelerate and amplify the results.
What is one thing you’d want current clients to know about Technekes? I don’t think all of clients understand the depth of our marketing technology expertise. Not all of them take advantage of the multiple technologies we can deploy to help them meet their sales and marketing objectives.
What is the biggest problem facing marketers today? Far and away, the biggest problem in our industry is the proliferation of technology solutions. There’s so much data. So many apps. So much technology. It’s hard for clients to put it all together. Sales and marketing leadership is being put at the center of software purchasing decisions, which used to reside with the IT function. That has been an abrupt evolution. And that’s a tough transition and far more technical decision making process for the modern marketer.
Where do you see Technekes five years from now? Interestingly enough, I don’t see things being hugely different. I honestly believe that we have all the necessary core capabilities in place and are well-positioned drive our continued success and the success of our clients.
If we had a billboard outside our headquarters’ building, what would you want it to say? I’d quote Henry David Thoreau: Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.
