Bala Desikamani, VP of Global Marketing Operations & Strategy at Temenos, shares his journey from web marketing to leading global roles in high-growth B2B SaaS firms. He discusses building scalable GTM strategies, balancing brand and demand, accelerating pipeline, leveraging AI, and aligning revenue functions to transform marketing into a powerful growth engine.
Let’s begin with your professional background. Can you share your evolution as a marketing leader?
I am essentially a storyteller marketer who grew to become a GTM operations specialist. Over the past 20 years, my work has consistently sat at the nexus of marketing, technology, and growth strategy enabled through data-driven decisions. I began in web marketing and played a number of general marketing roles, but my path eventually led me to drive operations and Go-To-Market in all types of business scenarios – Enterprise, and most recently, start-ups. Recently, in the last few years, I ran global marketing operations and revenue-focused roles at high-growth B2B SaaS firms. Along the way, I’ve led transformations that turned marketing into a growth engine—building scalable, data-informed systems, aligning go-to-market (GTM) strategies across regions, and partnering tightly with sales and customer success. My approach balances analytical rigor with brand narrative, engineering marketing to drive measurable impact without losing the human connection.
What are the foundational elements of successful global GTM strategy execution?
I anchor GTM success on three pillars: audience precision, buyer journey alignment, and a laser-focused conversion culture. First, we invest in deep persona intelligence and journey mapping to tailor messaging to buying behaviors. Second, we establish shared success metrics across marketing, sales, and customer success, reducing friction and increasing pipeline throughput. Third, we adapt execution to regional dynamics without compromising global cohesion. Agile experimentation frameworks let us pilot, learn, and scale efficiently across geographies.
How has marketing’s role evolved as alignment with other revenue functions has intensified?
Marketing has evolved from being a lead generator to becoming a multi-functional revenue catalyst. Today’s marketing leader is a growth architect, equal parts strategist, data analyst, and customer advocate. We’re accountable not just for awareness or leads, but for pipeline acceleration, lifecycle engagement, and revenue retention. Especially in the SaaS era, and now in the future in the AI era, hyper-personalization will get commoditized to a point that you can always market and sell to an audience of one.
“I anchor GTM success on three pillars: audience precision, buyer journey alignment, and a laser-focused conversion culture.”
How do you balance long-term brand investment with short-term demand generation?
I view marketing investment through a portfolio lens: brand is the long-duration asset; demand gen is the liquidity engine. My operational framework typically allocates 30% toward brand-building—covering thought leadership, strategic communications, and community building—and 70% toward programs with direct revenue correlation. Consistent alignment with finance and sales ensures that brand investments are protected during down cycles while maintaining pressure on quarterly performance with direct alignment to sales quota and conversion cycles.
In what ways are you deploying AI to improve marketing efficiency and outcomes?
AI has become an integral part of creative, data, content, and operational workflows. On the creative front, generative AI enables us to hyper-personalize at scale, tailoring campaigns down to microsegments and local markets. Operationally, we’re looking to leverage AI for predictive lead scoring, propensity modeling, multi-touch attribution, and budget reallocation optimization. I would, however, caution against relying completely on AI. I would use the analogy of a young adult learning to drive. It is not yet reliable enough to be given a full license and independent driving charge, but it is certainly at a point where you can give it a learner’s permit license and allow it to drive while you supervise it.
How do you manage consistency in global marketing while respecting local context?
I advocate a centralized strategy–decentralized execution model. The global team develops core narratives, positioning frameworks, and brand architecture. Regional teams are then equipped with playbooks, enablement kits, and flexible assets to localize execution. This “glocal” model is reinforced through governance KPIs, feedback loops, and cross-regional forums to share learnings and best practices, ensuring resonance without fragmentation. We foster close collaboration between global and regional leads through regular syncs, training sessions, and co-creation workshops to align intent with execution and continuously adapt to shifting market dynamics.
Which underappreciated KPIs do you believe offer high diagnostic value for marketing performance?
I focus on volume, velocity, and conversion rates. All marketing is a variation of one of these three types of metrics. Beyond the usual suspects of Volume, MQLs, and influenced pipeline, I prioritize:
- Pipeline Velocity: How quickly leads convert across the funnel.
- Win Rate by Campaign Source: Reveals not just volume but quality of demand.
- Engagement Depth: This indicates sales readiness, especially for mid-funnel content.
- Multi-Touch Attribution: Essential for understanding real influence versus last-touch bias.
What framework do you use to determine if a GTM model needs transformation?
That’s a good question. I have learned to use a 3-criteria framework.
- Signals: Lagging conversion rates, rising CAC, or pipeline stagnation indicate friction.
- Structure: Misalignment or broken buyer journey owing to tools and data.
- Strategy: Market signal loss—if your messaging or ICP no longer resonates.
If two or more layers show strain, it’s time for a reset. I then apply a Restart–Simplify–Scale model:
- Restart with clarified ICPs and buyer journeys.
- Simplify messaging, tech stack, and handoffs.
- Scale with aligned GTM motions and experimentation loops.
About Bala Desikamani
Bala Desikamani is a seasoned Go-To-Market (GTM) leader with extensive experience driving impactful revenue and pipeline growth. Known for transforming GTM strategies through data, innovation, and cross-functional alignment, he excels at scaling global programs with speed and efficiency. Bala is passionate about businesses upgrading & accelerating GTM models through an integrated approach, leveraging insights to craft impactful strategies, and delivering measurable business growth in the evolving B2B tech landscape.
