In this exclusive interview, Jessica Pantages, Vice President of Corporate Marketing at Egnyte, shares how modern marketing has evolved from a creative support function into a revenue-driving business system and why governed AI, operational velocity, and strategic storytelling are critical to building trust, aligning GTM teams, and scaling sustainable growth in today’s digital-first B2B environment.
What has been the single most important leap in marketing’s role as it transformed from a cost center to a primary driver of revenue and business growth?
From my perspective, the single most important leap was the fundamental shift in mindsets, moving Marketing from a ‘Creative Service’ to ‘Revenue Infrastructure.’
For decades, marketing was viewed as a cost center because it was viewed as the ‘arts and crafts’ department—responsible for making things look good or generating vague ‘awareness.’ The transition to marketing as a revenue driver happened when we stopped viewing content as a disposable output and started treating it as a business asset.
We recognized that in today’s digital-first world, content is the only way a customer experiences the product before buying it. Therefore, the team that controls the narrative drives the pipeline.
Specifically, this transformation relies on three areas:
- From Broadcasting to Enabling: We stopped just ‘shouting’ at the market and started building the systems that equip sales teams to win.
- From Chaos to Governance: We recognized that you cannot scale revenue on shaky ground—content must be solid and factual. By implementing processes and managing the internal risks involved with content creation, we turned our content from a compliance risk into a trust accelerator for our potential and current customers.
- From ‘Renting’ to ‘Owning’: Instead of relying solely on third-party media channels and partnerships, we built owned publishing engines that allow us to control the story, the timing, and the data.
When marketing became accountable not just for ‘likes’ but for the integrity and velocity of information moving through the organization, we stopped spending money and started generating trust, which is the ultimate currency of revenue.
In which areas do you see AI shaping and transforming the marketing landscape overall?
I see AI shaping the marketing landscape in three critical areas: Content Intelligence, Democratized Automation, and Trust Architecture.
First, we are moving past simple ‘content generation’ into Content Intelligence. It’s no longer just about asking AI to write a blog post; it’s about using AI to instantly mine years of historical assets—videos, webinars, PDFs—to find the exact clip or insight you need in seconds.
Second, we are seeing Democratized Automation. AI is empowering non-technical marketers to build their own workflows. Instead of waiting for IT, a field marketer can now spin up a specialized ‘agent’ to research competitors or draft an RFP response, exponentially speeding up their time-to-market.
And finally, Trust Architecture, an area where Egnyte is leading the charge.
We are solving the biggest barrier to AI adoption: Safety. Most C-Suite members are concerned that using AI will leak proprietary data or produce ‘hallucinations.’
We built our Egnyte AI Intelligence to allow teams to ‘chat’ with private company data (summarizing documents, transcribing video, or finding assets) without that data ever leaving our secure governance boundary. We recently launched the AI Agent Builder, a no-code tool that lets our marketing team build their own custom agents—like a ‘Content Generator’ or ‘Web Search Agent’—to automate repetitive research and writing tasks safely.
In short, our teams are proving that governance doesn’t slow AI down-it’s the only way to safely turn it on. And this is proving critical for executives and CMOs.
As a marketing leader, how do you decide which marketing channels deserve the greatest share of the budget?
I don’t decide based on trends or the lowest cost-per-lead. In our B2B environment, the ‘spray and pray’ approach is dead. I allocate budget based on Revenue Influence and Asset Lineage, using strict criteria:
- Vertical Specificity (The ‘Right’ Room):
We don’t try to be everywhere for everyone. We invest heavily in channels that allow us to demonstrate deep, industry-specific value. For example, we prioritize budget for specialized verticals like our AEC initiatives or for our Financial Services Summit. I would rather spend more to be in a smaller room of qualified C-suite decision-makers than spend less for a broad, unqualified reach.
- Owned vs. Rented Land:
I prioritize channels where we control the experience. We skew our budget toward ‘Owned’ events—like the Egnyte Global Summit—rather than just renting temporary attention on third-party platforms. When you invest in your own summits and community, you aren’t just buying impressions; you are building an asset that appreciates over time.
- Sales Utility:
Finally, I look at the downstream impact. Does the channel produce assets that our sales team uses? We fund the channels that drive the creation of high-quality collateral and presentation decks that help close deals. If we spend money on a channel that generates ‘buzz’ but gives Sales nothing to use in a meeting, it’s a vanity metric. We fund what bridges the gap to revenue.
“When marketing became accountable for the integrity and velocity of information—not just likes—we stopped spending money and started generating trust.”
In a data-driven world, how has storytelling become the critical lever for change, whether that’s changing a customer’s mind, a market’s perception, or an employee’s behavior?
In my experience, data provides the evidence, but storytelling provides the urgency.
We live in a world where everyone has access to the same data; the competitive advantage lies in who can translate that data into a compelling vision for change. I have seen this clearly when navigating high-stakes uncertainty. For example, when managing the communications plan for our private equity acquisition, the financial data was just the baseline. The real work was the narrative. We had to craft a story that translated a complex transaction into a message of stability and opportunity for employees and customers alike. The positivity coming from investors, employees, reporters, and customers proves that a clear story is the only way to manage high-stakes change.
Storytelling is also the primary lever for elevating market perception. Data alone doesn’t get you into Forbes or Fast Company. By wrapping our technical metrics in a broader industry narrative, we drove strong executive visibility and a massive 40.2% follower growth for leadership. We shifted from talking about features to telling a story about market authority.
Finally, narrative is what drives actual business results. You can’t achieve your attendance goals for a Global Summit just by listing agenda items. You get those numbers by telling a story that resonates with the specific pain points of that customer, turning a standard event into a ‘must-attend’ industry moment. Ultimately, data validates the decision, but storytelling triggers it.
How do you ensure insights from customer data actually translate into better campaigns and experiences?
I believe the gap between ‘insight’ and ‘action’ is usually a speed problem, not a data problem.
We don’t just sit on customer data; we use AI-driven agility to turn it into immediate campaign adjustments. When we see a signal—whether it’s a shift in topic interest from a specific vertical or a drop in engagement on a channel—we don’t wait for a quarterly review. We pivot.
Here is my framework for translating insights into better experiences:
- Radical Efficiency: By implementing a significant AI program across marketing, we have removed the operational friction that usually slows down response times. This allows us to take a data insight and spin up a new asset or campaign variation in hours, not weeks.
- Vertical Precision: We don’t treat data generically. If the data shows our Financial Services audience is struggling with a specific compliance pain point, we immediately tailor our narrative to that reality. This approach helped us drive a 107% year-over-year increase in attendance for our Financial Services Summit because the content spoke directly to what the data told us the audience needed.
- Feedback Loops: We ensure that the ‘story’ isn’t just broadcast out but validated by what comes back. If a campaign isn’t driving the ‘measurable business impact’ we expect, we kill it fast. We only scale what the data proves is working.
Ultimately, data tells us what is happening, but our ability to execute quickly is what ensures the customer feels the difference.
In an age of real-time behavior, how do you move customer segmentation and journey mapping from a static, planning exercise to a dynamic, always-on system?
The shift from ‘static’ to ‘dynamic’ isn’t a strategy problem; it’s a latency problem. Traditional segmentation fails because by the time you build the persona deck, the customer has already moved on. To build an ‘always-on’ system, you must eliminate the lag between signal and content delivery. This is how we made that shift:
- AI as the Velocity Engine:
Dynamic segmentation is impossible if your content supply chain is slow. You cannot serve unique journeys to five different personas if it takes you weeks to write one email. By implementing an AI content generation program across marketing, we gained the major efficiencies needed to match the speed of our customers. This allowed us to produce the volume of variations required for real-time personalization.
- Operationalizing the ‘Content Factory’:
We moved away from ad-hoc creation to a structured manufacturing model. We established an entirely new Content Department that improved our written output by over 99%. This surge in capacity means we aren’t just planning for different segments; we have the assets ready to deploy the moment a user shows intent.
- Vertical-Specific Triggers:
We stopped treating ‘customers’ as a monolith. We look for specific behavioral signals within key verticals. This is how we achieved a 107% year-over-year increase in attendance for our Financial Services Summit. We didn’t use a static list; we dynamically targeted users who were engaging with financial compliance topics and served them relevant, high-value programming immediately.
What would be your advice for up-and-coming marketers on cultivating the right skill sets?
My advice is to stop thinking of yourself as just a ‘creative’ or a ‘specialist’ and start thinking of yourself as a business operator driving growth. The marketers who rise to the top aren’t necessarily the ones with the flashiest ideas; they are the ones with the best endurance and adaptability.
First, cultivate Operational Agility. The industry is volatile, and budgets will fluctuate. You need to learn how to pivot immediately without losing momentum. When resources are tight, the most valuable skill is the ability to manufacture your own efficiency. Whether it’s mastering AI tools or restructuring workflows, you must learn how to deliver exceptional performance regardless of the constraints placed on you.
Next, develop Cross-Functional Fearlessness. Don’t stay in your silo. The most indispensable team members are those willing to step into the void to solve business problems, even if it falls outside their job description. Whether it’s jumping in to help execute a major event or managing high-stakes communications late at night, your value is defined by your willingness to bridge gaps across the organization.
Finally, cultivate Relational EQ. Technology changes, but people don’t. When friction occurs, you need the maturity to handle it through direct, private conversation rather than public debate. Deepening organizational trust is what allows you to move fast when it matters most; you can’t execute at speed if your relationships are slowing you down.
About Jessica Pantages
Jessica Pantages is an award-winning marketing and communications leader with over 20 years of experience transforming global organizations through strategic storytelling, brand leadership, and GTM alignment. Known for rebuilding high-performing teams and guiding companies through acquisitions and change, she brings deep expertise across enterprise marketing, communications, and organizational transformation. Her work has been recognized by Ragan Communications, PR News, and Direct Marketing News, among other industry leaders.
