Yext's own Duane Forrester (VP of Industry Insights) spoke at ONWARD 17 about how important structured data (schema markup, in particular) is to organizations today — and how it's become increasingly necessary for companies to have someone dedicated to maintaining digital knowledge. "Structured data needs you," stressed Forrester to businesses of every size and industry. He explained that companies first need to take the time to input the truth about their brand in order to see the results they want.
Forrester went on to describe the five key elements to being a successful Digital Knowledge Manager. This person must be a:
master investigator
master negotiator
master communicator
master thinker
master builder
He then brought T-Mobile's Glenn May (Senior Category Manager, Local Marketing) on stage to talk about his own experience as a Digital Knowledge Manager. "We're in an agile environment," said May, who went on to stress the importance for businesses to make sure their data is accurate, centrally managed, and properly shared across their whole organization. "Don't fear failing!" he advised.
May then spoke about the constant challenge of, "trying to uncover the source of truth, trying to uncover inefficiencies, how to make it work, and how to make it better." He also illustrated the problem-solving skills that come with the role — "iteration, iteration, iteration!"
Concluding with some words that struck central to core themes at ONWARD, May said to the crowd, "let's roll up our sleeves and get to work!"
