Company: CSG System's Quaero, Charlotte, NC
Entry Submitted By: Emerge PR
Company Description: Quaero, a CSG solution, uses customer intelligence to help clients shift from traditional campaign-driven marketing to real-time, multichannel customer interaction. Quaero experts blend strategy and analytics with performance management and technology to establish dialogues that improve the customer experience while increasing overall customer value.
Nomination Category: Marketing Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Marketing Executive of the Year

Nomination Title: Naras Eechambadi, Founder, CSG System's Quaero

Tell the story about what this nominee achieved since January 1 2008 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

For Naras Eechambadi, founder of Quaero, a marketing solutions provider and CSG
solution, 2008 was a banner year. Eechambadi founded Quaero in 1999 with the
goal of helping companies develop and implement effective marketing strategies.
The company grew and attracted clients in the financial services,
pharmaceutical/healthcare, media/publishing, travel/hospitality, consumer and
high tech industries. As his company expanded, Eechambadi grew into a marketing
performance industry expert focused on advancing the customer experience
management (CEM) message. This past year, Eechambadi continued his dedication
to promoting CEM through his frequent thought leadership activities and
speaking engagements.

This past summer Quaero was named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing
private companies in America for 2008. This marked the second consecutive year
Quaero was listed, demonstrating Eechambadi’s strong leadership skills. The
Inc. 5000 is comprised of entrepreneurs, like Eechambadi, growing successful
companies.

Quaero’s growth and success were noticed and in the winter of 2008, Eechambadi
and Quaero celebrated the company’s acquisition by CSG Systems International,
Inc., a leading provider of customer interaction management and billing
solutions. While many companies suffered due to the economy, Quaero signed an
impressive deal with CSG forming a complimentary partnership. Eechambadi now
leads CSG’s Quaero Solutions Group as the senior vice president and general
manager, driving the company’s customer intelligence offerings.

Eechambadi earned the respect of his peers as a valuable contributor to the
growth of marketing performance and CEM. Eechambadi spoke at the Peppers &
Rogers Group conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil and more recently at the B&OSS
conference on the topic of “Data Analytics in Telecom.” Eechambadi’s “Six
Dimensions of Marketing Performance,” proprietary framework as well as his
book, High-Performance Marketing: Bringing Method to the Madness of Marketing
made him a sought after expert in 2008. For example, CustomerThink, the world's
largest online community focused on Customer-centric Business Management (CBM),
named Eechambadi along with 15 other global thought leaders to its 2009
Editorial Board. The appointment came during a critical time as the down-turn
economy is driving companies to focus on retaining valuable customers and high-
performing employees. As a CustomerThink editorial board member, Eechambadi
touts the importance of customer experience through his contributed articles
which touch on a variety of relevant marketing topics.

Also in 2008, Customer Futures, an international network devoted to an improved
customer experience tapped Eechambadi to contribute to an international thought
leader report on customer experience in a recession. The 84-page document
featured contributions from marketing experts from around the world and was
made available to the public. Naras contributed a paper to the report entitled
The Way to Your Customer’s Heart is Through Your Employees, which emphasizes
the importance of employees in managing the customer experience.

Eechambadi has contributed more to the industry than just thought leadership
articles. His “Six Dimensions of Marketing Performance,” a blueprint for
marketing success, has played a key role in helping companies like Disney,
Johnson & Johnson, and ESPN accelerate their customer value and maximize the
ROI from their marketing programs in 2008 and beyond.

List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS149166+21-Aug-2008+MW20080821
http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2008/12/08/daily12.html?ana=from_rss
http://www.ibtimes.com/prnews/20081215/quaero.htm
http://www.customerthink.com/editorial_board
http://www.customerthink.com/blog/tough_times_creativity_reverse_targeting
http://quaero.csgsystems.com/insight/blog/author/8-naras_eechambadi_phd
http://www.customerthink.com/interview/marketing_analytics_beat_recession_blues

Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the nominee:

Naras Eechambadi PhD, the founder and senior vice president of Quaero, a CSG
Solution is a recognized marketing thought leader and innovator. Since founding
the company in 1999, he has helped a variety of companies, in various
industries improve the effectiveness of their marketing efforts and marketing
technology investments through use of Quaero’s proprietary “Six Dimensions of
Marketing Performance.” The success of this framework made Naras a sought after
speaker on marketing performance.

Eechambadi is the author of a highly regarded marketing metrics and measurement
book titled, “High-Performance Marketing: Bringing Method to the Madness of
Marketing.”