Corrina Jacobs is Capgemini’s UK Head of Salesforce Marketing Cloud and leads a team of 15 consultants within the company’s larger Salesforce practice.

Every day is exciting for Corrina as digital technologies are constantly evolving and transforming the way companies approach marketing. From retail to car manufacturing, and financial services, Salesforce has become a tool of choice for many marketers who are obsessed about improving their customers’ experience.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud is an intelligent marketing automation tool that can personalise outbound communications to customers using SMS, email, social channels and more. A powerful tool, Corrina has played a part in Capgemini’s use of it across industries from retail to car manufacturing and financial services.

Where Women Work caught up with Corrina to find out more about her role and her work life in general.

Embarking on a new career path with Capgemini

Corrina describes herself as quite new to IT, having joined the industry some years into her working life before making a career change.

“Originally in a sales and marketing role in the city, I was made redundant at 28, took a career break and then went to university. It was a huge decision as I was a single mother with three children at the time. It was hard work and financially difficult but the best decision I have made,” explains Corrina.

Following university, Corrina joined Capgemini. She initially applied for a graduate role but, due to her previous work experience, the company brought her in as an experienced hire.

“I’ve been at Capgemini for over 6 years now and changed roles a few times. The last three years I have been part of the overall Salesforce business unit, joining when there were only 14 team members, and now there are over 220,” says Corrina.

“I knew nothing about Salesforce but soon found out they had a marketing platform I could learn. This aligned brilliantly with my career background. I wanted to know everything I could and decided this would be my career.”

In the years that followed, Corrina has travelled around Europe helping further teams on projects to gain experience and she started to network within the Salesforce ecosystem. Following her return from maternity leave, Corrina built the Salesforce Marketing Cloud-specific team within Capgemini UK and they have a great reputation in the market, particularly in the retail sector.

Embracing a host of challenges, changes and opportunities

In Corrina’s view, the biggest challenge she encounters in her job is recruitment, as Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a niche skill to have, so it’s rare to find someone with the relevant a technical background or project experience.

“It’s such a growth area: customer experience is all-important, it now touches all forms of marketing, connecting data and customer journeys,” she explains. “Within Capgemini, I’ve built the team by bringing in people who are less qualified and accelerating their progress through dedicated training and coaching – in fact half the team are graduates or apprentices.”

Juggling the different elements of her workload can also be a challenge. Corrina always needs to ensure she provides adequate time and personal development to people in the team who need it, and ensure the team is delivering to deadlines.

“It’s getting easier as I’ve learnt to delegate, adapt and empower the team as it’s grown,” says Corrina. “I really enjoy the people development part of my role, there is nothing more rewarding than welcoming a new apprentice straight from school into the team, who is now able to hold a full conversation with client with confidence on technical detail. It’s brilliant to see individual development and progression.”

Managing the diary and making the most of every day

As the lead for Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Corrina needs to keep up to speed on latest trends in the customer experience space and understand areas like sales, commerce and marketing.

On a daily basis, Corrina is involved in pre-sales, bids for work, client presentations, delivery and budget planning. She enjoys managing the team delivering the projects and ensuring ensure they are on time, on budget and the client is happy.

“The biggest part of my work is people management: mentoring and coaching the team, ensuring they have the personal development, training and certifications they need, alongside recruiting new members into the team,” Corrina adds. “I also work closely with our resourcing manager to ensure the team are on projects and doing okay. I have a mix of clients across the UK.”

Working for a company with a supportive culture

Corrina really enjoys her role within Capgemini, and is keen share her positive experience with other women who might be looking to join the company.

“I have a good work-life balance, progression, the freedom to manage my diary and trust in what I do. No two days are the same, and every project is completely different. The work can be quite challenging, but the organisation is open to ideas, and embraces a spirit of entrepreneurship,” she says.

Corrina describes Capgemini’s culture as really friendly, open and pretty relaxed. It can be intense for short periods before project deadlines, but that is the nature of working for clients.

“If you believe in something and have evidence and a case to do something different, people will listen and are willing to support you to give it a go. I couldn’t do the job I do without such a supportive organisation: I’ve been on maternity leave twice since joining, had support around mentoring and mental health within my team – no one is on their own. I have five children, and couldn’t do a full-time job without a brilliant supportive organisation,” explains Corrina.

Sharing her career advice with other professional women

Corrina is keen to share useful words of wisdom with other career-focused women.

“It’s clichéd, but if you work hard and believe in something, you can make it happen. I’d also say to not be afraid of change. It was the best and biggest decision for me to do a degree at the age of 28 (with three children and as a single mum), otherwise I wouldn’t be here now. At the same time, I’ve seen the success of apprenticeships in working and learning on the job (in my team, and my son) and you don’t absolutely need to go to university nowadays – it’s a personal choice, there are more options and opportunities now.”

Just as important as pushing yourself at work, is to enjoy your home-life and pursue personal interests. For Corrina, her biggest passion is sport – she is a season ticket holder at West Ham and attends all their home football games, as well as visiting the Wimbledon tennis championship most years.

She also enjoys spending time with her family – whether this is at a sport event, a concert or at home.

The future is looking bright for Corrina and Capgemini

Corrina is looking forward to more exciting years ahead with Capgemini – specifically when it comes to growing the team, supporting and attending Salesforce events and user groups, taking part in one of Capgemini’s leadership development programmes, and even taking part in the Three Peaks Challenge with the Salesforce team to fundraise for Cancer Central and The Big Issue.

“Salesforce is a big community across many diverse organisations, it’s very supportive and big network,” she says.

Join talented women like Corrina at Capgemini

Capgemini actively encourages and supports women at all levels of their careers throughout the company. If you are looking to make your next exciting career move, consider searching and applying for current job vacancies today.

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