Anand Rao

SVP & CMO @ CDW. Building modern marketing: brand + demand + customer growth. AI • MarTech • go-to-market.

[Anand Rao @Raoanan]

I’ve been thinking about the cost of “fine” in marketing.

It spends the same dollars. It asks for the same attention. It takes up the same space in the journey.

It just does less work.

Speed matters. But only if the work still moves someone.

[Anand Rao @Raoanan]

In AI-shaped discovery, brands are not only searched. They are summarized, compared, and recommended.

Marketing has to manage what the market can corroborate.

[Anand Rao @Raoanan]

Friction hides in plain sight.

Slow decisions. Duplicate work. Poor handoffs. Customer confusion.

The best technology work removes friction from the system.

[Anand Rao @Raoanan]

For years, personalization mostly meant smarter segmentation. AI finally makes adaptive customer journeys possible in real time.

That's a very different thing.

[Anand Rao @Raoanan]

Federal IT modernization is not abstract.

It has to balance security, performance, resilience, and mission continuity.

That is why the language matters. Customers need partners who understand the mission, not just the technology. https://t.co/RsQMjjNY2n

[Anand Rao @Raoanan]

AI agents are becoming part of how work gets done.

That makes governance more than a technical decision. It is a trust decision.

The organizations that get this right will think about security, privacy, risk, and customer experience together. https://t.co/NixR5KAelb

[Anand Rao @Raoanan]

Marketers have talked about 1:1 engagement for years.

The ambition was there. The operating reality wasn’t.

AI changes what’s possible: continuous listening, earlier intent, real-time journey adaptation, more relevant personalization.

New capability, not just efficiency.

[Anand Rao @Raoanan]

Marketing runs on trust.

As AI speeds up personalization, content and data use, governance becomes the discipline that protects the customer relationship. https://t.co/olREuQAGva

[Anand Rao @Raoanan]

AI-first isn’t a tool strategy. It’s an operating model question.

Can teams make better decisions faster, reduce friction in the work itself, and create more capacity for growth?

That’s the shift that matters.

[Anand Rao @Raoanan]

Friction slows innovation.

AI, automation and infrastructure only create value when they improve how work gets done.

That’s when technology starts to translate into growth. https://t.co/HLn3g1d1a5

[Anand Rao @Raoanan]

The AI conversation is expanding beyond capability. Now it is becoming a resilience conversation, too.

The focus is not just preventing disruption. It is making sure organizations can recover, adapt, and keep moving when disruption happens. https://t.co/5sleSC9550

[Anand Rao @Raoanan]

I’ve started paying less attention to who has the fastest answer. More attention to who improves the quality of the conversation.

That’s usually where high-potential talent shows up. They bring clarity to the process.

[Anand Rao @Raoanan]

Culture gets talked about like an internal initiative sometimes. I see it more as an operating advantage.

The strongest teams create consistency under pressure. Clear communication. Fewer unnecessary layers.

Customers feel that. https://t.co/3Ugd42lBnf

[Anand Rao @Raoanan]

The AI conversation is shifting from “what can it do?” to “where can it create measurable value?”

That’s the better question.

AI gets more useful when it’s connected to the work people are already doing.

https://t.co/cAaUV2Sain

[Anand Rao @Raoanan]

Low-code gets dismissed sometimes as a shortcut. I see it differently.

Used well, it removes friction between the people who understand the problem and the technology that can solve it.

That matters.

https://t.co/0LJ3P8Nz4Q

[Anand Rao @Raoanan]

Agentic AI is going to test more than ambition. It’s going to test infrastructure.

Every new agent creates demand somewhere: data, identity, compute, security, support.

Sometimes all at once.

https://t.co/yFtvDlPRTP

[Anand Rao @Raoanan]

I’m encouraged by how many teams are moving from AI pilots into real use cases.

The next step is making AI useful without adding more complexity for the people using it.

That’s the goal. https://t.co/IecmQTU902

[Anand Rao @Raoanan]

A lot of AI conversations still start with the model. I’d start with the data.

If the data is inconsistent, the decisions will be too. And once trust drops, adoption gets harder.

Foundation first. Always. https://t.co/75suVYBOs2

[Anand Rao @Raoanan]

AI adoption gets talked about like a technology problem. I don’t think that’s usually where it breaks.

It breaks in the workflow. The extra step. The slow search.

Less friction. More adoption. https://t.co/Tt3b2vGX6e

[Anand Rao @Raoanan]

Friction rarely shows up as one big problem.

It shows up in small delays: extra steps, disconnected systems, workarounds that become normal, and decisions that take longer than they should.

Removing friction is how you make progress easier. https://t.co/8er0SUfUKz