AI in Marketing: Transforming SaaS, Reviving Storytelling, and Redefining the Future of Creativity
Explore the dynamic intersection of AI, marketing, and SaaS with Diptarup Chakraborti, Chief Marketing Officer at MoveInSync. In this engaging interview, Diptarup shares his journey from traditional marketing to a cutting-edge, AI-driven, digital-first approach. Discover how AI is transforming personalisation, customer experience, and operational efficiency, while also redefining the future of SaaS marketing. Through his insights, Diptarup underscores the enduring power of creativity and storytelling as the foundations of impactful marketing in an increasingly tech-driven world.
Key Highlights from the Interview
- Evolution of Marketing and Technology Integration: Marketing has evolved from a support function with minimal technology use to a growth driver powered by AI and digital tools, transforming how businesses engage with customers.
- Impact of AI on Marketing: AI enables personalisation at scale, predictive analytics, and enhanced customer experience. It automates routine tasks, allowing marketers to focus on creative strategies and storytelling.
- Future of SaaS Marketing: AI agents and concepts like “results as a service” are reshaping SaaS marketing, requiring marketers to shift from operational roles to storytelling and value articulation.
- Challenges in AI Adoption: Organisations face barriers to AI adoption due to limited understanding, underutilisation of existing tools, and a reluctance to embrace AI’s full potential.
- Responsible AI and Skill Evolution: Responsible use of AI in marketing demands a balance between automation and creativity. The future will require marketers to develop skills in storytelling, customer empathy, and data interpretation.
“The question of responsible AI use ties closely to the role of human creativity and ingenuity. Organisations should not settle for standard outputs but strive for originality and creativity.”
Over the past few years, you’ve worked with a variety of organisations, ranging from startups to larger companies. How have you observed the adoption of technology, particularly AI, evolve during this time? How has your journey as a marketer been influenced by these advancements?
Diptarup: I began my journey in marketing with IBM, which at the time was the largest IT company in the world. Back then, marketing had minimal reliance on technology, unlike today, where nearly every function and tactic is deeply intertwined with technological advancements. When I started, even the concept of commercial use for the World Wide Web was in its infancy, emerging in the late 1990s and early 2000s. During this period, websites weren’t as integral to marketing strategies as they are now.
From IBM, I transitioned to Gartner. By this time, organisations had started adopting technology at a faster pace, though its primary application was in basic business functions like record-keeping, reporting, and consolidating customer information. Even then, these systems required significant manual input and intervention. For instance, the output from a system was only as reliable as the manual data entry preceding it. This phase, which spanned the first 12 years of my career, represented an era where technology adoption was still exclusive to specialists such as data scientists. Such roles underscored the early constraints of technology usage, where access was confined to a select group of trained professionals.
As technology evolved, the second half of my career witnessed a transformation in its accessibility and application. No longer confined to specialists, technology became pervasive, integrated into every function and at every level of the organisation. Tasks that were once reserved for specialists, like managing databases, became a universal skill. This marked a pivotal shift where even entry-level employees routinely used technology in their day-to-day tasks, signalling its ubiquity across teams and functions, regardless of organisational size or region.
Later, as I ventured into the startup ecosystem, technology had become indispensable, akin to oxygen—every process, interaction, and workflow was digital. This era coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, which acted as a catalyst for another technological shift. The pandemic pushed organisations to operate entirely online, making remote work and virtual interactions the norm. While online conferencing existed before COVID-19, it became the backbone of business operations during and after the pandemic, altering workplace dynamics permanently. Even now, many meetings are conducted virtually despite colleagues being in the same office.
The current phase of my journey aligns with the rise of AI, which has fundamentally shifted the paradigm of how technology is used. Earlier, humans drove technology to achieve specific outcomes. Today, AI drives functions autonomously, reshaping the role of humans in the equation.
To summarise, my career can be segmented into four key phases: an era with no technology, a period of limited adoption within specific functions, a phase where technology became pervasive across organisations, and the current phase where AI and automation drive processes in a new age of marketing and technology.
You’ve been involved in the B2B SaaS space in your recent ventures. What are your observations on B2B marketing trends, and how do you see AI shaping this landscape?
Diptarup: SaaS (Software as a Service) has been around for nearly two decades. The concept of cloud computing gained traction in 2006, and by 2008, terms like SaaS, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Platform as a Service (PaaS) were introduced. Today, we live in a world where “everything as a service” has become the norm. While SaaS itself isn’t new, the “SaaSification” of technology has led to a profound shift: the consumerisation of B2B marketing.
Before SaaS emerged, marketing in B2B was primarily a support function. It played a reactive role—organising events, updating collateral, or maintaining websites. The idea of marketing actively driving business growth or revenue was non-existent. At that time, demand generation was limited to sales teams, with little to no focus on growth or product marketing. Customer marketing as a concept was unheard of.
With SaaS, this paradigm shifted. Marketing moved from a support role to an enabler of growth and, more recently, to a driver of growth. In the post-COVID era, this transformation accelerated. Marketing now directly contributes to business outcomes, bridging the gap between demand generation and revenue creation. In many organisations, functions like inside sales or business development, which traditionally reported to revenue teams, are now often part of the marketing function. These teams not only create opportunities but, in some cases, directly close deals, especially in low-ticket sales.
SaaS has brought marketing closer to the customer than ever before. Historically, marketing was far removed from the customer, with even departments like finance and HR having more direct contact. Today, marketing is at the forefront, shaping customer interactions and driving business growth.
The nature of SaaS and the global wave of digital transformation over the past decade have made this shift inevitable. As technology adoption became pervasive across functions and organisations of all sizes, long implementation cycles were no longer feasible. SaaS solutions democratised access to technology, expanding the market beyond large enterprises to include SMBs. This expansion created a highly competitive landscape, necessitating differentiation and compelling storytelling—both core responsibilities of marketing.
The growing importance of SaaS marketing can be seen in how even early-stage startups prioritise it. Organisations with little to no revenue often hire dedicated marketing professionals, recognising that without a strong marketing function, survival in the competitive SaaS landscape is unlikely. Today, SaaS marketing is as critical for B2B businesses as it is for consumer brands. It is playing a pivotal role in growth, customer engagement, and long-term success.
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Having been in SaaS marketing for two decades, what changes have you observed in marketing, especially around AI?
Diptarup: AI’s influence on marketing has been profound and disruptive, evolving significantly over the past few years. It has moved from being a quiet, supportive tool to an all-encompassing force, fundamentally reshaping how we approach marketing functions.
Previously, marketing technology heavily relied on human inputs to define processes like reporting, analytics, insights, data targeting, and development. Today, AI not only supports these tasks but also defines them independently, reducing the need for human intervention. This shift is gradually eliminating the “middle human layer” that once played a crucial role in these operations.
Take, for example, tasks like designing or content creation. AI has so dramatically impacted these that they can now be executed at any organisational level. What previously required days of collaborative effort between designers and content writers can now be accomplished in a fraction of the time with AI tools. For instance, creating a 30-slide presentation for a CEO’s pitch deck used to involve extensive brainstorming, drafts, and revisions over several days. Today, with AI, you can generate a polished version within hours, tweaking it as needed.
This efficiency, while undeniably a boon for productivity and cost-effectiveness, comes with a social cost. Reducing human involvement raises questions about the long-term impact on jobs and creative processes. While AI has significantly improved targeting, personalisation, and other marketing efficiencies, the potential for widespread displacement in creative roles and the loss of human ingenuity in some aspects could have serious societal implications. This dual-edged nature of AI in marketing underscores the need for thoughtful adoption and ethical considerations as we move forward.
You mentioned that AI has a positive impact on marketing functions. Please elaborate on the specific areas where you see this impact. Is it in better ROI measurement, enhanced customer experience, improved project execution, or elsewhere?
Diptarup: AI has brought significant advancements across various areas of marketing, driving better personalisation, customer experience, analytics, and predictive insights. Let me break it down with some use cases:
- Personalization at Scale
Previously, personalisation involved tailoring content for a handful of individuals based on known data points, like their location or preferences. For instance, if I know you’re from Kerala and studied at a particular institute, I could write a personalised email incorporating these details. While feasible for a few people, it’s impossible to scale this level of personalisation to thousands.
AI changes the game by enabling personalisation at scale. For example, I can now send emails to 1,000 recipients, each uniquely tailored to their interests and context, all generated by AI-driven systems. This capability ensures every customer feels personally addressed, enhancing engagement for marketers.
- Enhanced Customer Experience
AI also transforms customer journeys. For instance, when visiting a website, a user might not explicitly state what they’re searching for. AI can analyse browsing behaviour in real-time to predict their needs and dynamically present relevant content, making navigation intuitive and frictionless.
In e-commerce, AI mirrors the experience of a helpful store associate. Imagine a website recognising your past preferences and offering a tailored discount or guiding you to products you will likely purchase based on previous patterns. These proactive recommendations elevate the shopping experience and foster loyalty.
- Predictive Analytics and Insights
AI excels at analysing vast datasets to identify patterns and predict behaviours. In retail, it might determine that customers who buy shampoo often purchase shaving foam next. Based on this insight, stores can place these items together to trigger impulse purchases, boosting sales.
In B2B marketing, intent analysis powered by AI allows businesses to identify potential customers actively seeking solutions they offer, even if the customer hasn’t directly engaged with them. For instance, if someone is researching properties in Pune, AI can signal that interest, enabling targeted outreach with relevant offers.
- Automation vs. AI
It’s important to distinguish AI from automation. Automation performs repetitive tasks—like sorting mail into zones at a post office—without intelligence. AI, however, introduces intelligence to the process. In the same mail-sorting example, AI could analyse the volume of deliveries for each postman and dynamically allocate work based on capacity, optimising efficiency.
- Positive Impact at Scale
What sets AI apart is its ability to operate at scale. Whether it’s tailoring communication for thousands of customers or analysing vast datasets for actionable insights, AI removes the limitations of human capacity, enabling marketing efforts that are both efficient and highly personalised.
While AI’s potential is vast, its benefits also come with challenges, like managing data privacy and ethical use, which need to be carefully addressed. Still, the opportunities AI presents for transforming marketing are undeniable.
What are your thoughts on the social impact of AI in the context of responsible AI usage? In the marketing function, how can AI be leveraged more responsibly to balance innovation with ethical considerations and societal impact?
Diptarup: I believe the question of responsible AI use ties closely to the role of human creativity and ingenuity. Organisations should not settle for standard outputs but strive for originality and creativity, which are inherently human traits. AI, at least for now, cannot replicate the ability to think of entirely new ways to approach problems or innovate beyond its programmed parameters.
In marketing, this means leveraging AI to enhance efficiency and precision, such as improving designs, content, and outreach methods. However, the actual ideation of fresh approaches, innovative campaigns, and unique strategies remains a human endeavour. AI excels at executing repetitive tasks, generating standardised personalisation, and analysing data, but it cannot intuitively understand or create in the way humans can.
Responsible marketing involves prioritising quality over quantity and investing time to deeply understand the customer, the value proposition of the product, and the market dynamics. It requires segmenting audiences not just through conventional metrics like demographics, psychographics, or geography but also by delving into behavioural insights and nuanced needs.
To be a more purposeful and responsible marketer, one must balance AI’s capabilities with human-driven insights. This approach ensures not only effectiveness but also ethical practices, as it avoids over-reliance on automation and preserves the creative and analytical roles humans play in crafting meaningful marketing strategies.
Where would you place your current or previous organisations on an AI maturity matrix? Are you in the exploratory, decision-making, experimental, or implementation phase with AI adoption?
Diptarup: I can’t comment on my current organisation, but reflecting on the companies I’ve worked with over the past five to seven years and others I’ve interacted with, both large and small, I’d rate most organisations at about 4 on a scale of 10 in AI adoption, where 10 represents advanced and comprehensive use of AI.
While many talk about leveraging AI effectively, the ground reality is different. Most usage is limited to basic tools like Copy.ai for content or Canva’s AI features for design. True integration and utilisation of AI’s capabilities are rare. A significant challenge is the underutilisation of existing technology investments, including tools with built-in AI capabilities. For example, ABM tools in the market often claim advanced AI functionality, but very few organisations actually use these features effectively.
In essence, while there’s a lot of buzz around AI, the depth and scale of its implementation remain limited. Most organisations I know, even internationally, haven’t moved beyond the early stages of AI utilisation.
What do you see as a primary challenge across organisations when it comes to the implementation of AI?
Diptarup: Understanding what AI can and cannot do is the key challenge holding back its widespread adoption. There’s also a degree of fear and hesitation. Right now, AI is surrounded by hype, driven by major players like Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon, who are pushing AI into the spotlight. For example, Microsoft recently stated that ‘SaaS is dead’ and predicted that 98% of SaaS companies may shut down—an ironic statement from a company whose significant revenue comes from Azure cloud computing.
This shift shows how these tech giants are repositioning AI, with initiatives like Microsoft’s Co-Pilot becoming a central revenue driver.
The concept of ‘results as a service’ or ‘outcomes as a service,’ powered by AI agents, will likely accelerate adoption. Today, most organisations claim to use AI because nearly every tool integrates some form of it, no matter how basic. For instance, a conversation recorded and transcribed by AI might technically qualify as AI adoption, but it’s far from meaningful integration. This superficial use highlights a gap in understanding AI’s true potential.
Historically, any technology sees widespread adoption only when leaders in the field start actively promoting and pushing it. AI gained prominence largely because of generative AI (Gen AI) advancements, which shifted the narrative. Tools like Siri and Alexa have been around for over a decade, but they weren’t marketed as AI—they were seen as niche applications. Now, AI is being positioned as transformative, much like how cloud computing and SaaS gained acceptance when major players began advocating for their benefits.
Cloud computing faced scepticism in its early days, with even industry leaders doubting its viability. Yet, the landscape changed entirely once companies like Oracle, Salesforce, and Amazon heavily invested in and marketed cloud solutions. Similarly, the current wave of AI adoption is being driven by the ‘biggies’ who are marketing, selling, and integrating AI as the next big revolution. As these leaders continue to push AI forward, its adoption will only accelerate, reshaping industries and workflows alike.
What is your future outlook for AI in marketing and the SaaS industry over the next 3-5 years? How do you envision it shaping and impacting these areas?
Diptarup: AI has the potential to reignite creativity in marketing by shifting the focus back to storytelling. For years, product marketing became synonymous with content marketing, driven by numbers and revenue goals. However, with the advent of AI agents and the concept of “results as a service,” marketers must craft compelling narratives to explain why these innovations matter and why older paradigms like SaaS are being redefined.
This transformation presents a unique opportunity for seasoned marketers—those with over 20 years of experience who have the storytelling skills to thrive in this new era. As digital migrants, we began our careers before digital technology became ubiquitous, unlike today’s digital natives, who started their marketing journeys with a strong emphasis on growth and data. While their focus on numbers has been practical, they often lack the storytelling foundation necessary to adapt to this shift.
AI agents demand marketers to articulate why they’re the future and how they surpass traditional models. This resurgence of storytelling is an opportunity for product marketers, creative thinkers, and those who generate innovative ideas. However, it poses challenges for those who are solely operations-focused, as their skills may become less relevant in this evolving landscape. Ultimately, AI is helping marketing enter a new phase, where creativity and storytelling reclaim centre stage.
We want to know your expectations from this report. What do you believe would be the most valuable data point or subject matter for you in this report?
Diptarup: I believe it’s essential to include the social impact of AI on the marketing function in your analysis. Highlight how AI will influence not only the existing roles but also create entirely new functions within marketing. For instance, roles like storytelling and advanced product marketing will gain prominence as AI shifts the focus from operations to creativity.
Additionally, you should explore the evolving skill sets required for future marketers. Talents like storytelling, customer empathy, and the ability to interpret data creatively will become critical. It’s important to outline what marketers will need to excel in this new AI-driven landscape.
Another key point is the positive impact AI can have on marketing efficiency and productivity. This goes beyond just numbers and analytics. It’s about enhancing the ability to deeply understand customers, predict their behaviour with precision, and weave those insights into compelling narratives. These elements should be central to the discussion, as they represent the transformative potential of AI in shaping the future of marketing.
