ABAX secures its growth ambitions by adding tech veteran Sofia Toll to the leadership team

ABAX strengthens its leadership by welcoming Sofia Toll to the new role as CMO – Chief Marketing Officer. By hiring Sofia, ABAX wishes to reinforce its position, secure growth, and continue to scale ABAX's business development.

Sofia has extensive experience in the technology industry where she has worked for companies such as Microsoft and Telia and most recently come from the role of Head of Brand Perception EMEA at Amazon Web Services. Now she has taken a leading role in ABAX's management team working towards new strategic goals.  

ABAX is in a strategic transition that involves moving from a focus on product sales into focusing on our services and SaaS.  With my background in both technology and marketing I hope to apply this experience when ABAX will start the shift.  After six years at Amazon, I also have a good understanding of how a team is best organised so they can nail their deliveries, but also to sell complex things, make advanced technology accessible to the customer, says Sofia Toll.   

When it comes to ABAX vision, the aim is clear: Sofia Toll will bring a stagnant industry to life. 

ABAX operates in an industry that has remained almost unchanged since its inception. My vision is to modify and challenge the industry in which ABAX operates.  

She sees the monotony of the telematics industry and the market's many players as one of the challenges in her work going forward, but also for the impending transformation of the company. 

Transitions are always challenging. ABAX is evolving to become a provider of data mobility and this should also be done quickly. Despite our strong position in the market, it can be challenging to move from words to action while supporting hundreds of companies to start using telematics to a greater extent. 

Despite the challenging transformation project ahead, Sofia Toll is looking forward to her new role, and she is already clear on how she will tackle the position as a CMO. 

To build a strong connection within the team you need to ask the question "why" often. I believe in the saying "less is more" and would rather see the team do fewer things really well, than more things that are not done 100%. 

Another aspect that affects her way of working is a previous experience where the remaining departments have had difficulty understanding the task and purpose of the marketing function. 

That's why I think it's important as a CMO to also educate the team about how they can inform the rest of the organisation what their actual tasks, knowledge and purpose are.  

The role model in such CMO position Sofia also finds at a tech company. 

The best CMO I know of is Chris Capossela, who has been CMO at Microsoft for six years. He is extremely good at both internal and external communication and he is a star at turning words into actions. He also seems very sympathetic with a clear vision, which is important. 

Quick facts: 

• Age: 48 
• Family: Two sons, a special resident, and two bonus children 
• Education: Studied economics at Uppsala University 
• Lives: Gärdet in Stockholm 
• Hobbies/in her time: I think most things are fun, as long as something happens! 
• Last series you watched: False Identity (The Bureau), French series on SVT - very good! 

Tamara Baranova

ABAX UK Marketing Manager
tamara.baranova@abax.com
Tel: (+44) 7590 417 573

ABAX is one of the largest telematics companies in Europe. Our customer base of 44,000, and more than 536,000 tracked assets are constantly increasing our ABAX Global Network. ABAX is at the forefront of telematics connecting all company assets on an unprecedented level. Our mission is to continually help our customers run their businesses smarter and healthier, making it easy for them to improve efficiency, comply with legislation, and increase profitability. We are represented in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, and the UK with headquarters in Larvik, Norway. www.abax.com