Storage rarely makes headlines, until it becomes the reason businesses scale, secure & succeed.
Franziska Huber, Communications Lead for EMEAI at Western Digital, breaks down how storage moves from background infrastructure to a strategic business enabler. She explains how clear, education-led storytelling and effective PR help enterprises understand storage’s real role in powering AI, resilience, and long-term growth. No hype. Full credibility.
Everything starts with a clear global narrative and core messages that define who we are, what we stand for, and the problems we solve. That foundation stays consistent across regions. From there, I work closely with regional teams, partners, analysts, and customers to localize the story based on cultural context, market maturity, regulations, and audience priorities. What resonates in Europe may differ from the Middle East or India. For me, cohesion doesn’t mean uniformity — it means shared purpose with local relevance, achieved through listening and cross-regional collaboration.
We start with the customer problem, not the technology. Instead of asking what a product does, we ask what pain point it solves and why it matters. Even highly technical B2B audiences are still human and connect best to stories with personal relevance that solve problems and add value. Our content, therefore, focuses on education around efficiency, resilience, growth, and future-proofing, supported by real use cases, customer stories, and clear metaphors. I believe technical content should and can be compelling and creative. When people understand why something matters, they are far more willing to engage with the how.
PR is critical in shifting storage from a commodity narrative to a value-led one. Storage becomes commoditized when the conversation focuses only on capacity and cost. PR enables us to reframe storage as a strategic enabler — the foundation for AI, sustainability, security, and business success. Through storytelling, executive visibility, customer proof points, and industry context, we show how storage drives outcomes, not just infrastructure. A strong PR strategy elevates the conversation from what we sell to what we make possible.
Credibility starts with listening. I invest time in understanding what journalists, analysts, and customers are discussing, and where there are genuine gaps or unanswered questions. Effective thought leadership isn’t about being the loudest — it’s about being useful, timely, and reliable. That’s why I focus on data-backed insights, real customer experiences, and honest perspectives, including challenges. Cross-functional collaboration is key: many of the strongest ideas come out of brainstorming meetings with product, sales, and engineering. My role is to shape those insights into clear narratives that add real value.
We position WD as a trusted educator by consistently delivering practical, realistic guidance — not product pitches. Our focus is on explaining technologies, trends, frameworks, and best practices around AI readiness, data governance, IT infrastructure, and sustainability, grounded in real customer experience and market realities. Education builds trust. When leaders see us helping them make better decisions and following through on our commitments, we become a long-term partner rather than a transactional vendor.
Our approach is to balance vision with proof. Long-term innovation should be aspirational, but always anchored in what customers need and can deploy today. Especially around AI, we avoid abstract promises and focus on tangible outcomes, real use cases, and clear progress. Being transparent about where the technology and market truly are and where they’re heading builds far more credibility than hype. Honest, grounded storytelling creates trust and long-term relevance.
Cross-functional collaboration is the foundation of a successful GTM strategy. Communications is often seen as downstream, but PR and external comms are among the fastest and most effective ways to create awareness at scale. To enable this, we work closely with sales, marketing, product, and leadership through regular councils, check-ins, and shared planning — not just at launch. Early involvement allows communications to shape the narrative, ensuring alignment between what’s built, how it’s sold, and how it’s communicated.
Communications is going back to basics — but in a far more disciplined, data-driven way. There’s renewed focus on clarity, structure, and relevance. Messaging needs to be crisp, searchable, and easy to understand, for people and AI discovery. This means applying SEO principles without turning PR into marketing copy. At the same time, authenticity matters more than ever. Plain language, real data, and concrete examples outperform buzzwords. PR is becoming more effective by being more honest and measurable.
What excites me most is educating and shaping understanding at a pivotal moment. AI is no longer a future concept, and data storage forms the foundation enabling real transformation across industries. Being able to tell stories that help customers navigate this change responsibly, confidently, and creatively is incredibly motivating. I’m excited to continue building narratives that are human, insightful, and grounded in real impact — in close collaboration with teams across regions, functions, and disciplines.
Franziska is a communications professional with eight years of experience in the IT and technology sector. She specializes in international PR and B2B communications, with a focus on thought leadership and content development. Her work centers on translating complex technical topics into clear, engaging narratives that inform diverse audiences about emerging trends and technologies. Across her career, she has supported organizations in strengthening visibility and reach through strategic communications and consistently delivered measurable improvements in content performance and audience awareness.
More about Franziska: 
Western Digital empowers the systems and people who rely on data. Consistently delivering massive capacity, high quality and low TCO, Western Digital is trusted by hyperscale cloud providers, enterprise data centers, content professionals and consumers around the world. Core to its values, the company recognizes the urgency to combat climate change and is on a mission to design storage technologies that not only meet today’s data demands but also contribute to a more climate-conscious future.
Learn more at www.westerndigital.com
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