How Palo Alto Networks Uses ZoomInfo for Sales & GTM Data

Palo Alto Networks is a pioneering leader in cybersecurity, protecting thousands of customers across cloud, network, and endpoint environments. Known for building the first next-generation firewall over 15 years ago, the company has since expanded its platform to address the growing complexity of modern security threats.

That technological innovation is supported by an equally ambitious commitment to operational excellence, particularly in how Palo Alto Networks structures its sales strategy and manages go-to-market data.

From building territories and cleaning account hierarchies to helping sellers prospect efficiently, data is at the core of how Palo Alto Networks goes to market.

Company ID is transformational. It’s a really clean approach to hierarchies and gives us a way to clearly communicate territory boundaries to our sellers.
Ashley Thoren Serita
Director of Sales Operations, Data Integrity & Policy

Growth from Two Frontlines: Sales and Data Strategy

In the past few years, Palo Alto Networks has scaled dramatically, both in size and sophistication. Two perspectives offer a window into this growth: one from the frontline of sales, and the other from deep within the company’s data infrastructure.

Katie McEnroe started as a BDR at Palo Alto Networks and was recently promoted to account executive. Her journey offers a real-world example of how ZoomInfo’s tools have helped sellers move faster, work smarter, and connect more meaningfully with prospects.

“As a BDR you learn to build pipeline, research accounts, and stay resilient,” she says. “That’s a skill I took with me when I became an AE. You can’t close deals if you don’t have pipeline.”

On the other side of the company, Ashley Thoren Serita leads the Data Integrity and Policy team, overseeing territory planning, account hierarchy management, and data governance. The data her team works with powers everything from quota-setting to seller experience. With over a decade at Palo Alto Networks, she’s played a pivotal role in scaling its foundational data systems. And ZoomInfo’s Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) product is central to that work.

“We’re right in the middle of re-architecting all of our data,” Thoren Serita says. “ZoomInfo has been a major thought leader and partner in how we approach segmentation, territory planning, and hierarchy clarity.”

ZoomInfo as a Platform for Growth

Rather than solving a single pain point, ZoomInfo has become a versatile and embedded platform across multiple parts of Palo Alto Networks’ go-to-market motion.

In Sales: Prospecting, Prioritization, and Promotion

For McEnroe, ZoomInfo has been a trusted tool from her very first day.

“I’ve used ZoomInfo in every sales role I’ve had,” she says. “I love filtering and exporting so I can really dig into the data.” Now that she’s an AE, with hundreds of smaller accounts, McEnroe relies on intent data and Scoops for prioritization.

ZoomInfo’s Sales and Copilot tools also help accelerate outreach while keeping her messaging personal and authentic. McEnroe uses the AI email generator as a starting point, then rewrites messages in her own voice.

“The value comes in helping match our value proposition to what the customer needs, and showing that I’ve done research. That’s saving me time,” she says.

Her approach to prospecting, grounded in strong research and enabled by ZoomInfo, helped her reach goals quickly and go from BDR to AE in just a year.

In Ops: Data Quality, Segmentation, and Scale

On the operations side, Thoren Serita’s team uses ZoomInfo DaaS to power its foundational account data, feeding everything from account creation to seller territory mapping. A key feature: ZoomInfo Company ID.

“Company ID is transformational,” Thoren Serita says. “It’s a really clean approach to hierarchies and gives us a way to clearly communicate territory boundaries to our sellers.”

ZoomInfo’s structured company hierarchy and firmographic attributes have also helped streamline segmentation based on employee count, revenue, and industry. “We’ve moved from a place where sellers had to guess to a system that makes segmentation and coverage planning clear and consistent,” she adds.

Recently, Thoren Serita’s team has also begun to use ZoomInfo Operations (formerly RingLead) to de-duplicate accounts. “Our account manager had been telling us about it forever,” Thoren Serita says. “It became exceedingly relevant recently and we’re all kicking ourselves for not using it earlier.

Results: From Personal Wins to Scalable Impact

Both Thoren Serita and McEnroe point to tangible wins made possible through ZoomInfo’s platform:

Sales Productivity: McEnroe used intent data and Scoops to land new opportunities, including one that came from a scoop about a company releasing an RFP for cloud security. “They didn’t know Palo Alto Networks had cloud security,” she says. “That scoop helped me jump on it and get in before anyone else.”
Career Growth: ZoomInfo helped McEnroe demonstrate value, close pipeline, and stand out in a competitive environment. In sales, “you have to make your luck,” McEnroe says. Using tools like ZoomInfo makes finding “lucky” opportunities that much easier and fast-tracked McEnroe’s promotion from BDR to AE.
Operational Efficiency: Thoren Serita’s team has used ZoomInfo to accelerate large-scale territory planning, account matching, and data enrichment. “You want to do it fast, and you want to do it accurately,” she says. And using ZoomInfo’s high-quality data ensures that’s possible.
Faster Cleanup: Thoren Serita’s team now uses ZI Operations to clean and consolidate records. “When we needed to clean up and deduplicate thousands of accounts all at once, it saved us a huge amount of time.”

Looking Ahead: Scaling with Intelligence and Integrity

Palo Alto Networks continues to expand, and both McEnroe and Thoren Serita see ZoomInfo as a partner in that growth.

For McEnroe, ZoomInfo is a platform that works well for her in all sales positions. “I’m in ZoomInfo all the time, using it for territory planning and account research. But now I’m also looking at it from a different lens and priming my BDRs for success,” she says.

For Thoren Serita, the focus is on long-term data integrity and architecture. And ZoomInfo is an integral part of that journey.

“What I’ve loved about working with ZoomInfo is that they’ve been so receptive to investigating new horizons with us and answering tough questions,” she says. “Those flexible conversations we’ve had with the ZoomInfo team have been really helpful in addressing those go-to-market questions that we’ve wanted to ask and answer.”

As Palo Alto Networks continues to scale, ZoomInfo remains a platform that supports the full spectrum from tactical execution to strategic growth. Whether enabling creative sales outreach or complex data governance, it’s a tool that grows with the business.