In April 2018, Wipro Digital commissioned a study of 500 senior-level executives, employed with organisations with more than 1,000 employees, in the US and UK. More insights on this here.
Hey marketers – let’s talk MarTech, do you have the chops?
- Do you know your automation platforms from operations?
- Can you generate innovation from AI insights to nail sweet customer journey personalization, on demand?
- Does your business have a method or “a madness?”
- Do you liberally use the word transformation?
We’ve been having a chat with a few of you recently and it’s made for some interesting metrics (and potentially clickbait-y images…).
Amazon can do it, so why can’t you?
In an increasingly complex business world, marketing has become a lot more difficult recently – truth be told, the complications have been creeping in for years. First, it was multimedia, then database marketing, web, email and social. These days, talking about marketing through individual channels is almost laughable, because we now have the somewhat nebulous challenge of having to deliver ‘experiences’ and ‘services’. To add to that complexity, those experiences should happen across multiple channels and devices. Oh, and make it seamless.
Clearly, the way a marketing team used to work and the tools they used to use (looking at you, MS Office) is not going to cut it. The positive takeaway from this is that most of you know it, you’re just not so sure that the rest of your organizations do!
The CMO’s dilemma
We’ve discussed this topic at length elsewhere. Any concern the CMO has is sure to filter back into the business within a quarter or two. The first response has been a fairly predictable one, primarily focusing on buying new tech and apps. We are already several years into this cycle and it’s kept the wolves from the door for a while, but there’s a bit of a problem – only a fraction of the investment is actually being used. Swapping out old platforms for new ones without some (serious) soul-searching around operating models and staffing has resulted in increased operational expenses – but maybe not the efficiency gains, service improvements, or wicked data insights expected.
The good news here is that many businesses are gearing up to plug the gap, and the majority of CMOs and their organizations (that we spoke to) will be accelerating their MarTech re-skilling programs. While this is positive, there is still an unfortunately smaller percentage that’s actually prepared to change their operating models. This is probably a case of deferring the pain to another day, and the reality is that the value and ROI of MarTech is primarily unlocked through the way we do things – not necessarily the tools we use to do them.
Looking at the bigger organizational picture
The final consideration is transformation from an organizational point of view. Marketing doesn’t sit in a silo (if it does in your business contact me, my email is at the end). It relies on other parts of the enterprise to function – from product development to sales, supply chain, human resources, and legal. Here’s the rub – things aren’t standing still in any of those departments either. You’re not only trying to integrate your core (marketing) platforms and processes together, you might need to do the same with theirs too.
Let me leave you with four key takeaways to consider:
- With MarTech, you’re not just buying a platform/suite. The way you deploy, operate and integrate is important to achieve rapid ROI.
- If you’re a CMO, you’re more than likely starting to be measured by your MarTech skills and successes (above all others).
- Keep your marketers front of mind – just like your customers, they also need an exceptional experience, and this will accelerate successful program adoption.
- Know – and align with – your overall business transformation goals.