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Companies face a number of challenges in their social transformation over the next few years. However, a new report from IDC reveals the ten factors it feels will influence decision making around social business. Many of which involve the evolution of marketing technology.
In IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Social Business Transformation 2015 predictions, the report’s authors say that business leaders should be making such decisions within the next two to four years if they are to accelerate their business transformation – especially in the area of marketing technology.
The report suggests that balances of both power and spend will change with regards to marketing technology budgets. In terms of what budgets are spent on the research shows that integration, consolidation and rationalisation in marketing technology will make up an average of 35% of total marketing technology budgets by 2015.
Improved decision-making
Businesses will be looking to make better decisions by connecting people and data in context. Over time, says the report, marketing systems will become a more “federating and integrated entity” where marketing data sets are assembled to support a full customer view.
IT though, will be involved in possible cleansing and migration of data where marketing systems may require a common customer data set the main focus will be about helping to integrate with existing source business systems. Increasingly too this will see such marketing data sets assembled in such a way as to support a full view of the customer.
Encouragingly, a change of ownership will also see the chief marketing officer gaining greater control of such budgets. As the rise in spending moves from the IT department to line of business, the report predicts that by the end of 2015 the CMO will hold 10% of the overall technology budget giving them greater control than ever.
Marketers’ say on hiring
With more power over the spend, the marketing department will also have a greater say in the hiring of developers, data scientists and systems analysts within the marketing function of their business in order to meet their increased needs.
The IT department will instead play more of a supportive role – called upon in more of a shared services capacity to provide additional network storage when required and to support custom mobile development for example.
Marketing technology is becoming increasingly complex and expensive. To support the marketing division, organisations need to be more aware than ever of the associated resource requirements, the report found.
