The analyst – the marketing leaders most sought after colleague
There are 4 key areas to take your digitalisation work to the next level.
Wiraya and Odyssey, suppliers in Martech have interviewed market leaders about four key areas of Marketing Tech to investigate their digital maturity in strategy, organisation/processes, data/analysis, and system support.
How do market managers work with data and analysis?
The importance of data and analysis is a subject that has had increased publicity in the past year. Nevertheless, most of the interviewed marketing leaders suggest they are lagging behind when it comes to taking advantage of this newly enriched data. Many companies still have digitalisation as a priority or main focus, or to get potential and existing customers to handle cases digitally, on their own, rather than supporting manual processes.
Even in very basic questions like communicating with their own customers, many still need to do manual efforts to act on data. Most of the companies surveyed indicate that the quality, or primarily the structuring of data, remains low. It is very common for data to be spread in different systems, which makes it impossible to get a complete customer view. It will also be harder to automate the processes. Most of them indicate that they primarily collect real-time data in products or services that they act on, and not in all data sources or based on the complete customer view.
A lack of analytic tools or access to dedicated analysts are also factors highlighted as challenges in order to work optimally with data. Again, legacy systems provide real challenges here. This is especially true for heavily regulated markets such as banking and insurance, where the regulations are so complex and difficult to change, it is difficult to find quick ways to change systems.
Recommendation:
Make it clear that it is everyone’s responsibility to collect high-quality data and ensure that all this information can be linked to a customer. Begin early with the integration of different channels so that the data can be effectively utilised. Create an internal cross-functional forum to work with your data. None of the companies surveyed have come to a stage where they can carry out advanced analysis based on, for example, predictive or prescriptive models. Nor is the responsibility for this functionality clearly formalised. For example, most companies we interviewed don’t have a data quality role in the company in the form of a Master Data Manager or Chief Analytics Officer.
Creating consensus is another key success factor. One notable marketing leader tells us there is clear value when the IT, marketing and product managers meet on a regular basis to review data and performance.
