Marketers Lack IT Tools to Fully Engage Customers

By Dennis McCafferty | Posted 2017-05-01

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Marketers Lack IT Tools to Fully Engage Customers

Marketers struggle to connect data analytics technology to their customer-focused efforts, resulting in an inability to make needed decisions in real time.
Performance Issue

43% of the global marketers surveyed said they don't lack customer data, but they struggle to transform that data into real-time decisions and actions.
State of Disconnect, Part I

Just 3% believe they are totally connected with all customer systems, with data, metrics and insights flowing seamlessly throughout all the tech platforms.
State of Disconnect, Part II

Only 7% said they can deliver real-time, data-driven engagements throughout both physical and digital touchpoints.
Vision Challenge

Just 6% of the global marketers said they can get a complete view of their customers from all available data sources.
Poorly Equipped

Only 7% said they can leverage in-line analytics to drive real-time decision making within their customer engagement platform to deliver better customer experiences.
Manual Methods

40% of the global marketers surveyed said that a significant share of their customer data is spreadsheet-based.
Antiquated Approach

29% said data is "trapped" in legacy systems that don't connect with new engagement tools, and 30% said they cannot use data intelligence in real time.
Barriers to a Data-Driven Customer Strategy

Inadequate budget: 54%, Failure to fully embrace a customer-centric culture: 43%, Lack of senior-level support to spark needed change: 32%, Lack of the right data foundation to build a customer strategy: 31%
Funding Failure

56% of the global marketers said their company spent less than one-quarter of its marketing tech budget on replacing, upgrading or enhancing existing technology over the last five years.
Too Many Tools

42% said their company has installed more than 10 solutions involving marketing, data, analytics or customer engagement, and 9% said they are deploying more than 20 such solutions.
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A significant number of global marketers said that even though they have ample access to customer-related data, their current technology resources make it difficult to use that data to make decisions in real time, according to a recent survey from the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council and RedPoint Global. The resulting report, "Empowering the Data-Driven Customer Strategy: Addressing Customer Engagement From the Foundation Up," delves into a wide range of IT-related issues that pose challenges. Nearly all survey respondents said their organization cannot "totally connect" to all customer systems so that data, metrics and insights flow seamlessly within all tech platforms. Very few said they can get a complete view of all customers from all available data sources, or leverage in-line analytics to drive real-time decision making. Many, in fact, said their customer data is spreadsheet-based and/or "trapped" in legacy systems that don't connect to new engagement tools. "Between fragmented engagement systems and a habit of leveraging offline analytics to power real-time engagements, marketers are increasingly frustrated by the operational, technological and cultural roadblocks that seem to stand between successful engagements and the customer," according to the report. "Despite the customer wanting to see real-time reaction in response to their behaviors, marketers are juggling spreadsheets and complex processes to access the intelligence that should be empowering the next best action being delivered to the customer." More than 260 global marketers took part in the research.

Dennis McCafferty is a freelance writer for Baseline Magazine.