Marketers Lack IT Tools to Fully Engage Customers

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.