Marketing Execs Think C-Suite Lacks Digital Vision
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Clueless C-Suite
Only 44% of the consumer marketing execs surveyed think their top management "gets" digital strategies, and less than half said their board fully supports digital. -
Knowledge Sharing
63% said upper management is working to integrate and encourage digital expertise. -
Alternative Fuel
Nearly 40% of marketing execs from "leader" companies said their digital marketing technologies empower everything they do, compared to just 1% of those at mainstream firms. -
Self-Evaluation
71% of leader companies have performed a marketing-wide assessment for digital skills within the last year, but only 45% of follower organizations have. -
Free Hand
31% of leaders and only 17% of followers give internal innovators enough room to make significant changes without too much red tape. -
Open Innovation
46% of leader companies initiate the processes and cultures needed to encourage ideas from all levels, while only 36% of mainstream firms do. -
Keeping Score
60% of leaders and just 31% of followers track goals for encouraging innovation. -
Social Focus
77% of leaders and only 56% of followers are deploying technologies to monitor social media. -
Top Factor
69% of execs in leader companies and only 49% of those in mainstream firms said mobile tech is a top factor in making marketing and customer service infrastructure decisions. -
Understanding Mobile
69% of execs at leader firms and just half of those at followers said their company has a strong understanding of the user experience requirements of mobile.
If you believe that your company's leaders struggle to understand information technology, you'll find a partner in the marketing department. In fact, only a minority of global marketing executives think that the C-suite comprehends digital strategies, according to a recent survey from Epsilon. The accompanying report, "Leading a Digital Marketing Evolution: Lessons in Transformation, Culture and Technology from the Global 1000," also reveals that companies with rigid structures and high barriers to innovation are nearly twice as likely to have difficulty attracting and keeping tech talent. The survey divides companies into "leaders," and "mainstream," with three-quarters of the former enterprises reporting positive 2013 revenue trends, when compared with the sector average. In contrast, only 43 percent of the mainstream companies showed positive revenue trends. Leader companies are also considered trailblazers with respect to digital change and disruption, while mainstream organizations are more likely to face pressures due to those factors. "Technology enables marketers to expand their capabilities, especially when it comes to making their efforts more customer-centric," says Kim Finnerty, senior vice president of research and insights for Epsilon. More than 400 global consumer marketing executives took part in the research.