Today's CMO wears more hats than ever before, often having to play the role of technologist, data analyst, culture advocate, strategist, and the list goes on. They're on the hook for not only elevating the customer experience, supporting the build of an infrastructure that attracts, retains and activates customers, but also demonstrating a tangible return on investment to the leadership team.
Despite their growing list of priorities and demands being placed upon them, most CMOs are simultaneously running up against a growing list of challenges that often block success. Most of these, however, can be overcome with the right data.
Though CMOs are responsible for sifting through mountains of data to inform marketing decisions, many feel they're not working with the most accurate or current insights to make effective decisions.
In fact, according to a recent DemandGen report, 83 percent of organizations said their biggest challenge is their data is old or outdated. And, in its "State of marketing" Report, Salesforce.com found only 23 percent of organizations are satisfied with their ability to leverage customer data to create more relevant experiences. This, despite the fact that 67 percent said creating a customer journey across all touchpoints and channels is mission critical to their success.
But it may not be that the data is lacking. In fact, in many cases, it's a lack of visibility and accessibility into the data that is causing the breakdown.
Part of the rub here is most organizations are operating within a "spaghetti bowl" of disparate systems that don't communicate with one another. In fact, 36 percent of respondents from the aforementioned DemandGen report said siloed data continues to plague their best efforts.
Only 13 percent of marketers agreed they had a solid data acquisition strategy in place that they regularly maintain and fine tune. Implementing data governance across an organization is easier said than done though.
Often you're up against legacy systems the team has grown accustomed to using and/or various departments have implemented their own set of systems and are reluctant to give them up. Over time, this creates a cobweb effect that clouds the visibility of data, prohibits sharing of it, and often results in redundant or inaccurate data on any given client.
Managing customer and prospect data across systems must become a priority for organizations if they are to effectively leverage data to shape the customer experience and inform business decisions.
