In a recent InternetRetailing webinar, In a world of intuitive marketing tech, is there still a part for people to play?, we heard from Matthew Kelleher, CCO at RedEye. Here’s a bulletpoint overview of his presentation.
• “Previously manual tasks have been automated and that’s meant new capbilities and drives a change in what we are doing as users or providers of technology and that’s having an impact on us all.”
• Kelleher argues that people are a key driver in changing technology – an area that he says has had relatively little attention up to now.
Market trends
• Development of martech technology has never been so rapid, or had such an impact on people’s lives. New entrants: IBM, Oracle, Salesforce and more. It’s been described as “like an arms race” with “heavy investment to get the next big thing”. Artificial intelligence is now just around the corner.
• The more valuable a business, the more dependent on software as a service, the fewer people it has. Customers pushed into online universities and other online help.
• Challenges of martech: Econsultancy study says the key challenges are time, lack of resources, data integration.
• Most important attributes of email technology provider: Econsultancy study: user-friendly interface, marketing automation, ability to integrate. Account management only listed by 15%: this was tending me to the conclusion: is this the demise of standard, traditional account management? Is the drive towards martech capabilities doing away with that?
• What do people have inhouse and what do they outsource? People like to take the simple stuff in-house, but the challenge is in the complexity.
• What makes a difference? Succesful companies more likely to mention people.
Round up:
• More skills going in-house – but time and resource are scarce
• Account management not a priority
• Martech businesses provide little support
“People continue to play a critical part in driving technology and helping leverage success.”
The RedEye analysis
• 697 respondents across agencies and brands, from small to 1,000+ employee companies and across different job functions.
• Question: What types of support are important for marketers? Most important: someone to talk to on the phone to talk through problems. Least important: online answers/self-service. “However, the real answer here is that users want the best of all worlds. They want to have someone on the phone and access to online services.”
• Question: which technologies require the most support? Most support: ecommerce platform/marketing automation/CRM. “A lot of clients only have the capability in-house to scratch the surface.”
• Question: open platform or marketing cloud? Strong preference for open platforms: 30% prefer plus 12% strong preference. Marketing cloud: 16% prefer plus 10% strong preference.
• Key learnings: larger businesses are more reliant on support of all kinds, but less satisfied with that support. Small organisations less likely to ask for support, more likely to be satisfied.
Dear Vendor!
Wishlist:
• We want to be able to innovate, using technology, and to get a competitive edge. “Vendors can help us achieve cultural buy-in from the organisation as a whole,” said one respondent.
• Support that helps us understand so we won’t make the same mistakes that others might have.
• Show us how your solution will help us improve our business. “Vendors don’t always envisage the solution in action.”
• Help us integrate the solution into others – don’t just hand it over but help us fit it for our needs.
• You can’t maximise the capabilities of marketing technology if the solution is not right or good enough. Human training required.
• Support: account management is on the demise – potentially not fit for purpose in the new landscape. Expert phone support now important that gives fast appropriate help rather than spending hours reading the online FAQs.
• Help us understand and fix the complexity issue.
• New market opening up for “people who help me achieve success in my marketspace”.
The webinar was followed by a Q&A session. To see the webinar, including a number of graphs, and the Q&A session in full, visit the RedEye webinar page here.
