Marketing automation (MA) software solutions will be present in 88 per cent of B2B organisations by the start of the 2017-18 financial year, according to B2B Marketing’s newly published


Marketing Automation Benchmarking Report


.

The research revealed that 43 per cent of B2B brands have already adopted MA, while a further 45 per cent plan to adopt the technology in the future.

Those businesses planning on adopting MA will do so over the next 24 months – two-thirds (69 per cent) in the next 12 months, and the remaining 31 per cent within the next two years.

Meanwhile, worryingly 12 per cent of the 280 B2B marketers surveyed said they had no intentions to adopt MA. Thirty-four per cent of those that will not be implementing MA blamed ‘lack of budget’, while other challenges included ‘lack of inhouse skills’ and ‘lack of support from senior managers’.