Two-thirds of companies in western Europe have active investment plans for marketing automation systems in 2014, according to research by Ovum on behalf of Marketo.
More than half of respondents (53 per cent) plan to enhance or transform their marketing automation systems in 2014, while one in seven (14 per cent) plan to install a new marketing automation system.
The research also identified industry segments of market maturity in the adoption of marketing automation. The technology industry was identified as both early adopters and ‘maintainers’. Insurance companies, the media, retail and telecomms are the ‘transformers’ with a more aggressive marketing automation investment agenda to transform their existing systems. In comparision technology companies, including manufacturing, retail banking and professional services, are ‘skeptics’ ; while ‘laggards’ are identified as higher education, government and utility organisations.
Gerry Brown, senior analyst, customer engagement & marketing technology at Ovum, said: “Product and market maturity are converging to form a ‘perfect storm’ with vendor functionality meeting strong customer demand.
“Enterprise business challenges and IT trends have aligned with the marketing automation value proposition. Enterprises need to create a clear line of sight between the strategic intent of the board’s vision, mission and strategy – such as delivering superior customer experience – and how that vision is executed. The need for competitive advantage, strong austerity measures around cost control and managing risk, and improving the quality of operational execution are the catalysts for evaluating marketing automation systems.”
