Welcome MarTech professionals, experts, and executives! What's going on today in MarTech in the enterprise? We're glad you asked (though maybe you didn't).
Read on, and let's talk about:
1. What are the specific gaps in the MarTech industry that are causing dysfunction in organizations?
2. How do businesses, vendors, practitioners, and academia define MarTech differently?
3. What are some examples of critical thinking that can help overcome the current hurdles in MarTech?
Current State of MarTech
Interestingly, in the current economic environment, many conversations are happening around the current state of the MarTech industry.
A common theme is the existence and impact of gaps in every aspect of this discipline, from talent, skills, operations, technology, approaches and essentially everything that composes an enterprise ecosystem, such as Marketing Technology.
Even the definition and meaning of MarTech itself are still in discussion in many forums; this may be why these gaps make MarTech somewhat dysfunctional in many organizations.
From businesses, vendors, practitioners and even academia, every actor has their understanding of MarTech.
Although the industry acknowledges a need for evolution, the current state of MarTech requires critical thinking within the enterprise to overcome the current hurdles and start leveraging the business power of such an important functional part of the enterprise.
What does it mean for Businesses?
Most enterprise businesses are still figuring out what to do with their MarTech strategy. Even when many of them don't label it as such, the fact that most are figuring out a way to utilize technology more efficiently to attract, convert, retain and win back customers is the most unambiguous indication that a MarTech strategy is an approach businesses are implementing in the path to success.
However, to seize the opportunity of MarTech, organizations need to take a holistic approach and understand their entire ecosystem, from the customer to the data. This is easier said than done for many, but we have an opinion on how to do it successfully, check out our e-book.
What does it mean for Professionals?
For those starting their careers in MarTech, this couldn't be a more exciting opportunity, the industry is continuously evolving, and the use cases are increasingly attractive in terms of the impact they can generate. For any MarTech pro out there, you must keep investing in your skills, understanding more profound aspects of your role, and expanding your knowledge in the many areas MarTech covers.
The most significant opportunity for MarTech professionals is taking advantage of the resources available while keeping sight of the most critical element in MarTech, The Customer. It's imperative as a MarTech pro to remain agnostic of vendor jargon and sales pitches and focus on the fundamentals of the discipline.
What does it mean for Experts?
For seasoned experts, the current times require you to be on top of your game. Most organizations are trying to find new ways to do what they currently do but more efficiently while at the same time preparing for what's next. If we're honest, this is a challenging position to be in. However, for top experts, these are the types of moments that define their careers. Whatever you can achieve in today's circumstances will have an impact in the coming years of your career, and that impact will transpire in the effects your solutions bring to the Customer.
Now, staying on top of your game is exciting and challenging; keep an open mind to new approaches and technology and embrace innovation from every angle. Learn to think strategically in MarTech.
What does it mean for Executives?
The current state of MarTech is constantly challenging leadership. The CxO layer of MarTech is the one that feels the most the myriad of gaps we found today in the industry. If you're amongst this group in any enterprise, the urge to solve for a solid MarTech strategy is real! Today more than ever before.
Having any gaps or siloes is not acceptable anymore. In other words, not addressing the debt in MarTech is strategically a costly error that few can afford to make. It's entirely the C-level responsibility to fully immerse in the strategic thinking of the MarTech strategy and then empower teams to create an engine that fully connects with customers' needs and wants and supports businesses' goals.
How does everything come together?
MarTech is an ecosystem, and it is an enterprise's overarching function that covers people, processes, technology, and data to serve products and services through experiences so customers can achieve their goals. However, MarTech is a complex ecosystem and needs carefully crafted strategies, planning, execution and governance programs.
The success of MarTech comes from the combination of multiple elements of the enterprise that need to be clearly defined and documented for organization-wide understanding.
Here's the key: you and your organization need an informed opinion on MarTech; it needs to be contextual to your industry, business and personal circumstances, and understand how all that stands in front of the vendors and industry in general. In simple words, you need to own MarTech.
Whether you are a professional, an expert or an executive, you play a crucial role in the ecosystem. The vision to strive for is the one of an entity, an engine that works towards the common goal of making customers' lives better.
Know more
At Enterprise MarTech, we're continuously developing our Knowledge
Hub so we can support every individual in their journey as a MarTech actor in the enterprise. Check out our library of resources.
The current state of MarTech poses many challenges but also fascinating opportunities. MarTech in the enterprise has the privilege to impact the customers' lives directly, and this impact should be a positive one.
We're working hard to provide more tools and simplify complex topics to accelerate the learning and application of technologies in this space.
Drop us a line for any comment or topic you want us to explore.
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