Marketing, IT and Photosynthesis

The Current Marketing and IT Landscape

The fact of the matter is, right now, the landscape between marketing and IT is barren. An empty garden waiting to be cared for — and at some companies, maybe even overgrown with weeds getting in the way of achieving the first steps toward success.

In many companies, marketing is quite siloed from other business departments. In fact, some marketing departments are even siloed within themselves; the average enterprise uses 91 marketing cloud tools. It’s more likely than not that data from half of these tools is siloed from data from the other half. Is there overlap, duplication, “missing” information that could easily be tied together by integrating tools? Without IT’s help, it’s difficult — if not impossible — for marketing departments to achieve a unified, fully integrated application landscape.

But that’s not all that’s missing in this great divide. Integrating data and eliminating silos between systems and departments is the first step — and a very important one — but it’s like putting your flowers in the hot sun without water. They won’t be happy for long. IT can provide the water needed: the insights found from advanced analytics that can make marketing — and therefore business — grow from a seedling to a thriving oak.

But in most companies, IT and marketing aren’t able to communicate well enough to achieve truly useful insights. IT is siloed, performing the analytics asked of them by IT leaders, which may not be what marketing leaders (or finance leaders or operations leaders or sales leaders — you get the picture) really want and need.

So how do we solve this problem? If you’re thinking, “This doesn’t sound very easy,” you’re right! (But do you remember learning about photosynthesis in school? That was pretty overwhelming, too.) We can help.

Creating a culture centered around analytics and data sharing is key to becoming a successfully insights-driven organization. This means that everyone needs to be on board, and communication among departments can’t be choppy or inconsistent; it must be at the core of what you do: built into meetings and projects, planned out, and viewed as a necessary piece — not a “nice-to-have.”

Let’s get right to the point: there are a lot of tools that will claim to be your one-stop-shop for tying your marketing data together and creating a unified view of your customer. But as we’ve mentioned before, this just isn’t the case, and we’re not the only ones who think so.

Integrating marketing data and eliminating marketing and IT silos looks different for every organization. We at Zirous love variety: we start out by understanding your current situation, evaluate the tools you use currently, see how they can be best integrated, what technologies can supplement the process, and help you achieve an insights-driven culture.

See What You Can Grow

By creating a culture in which marketing and IT (and other business departments as well) can work together seamlessly and help each other achieve their goals, the possibilities of where your business can go will reach new heights.

By 2021, insights-driven companies will begin experiencing 30 percent annual growth and will take $1.8 trillion in revenue from their lagging competitors.

Thirty percent annual growth and a chunk of that $1.8 trillion doesn’t sound too bad, right? That’s the beauty of real insights set into action within your business processes. Insights help produce strong oak trees. Come rain or shine, this tree will stand firm, and bumps in the marketplace or your organization will seem much smaller and more manageable.

Growing an oak tree takes a while — decades to produce its first acorns. And while achieving an insights-driven culture doesn’t take decades, it does take time. As quickly as technology moves today, now is the time to get started.

Get in touch with Zirous to learn more about how to eliminate marketing silos and IT silos, achieve integrated marketing data and unify your customer view to achieve real business growth.