Technology alone won’t drive digital transformation
Today, marketing activities are measurable like never before. This increased visibility has been enabled by sophisticated tools that can present the bigger picture of the customer journey and allow organisations to maximise the impact of their marketing activities. However, it’s not technology alone that drives marketing transformation.
Marketing technology allows organisations to do more with less, however, it is only effective if paired with the right human skills and processes, as the creative aspect of innovation is always dependent on people. Simply put, the most advanced technological innovation will fail if people are not skilled enough to use it, and even the most impressive creative minds will lack behind if they don’t team up with technology.
Digital transformation is about people
A big picture is never one-dimensional. When it comes to successful marketing technology implementation, there is one dimension that involves the technical challenge of selecting, integrating, and operating marketing technology and data, however, the other dimension is the challenge of transforming the way marketers engage with the technology. Whilst many organisations prioritise focusing on the selection and purchasing of marketing technology, the human side of marketing transformation doesn’t always get the attention it requires.
But any digital transformation is less about technology and more about people. Organisations can buy any technology, but their ability to adapt to an even more digital future depends on developing the next generation of skills and processes. What do successful organisations do differently? They are able to connect the dots. It is the connection of people, processes and technology that creates a holistic, transparent view that allows organisations to focus on the areas that bring the most value, whilst providing the best possible buying journey to their customers.
Success doesn’t happen in isolation
Even the best technology will go to waste without the right processes, culture, and talent in place. In fact, 70 percent of digital transformation initiatives fall short of their objectives and often their failure is a direct consequence of poor internal buy-in and team enablement. Without them, the marketing transformation battle is likely to be lost upfront and therefore a necessary step in every transformation is to confront the resistance and break the internal bottlenecks.
Another common barrier to success is that most organisations don’t know where to start. To overcome this, it is important for organisations to first align the objectives within the overall business and break the long-term transformation journey into bite-sized elements that provide teams with a solid foundation for collaboration and growth. Creating links between where the organisation wants to go and how it will get there in the short- and long-term will also provide teams with clarity on expectations over time. Because marketing technology is not the destination - it’s an element that allows constant improvements to drive the evolution and growth of the organisation. And its success depends on people, processes, and diligent cross-functional relations at every level.
At WoolfHodson we help marketing leaders harness the power of technology. If you're looking to embark on a positive digital marketing transformation journey, drop us an email at information@woolfhodson.com — we'd love to see how we could help.
