Avoid Extinction during the Digital Switchover

By Katie King, Managing Director of Zoodikers Consulting Ltd

Just like two years ago when the nation finally switched off its analogue television signal to move into the digital TV age, a digital revolution in the business world has taken over our lives and those not ready to embrace it are being left behind.

As a result of the plethora of social networking sites and an explosion in mobile Internet access and smart phone usage, an unprecedented volume of data is being collected and stored about individuals and their habits. But it is not the sheer quantity of data that is revolutionary, it is the fact that we can now analyse it and use it for informed decision-making.

Recent research from Accenture shows that astoundingly, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) satisfaction with respect to internal analytics capabilities fell to around 49%, despite the boom in hiring of digital, analytical and technical skills. In some companies there are undoubtedly dinosaurs on the board who need to wake up and utilise the potential of the human capital they have either already within their organisation or on the job market.

In many cases, it is a question of breaking down the silos within an organisation and becoming a social business by exploiting digital’s potential across multiple departments. This includes exploiting big data for social listening. Ultimately it is concerned with alignment with your business goals and driving revenue.

According to Accenture’s survey, 70% of marketers aged 50 or younger believe that mobile is an important digital channel, as opposed to 50% of marketers aged 50 or over. We have moved from print, to computer screen to infinitely capable smartphones that are directly changing the way marketers must think. Much of the reluctance to accept change, despite the ever-growing landscape of marketing, is due to an old-school mentality.

Often it is the senior managers who are scared of embracing the digital age that pose the biggest problem. A company’s strategic focus needs to resonate from the top. Traditional business and marketing approaches may have worked in the past, but may well be lacking in the future.

Accenture’s research shows that more than 75% of a CMO’s marketing budget will be spent on digital marketing within the next five years, whilst only 69% actually believe that it’s important to digitalise.

Embracing big data can change the way we think and act. The use of big data provides your company with insights into what your customers are saying in the social landscape about you, where they are saying it, when and ultimately whether the message is positive or negative.

This is why it is important to have an excellent CMO with a strong PR team who possess excellent social media management skills. They are able to dissect the data from sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook by using Big Data Applications (BDA). Whilst marketing and PR are key assets, the point of big data and BDA is that it provides your organisation with knowledge to inform your strategic focus. Glen Hartman, Global Managing Director of Digital Transformation for Accenture Interactive, explains: “How to be relevant to the consumer is where the CMO needs to think differently. It has to do with marketing businesses more consumer-centric and creating initiatives vs. marketing outcomes.”

Embracing big data in the digital age will allow you to join the dots in your organisation and inform your business decisions. Act now before your business is consigned to the Jurassic age.