United States
B2B Marketing Online
February 1, 2010
by Anna Goldie
Although the economic downturn has stifled budgets, increased scrutiny on ROI has meant marketers have had to be more efficient than ever before. The result has been an acceleration in the use of increasingly innovative marketing technologies, and from early signs 2010 will see more of this.
Kristin Hambelton, senior director of marketing at marketing automation firm Neolane, says that entering the 'cloud' of software as a service is the only way forward for marketers.
"Three years ago it was hard trying to get people to wrap their head around the idea of the cloud and you still see it, particularly with large industries," she says. "Letting go of owning software can feel like a big thing, especially by IT people who feel it is just the 'way we do things', but I predict a big uptake globally next year."
Lack of confidence in cloud computing is something that Neolane hopes to conquer with this approach, "often we see customers who use Mid-sourcing in the first year then graduate to complete cloud computing in the second year."
Despite talk of a bright future for marketing technology Hambelton reminds us that the penetration of marketing automation is still low at around five-12 per cent, although she adds that is it predicted to rise to 40-50 per cent by 2015.
