Lack of investment in talent biggest barrier to martech adoption - Adobe

Wed, 18th Sep 2019

FYI, this story is more than a year old

By Kai Ping Lew, Editor-in-Chief & News Editor - Security

Adobe has announced the release of its New Zealand MarTech State of the Union 2019 report in partnership with FCB New Zealand.

The report finds that New Zealand businesses recognise the importance of MarTech however, a lack of talent and investment prevents effective adoption of these new technologies, with over 75% of respondents reporting inadequate marketing technology capabilities.

The New Zealand MarTech State of the Union 2019 report provides a baseline to measure the growth of MarTech uptake, capabilities and investment in New Zealand businesses, exploring the view of marketing technology professionals from industries including Agency/Consulting; Education; Financial Services; Healthcare; Technology; Telecommunications; Travel and Tourism.

The report revealed that while Retail, Manufacturing and Wholesale industries responded with the greatest understanding of the value of MarTech, Government and Tourism sectors are lagging behind.

"In an increasingly competitive global marketplace, with consumers demanding more personalised, seamless customer experiences, New Zealand businesses can no longer afford to delay investing in talent and technology. This is a macro challenge that good marketing and business practices can address," says Adobe Australia and New Zealand managing director Suzanne Steele.

The value of MarTech is realised, but a lack of talent slows the uptake

Sourcing the right talent to manage, utilise, and extract the full potential of MarTech is a key obstacle preventing businesses from fully embracing this technology, with over 75% of respondents reporting basic or average marketing technology capabilities.

The report shows that the lagging sectors, such as Government and Tourism, are becoming increasingly dependent on external parties who offer the expertise to accelerate the implementation of new technologies. Without appropriate training and upskilling internally, reliance on external parties will remain ongoing.

"Although organisations understand the importance of data-driven marketing and technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, many companies resort to using a patchwork of technologies, resulting in business fragmentation," says Steele.

"MarTech will help New Zealand marketers create efficiencies, enable data-driven customer engagement and allow for the effective measurement of ROI.

Increased investment in people, process and technology is needed

The New Zealand MarTech State of the Union 2019 report indicated that investment solely in technology – without the right investment in people and process – can fail to provide adequate returns from the adoption of MarTech.

The report also revealed that with limited measurement capabilities, securing investment for MarTech is a common barrier for New Zealand businesses.

"Measurement is a critical hurdle for business to prioritise and overcome in order to secure the necessary investment to curate experience consumers increasingly expect, particularly in the context of marketing where historically the difficulty in attributing revenue has been a disadvantage," says FCB data - technology head Qassem Naim.

While marketing budgets remain stagnant and are often already allocated across current activities, it raises the question of whether the cost to onboard new technologies and develop the appropriate talent is solely a marketing expense.

Many of the tools marketers require to orchestrate customer experiences are replacing or augmenting existing solutions that were historically maintained by technology teams, which businesses should consider as they allocate budgets between marketing and technology functions.

Additional findings from the New Zealand MarTech State of the Union 2019 report

New Zealand businesses understand the importance of MarTech, with 51% of respondents believing that MarTech is critical to their organisational success, however, over 75% of respondents report basic or average marketing technology capabilities.
The most adopted marketing technologies include Web Analytics (80%), Customer Relationship Management (75%) and Content Management Systems (71%), however, the full uptake of MarTech in New Zealand is slow by global standards.
The barriers to further adoption of marketing technology across industries include talent (45%) and funding (44%), followed by current technology resources and cross-functional alignment.

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