New CIO Insight Survey Finds Sales And Marketing Software Missing Mark

By Allan Alter  |  Posted 11-14-2006

New CIO Insight Survey Finds Sales And Marketing Software Missing Mark

Applications rarely become ubiquitous, no matter how much fuss and bother there has been about them. Case in point: the technologies that are supposed to be transforming sales and marketing. Technologies like customer analytics, competitive intelligence and salesforce automation are used by only 40 percent to 60 percent of respondents. Blogs and podcasts? They're used by a scant 10 percent. And satisfaction with these technologies could be much better than it is.

If CIOs aren't thinking hard about what technologies they should be deploying and what value they're getting from what they've deployed, they should. One suggestion: Don't just look at what technology can do for your customers; look at what technology can do for your salespeople.

For more data and analysis, see CIO Insight's Research Center blog at go.cioinsight.com/researchcentral

Next page: Invest in people, improve at analytics.

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Finding 5: Invest in people, improve at analytics. Sales and marketing technologies are often not deployed—and frequently fall short when they are.
Last month's Business Process Improvement survey found that sales and marketing departments are the most difficult functions for IT to support. So it's no surprise that many companies have yet to adopt sales and marketing technologies such as analytics or marketing automation, or that these technologies often fail to deliver. It's especially unfortunate for salesforce automation, one of the few technologies likely to meet or exceed expectations—and, as we noted in Finding 2, people are the most profitable sales channel.





Research Guide:

  • Finding 1: The hunt is on for new customers; most companies continue to favor growth over cost-cutting.
  • Finding 2: Nine out of 10 companies sell on the Web, but only half say the Internet is among their most profitable channels.
  • Finding 3: More IT spending is directed to customers.
  • Finding 4: Companies are still suffering from data indigestion.
  • Finding 5: Sales and marketing technologies are often not deployed and frequently fall short when they are.

    Upcoming results from the Customer Strategies survey:

  • Nov. 22: Customer service products linger despite IT support.

    Read our previous surveys on customer strategies and related topics:

  • July 2005 Customer Strategies Survey: Can You Profit as Customers Get Smarter?
  • October 2005 Business Intelligence Survey: Business Intelligence Is Valuable, but Falls Short of Its Potential
  • August 2004 CRM Survey: Will Old Problems Sink New Users?