Leaders Discuss Sales & Marketing Priorities
CGT sits at the intersection of business and technology, where there have been more changes in the last few years than in the last decade. To help you keep pace with all the change, we produce content in multiple formats: print, on-line, in-person events, webinars, and more. Conversations and interactive dialogue are uniquely valuable, as thought leaders succinctly deliver the collective wisdom of the masses which can then be distilled down to best practices and tactics to be implemented in companies of all sizes.
One of the areas that has changed the most, however, is Sales & Marketing. We had the opportunity to sit down with representatives of two major players in our industry, SAP and IDC, to talk about those changes and the ensuing discussion was quite insightful. Here are some of the highlights – download the on-demand version of the webinar for the full session, including insights on Direct to Consumer, Integrated Business Planning, and Data & Analytics, and let us know what you think!
IT Investment: Overall, there has been healthy growth with spending rates a little over 6 percent with a lot of interest in CRM. However, the impact and importance of CRM has evolved, and Simon Ellis even pointed out that for some organizations: “The notion of being customer centric is even more important now than cost,” he said.
Customer focus has become a priority, and Mark Osborn notes how the scope of CRM has changed, “moving from traditional Sales Force Automation to something that is much more holistic, including sales, service, and marketing”, especially given innovations in the underlying technologies (ie: cloud) and rapid innovation in software capabilities. This re-definition of CRM reflects an ongoing debate and will surely have an impact on how new initiatives are prioritized.
Trade Promotion Management: TPM continues to be one of the most important initiatives for many CG companies, but there are still challenges to be addressed. Baseline determination is better but definitely not perfect, and there is a renewed interest in both internal and external collaboration, especially as Omnichannel becomes more important and changes the impact of consumer interactions. Unfortunately, as Mark Osborn acknowledges, TPM is still seen as a siloed activity within the sales activity and limited to tactical execution of an overall plan. He recommends that “TPM should be looked at more strategically and coordinated with marketing, finance, demand fulfillment.”
Click here to hear more.
One of the areas that has changed the most, however, is Sales & Marketing. We had the opportunity to sit down with representatives of two major players in our industry, SAP and IDC, to talk about those changes and the ensuing discussion was quite insightful. Here are some of the highlights – download the on-demand version of the webinar for the full session, including insights on Direct to Consumer, Integrated Business Planning, and Data & Analytics, and let us know what you think!
IT Investment: Overall, there has been healthy growth with spending rates a little over 6 percent with a lot of interest in CRM. However, the impact and importance of CRM has evolved, and Simon Ellis even pointed out that for some organizations: “The notion of being customer centric is even more important now than cost,” he said.
Customer focus has become a priority, and Mark Osborn notes how the scope of CRM has changed, “moving from traditional Sales Force Automation to something that is much more holistic, including sales, service, and marketing”, especially given innovations in the underlying technologies (ie: cloud) and rapid innovation in software capabilities. This re-definition of CRM reflects an ongoing debate and will surely have an impact on how new initiatives are prioritized.
Trade Promotion Management: TPM continues to be one of the most important initiatives for many CG companies, but there are still challenges to be addressed. Baseline determination is better but definitely not perfect, and there is a renewed interest in both internal and external collaboration, especially as Omnichannel becomes more important and changes the impact of consumer interactions. Unfortunately, as Mark Osborn acknowledges, TPM is still seen as a siloed activity within the sales activity and limited to tactical execution of an overall plan. He recommends that “TPM should be looked at more strategically and coordinated with marketing, finance, demand fulfillment.”
Click here to hear more.