Digital Skills Gaps Impede Marketing Automation Gains

SAN JOSE, Calif., July 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The latest edition of the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council's quarterly eMagazine, PeerSphere, explores issues resulting from a dearth of digital marketing talent and skills required in today's marketing organizations. This drawback is inhibiting their ability to deploy, leverage and use new digital marketing, advertising and customer engagement channels and solutions.

The feature article discusses highlights from recent studies by Capgemini and Boston Consulting Group, which revealed that marketers are far behind the curve when it comes to digital competencies, and the gaps are greater than previously estimated. With ever greater reliance on cloud-based marketing platforms, programmatic media buying models, on-demand customer interaction systems and big data analytics insights, chief marketers are being challenged to grow proficiency and performance.

In fact, Capgemini reports that 77 percent of more than 800 executives surveyed believe the lack of digital skills is the primary obstacle to their ability to digitally transform and evolve in the connected economy. Furthermore, only 4 percent of companies align their training efforts with a digital strategy, and companies are spending just 20 percent or less of their training budgets on digital skills development.

These findings are also reflected in the insights gathered by the CMO Council from companies like SAP, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Littelfuse, who reveal that education, definition of and alignment around a digital strategy, and internal collaboration will be key to digital transformation moving forward.

"Accelerating the integration of marketing technology skill sets into the organization will be crucial for organizations to meet the demand imposed by new digital operational requirements," notes Donovan Neale-May, Executive Director of the CMO Council. "To address this need, the CMO Council is planning to activate its 10,000-plus members to engage in furthering the capabilities of internal digital marketing teams, the knowledge of its marketing and business leaders, as well as the performance of its marketing supply chain. We invite those interested in learning more to reach out to us directly."

The latest issue of PeerSphere is available today and covers topics such as:

• A feature article highlighting digital marketing skills gaps and the need to equip and up skill teams in this critical area of performance
• How SABMiller grew to become a global powerhouse in the brewing industry
• The organizational silos that marketing must tackle to enable true cross-functional collaboration
• Q&A articles with marketing leaders at IDG and the Philadelphia Eagles

PeerSphere is available on a complimentary basis to CMO Council members courtesy of our sponsor, Thomson Reuters. For more information or to view the issue online, visit http://www.cmocouncil.org/peer-sphere.php.

About the CMO Council

The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council is the only global network of executives specifically dedicated to high-level knowledge exchange, thought leadership and personal relationship building among senior corporate marketing leaders and brand decision-makers across a wide range of global industries. The CMO Council's 10,000-plus members control approximately $500 billion in aggregated annual marketing expenditures and run complex, distributed marketing and sales operations worldwide. In total, the CMO Council and its strategic interest communities include more than 65,000 global executives in more than 110 countries covering multiple industries, segments and markets.  Regional chapters and advisory boards are active in the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, India and Africa. The council's strategic interest groups include the Coalition to Leverage and Optimize Sales Effectiveness (CLOSE), Mobile Relationship Marketing (MRM) Strategies, LoyaltyLeaders.org, CMOCIOAlign.org, Marketing Supply Chain Institute, Customer Experience Board, Digital Marketing Performance Institute, GeoBranding Center and the Forum to Advance the Mobile Experience (FAME). More information on the CMO Council is available at www.cmocouncil.org.

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