Look around you and you see that cloud computing is making integration a commodity. Applications such as Boomi, apps for Salesforce.com, SaaS databases and Whatsnexx mean that getting access to customer profile information is no longer a constraint. How will these impact marketers?
- Lower costs as integration will no longer require expensive consulting and programming labour
- Higher ROMI from lower implementation costs
- Faster time to market
- Higher ROMI from capitalizing on marketing opportunities that were inaccessible due to long IT lead time for integration
- Access to required functions and features from any application they want, without having to be concerned about integration
- More imaginative and elaborate marketing campaigns and programs due to the ability to easily access the extended application feature set required to run these campaigns
- Move beyond Marketing Automation (i.e. automating simple sequential steps) to Integrated Marketing (i.e. using the right feature at the right time via the right system)
- Dream in Technicolor, and then implement in Technicolor rather than black & white
What does the future hold in store for the consumer: More relevant and sophisticated marketing targeting their individual needs as marketers move closer and closer to true one-to-one marketing.
