Report: B2B Marketers Remain Slow to Adopt New Technologies

B2B marketers are using a wide range of technology and analytics to achieve their top priorities, but are their efforts paying off? Furthermore, what are their key goals for utilizing the latest technology?

To gauge how prepared B2B marketers are for the next wave of technology and data, DemandLab and Ascend2 recently conducted a report titled “2018 Leadership Perspectives: Leveraging Data and Technology to Drive Marketing Success.”

According to the statistics, 76 percent of marketers already consider their marketing data and technology strategy to be“somewhat” or “very successful.” About 53 percent cite using data analytics for decision making as a top priority.

However, 50 percent of respondents identify integrating data across more technologies as their largest challenge to date. Furthermore, just 25 percent are focused on next-wave innovations, such as predictive marketing and artificial intelligence.

“The response suggests that marketing leaders are playing it safe with their marketing strategies,” concluded the authors of the report.“Using data to drive better decisions, leveraging technology to streamline operations, and focusing on data integration are all good plays, but they’re also safe plays.”

Marketers Remain Slow to Adopt AI

This is not the first report to suggest that marketers are hesitant about adopting new technologies. Econsultancy and Adobe recently conducted the “Digital Intelligence Briefing: 2018 Digital Trends” report to determine how AI is being utilized by marketers globally.

According to the report, most top performing companies (43 percent) do not have plans to use AI within the next 12 months. Just 29 percent of top performers said they intended to use it, while 28 percent stated that they were already using it.

“The slow adoption could be put down to confusion or lack of knowledge around AI’s applications, amid widespread concerns over the societal impact of automation in general,” wrote the authors of the report.