Aprimo®, a Teradata company and a global leader in cloud-based integrated marketing software, shares confirmation that big data management is a critical success factor for today’s marketers. Aprimo used audience polling at its 2012 Marketing Summit in Las Vegas earlier this year, and some 500 Summit audience members voted in real time on a wide range of questions. Many of the polls conducted confirmed prominent theories, while others unearthed surprising findings.

The need for ‘Data Scientists’
66% of attendees at the Aprimo Marketing Summit 2012 reported a need for ‘Data Scientists’ to help manage big data. 38% said they already do incorporate data-driven insights into their marketing decision-making but find it difficult to gather and integrate, while more than half are not currently leveraging big data citing simply not knowing where to start.

“Driving value from data can be transformational for businesses. Insight from customer data allows for better customer engagement and targeting, which leads to increased sales and ROI. However, with expanding sources and usage, the data management model – together with the business functions it serves –  is changing fast: companies need quick and easy access to more, as well as good quality data. Data is getting bigger due to multi-channel customer interactions, but by the same token, consent for data usage is getting harder. It can therefore be challenging for marketers to know how to best derive optimal business value from their data.” says Jeff Chamberlain, VP of Marketing, Aprimo.

Big data is growing bigger by the day, and the learning curve is steep for those who need to make sense of it all. What is the data telling us? What should we do about it? How do we use it to gauge opportunities and challenges?
That’s where Data Scientists can play an intrinsic role.

Why businesses and their marketers need Data Scientists – the top three reasons:

1. Drowning in data = bad time management. Marketers’ skills have important applications in their company. Their time belongs in marketing … not stuck in a spreadsheet with numbers they can’t begin to understand. When you put people in the roles that suit them best, work gets done better and faster.
2. The board craves structure around marketing methods. The debate around measuring social media, marketing ROI—and creating real metrics that map to real plans—rages on. Now, more than ever before, the board demands accountability, and Data Scientists are your best hope for understanding big data, interpreting results and providing solid insights to act on… and report.
3. They make sense of the big data mosaic.Data Scientists aren’t robots or computers (though their ability to process information may outstrip your laptop some days). Data scientists know how to deal with facts and ideas, with ‘definitely’ and ‘maybe.’ They pull the big picture from the big data mosaic, and make it make sense.

Marketers simply cannot do it alone
If your marketers are trying to dig their way out of big data analysis, it’s time to admit that they simply cannot do it alone. Let this new wave of highly skilled Data Scientists do the hard work for you, to support your marketing planning and goals.

Data Scientists bring a unique—and exceptionally valuable—set of skills to the table. They have the ability to immerse themselves in statistics and algorithms and programming languages and they have the expertise to interpret that information, and communicate what can be learned – in a way others can understand. In short, Data Scientists can blend both art and science.

Of course, companies and their marketers have always had data to draw on to make their plans, discover their results and pivot as needed, but the depth and detail of what they have to wade through in 2012 means that traditional measures and insights simply won’t cut it anymore.

Once you equip yourself with the right tools and team up with the right Data Scientists you will soon discover that what has been overwhelming can actually be incredibly useful—when it’s processed and interpreted effectively.
High demand for data professionals

But be aware. The demand for data professionals is growing at the same rate as the wealth of big data… and this short supply of expertise means that most companies still aren’t taking advantage of all the information they’ve got on hand.On top of that, some companies are so bewildered by the role Data Scientists play that they’re unwilling to place value on their efforts.

Measuring marketing and proving ROI
In addition to the revealing Data Scientists insights, more than one third of the audience at the Aprimo Summit indicated that proving return on investment is their biggest challenge, while a quarter said their top strategic goal was to measure marketing.

“While marketers are adapting to an explosion of new digital and social media channels, proving ROI in this evolving marketing landscape remains a nagging headache, but in today’s economic climate justifying marketing spend is more critical than ever.” says Chamberlain. He continues: “Marketers must measure the impact of marketing spend on the business, they must make the connection between marketing and revenue, and prove ROI. Yet this is easier said than done, with the multitude of marketing channels, knowing what to measure, and which metrics to apply.”

Aprimo is a leading provider of software and services that advance the productivity and performance of marketing. Aprimo enables marketers to engage, lead and perform by empowering conversations on new engagement channels, enhancing internal collaboration, and improving marketing performance and accountability. Aprimo’s solutions provide an integrated marketing platform that can be broadly adopted across an organisation, letting companies balance creativity with a data-driven approach and simplify the complexity of a rapidly changing marketing environment. Aprimo clients include: Aviva, Bank of America, E-ON, Merrill Lynch, Pearson Education, QAD, Standard Life, Wal-Mart, and Warner Bros (Time Warner).

Porfile : Jeff Chamberlain, VP of Marketing, Aprimo

Jeff is the VP of Global Sales Enablement for Aprimo where he is responsible for preparing the worldwide salesforce for Aprimo and Teradata to position and present the Integrated Marketing Management message to prospects, partners and customers.  Most recently, Jeff served as VP B2B Solutions Marketing where he built the strategy and marketing for Aprimo’s solutions for Business-to-Business marketers. Jeff also served as VP of Product Marketing for Aprimo Marketing Studio On Demand, driving the worldwide launch of the new SaaS version of the Aprimo Integrated Marketing Suite serving B2C and B2B marketers. Jeff has previously served as the VP of Corporate Marketing for Aprimo with worldwide responsibility for Corporate Communications, eMarketing, Marketing Communications and Aprimo’s Global Alliances program.

Jeff is a 30 year veteran of computer technology sales and marketing. Prior to joining Aprimo in November, 2005, Jeff spent five years as VP of Market Research for CRM analyst/publisher RealMarket, Inc.  Jeff’s earlier experience included 15 years in various marketing and sales management positions with Hewlett-Packard,including Worldwide Channel Sales and Marketing Manager for the Analytic Products Group, and a term as Director of Marketing for Software Artistry, a support automation software company.  Jeff also helped build Thoroughbred Group, Inc. (TGI), a marketing consulting business, with his wife, Dana. Jeff graduated from Purdue University in 1980 with a degree in Electrical Engineering and attended a Strategic Marketing program at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania.