{"id":1947,"date":"2017-09-19T13:45:33","date_gmt":"2017-09-19T11:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/our-insights\/digital-transformation-impact-marketing-organisation-models\/"},"modified":"2017-09-19T13:45:33","modified_gmt":"2017-09-19T11:45:33","slug":"digital-transformation-impact-marketing-organisation-models","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-de\/our-insights\/digital-transformation-impact-marketing-organisation-models\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital Transformation and the impact on Marketing Organisation Models"},"content":{"rendered":"

Digital transformation is affecting businesses across industries and sectors. It is driven by new technologies, fierce competition and increasing expectations from customers of a \u2018digital-first\u2019 experience.\u00a0 And it is affecting almost everyone – Gartner predicts that by 2020, 75% of business will be digital businesses, or preparing to become one.\u00a0 Responding to this transformation requires a change in strategy for most companies and that inevitably has an impact on structure and organisation, ways of working and the relationships between team members and agency partners.<\/p>\n

The Marketing and Communications function is often one of the first areas to experience the impact of Digital Transformation.\u00a0 The rapid proliferation of channels and devices compounded by a shift in perceived ownership and management of brands and products from Marketers to consumers, inevitably has an impact on the scope and roles of the Marketing teams.\u00a0 Despite this, although the influence of Digital Transformation started early in the Marketing arena, we are frequently being approached by CMOs from many significant global brands and organisations still trying to work out how they should respond to the dramatic change in strategy and ways of working required.<\/p>\n

The reason for their delayed response may be because brand teams have focused on the communications themselves \u2013 which channels, what types of content \u2013 the where and what of communications, rather than the how.\u00a0 However, it relatively rapidly becomes apparent that the traditional approach to managing and delivering Marketing communications just doesn\u2019t work in a digital environment that demands agile delivery of \u2018always-on\u2019 omni-channel multiple assets, built around a complex customer journey \u2013 rather than the peaks and troughs of a traditional campaign model.\u00a0 The problem becomes even more complex when the organisation is global and needs to maintain brand consistency and integrity whilst at the same time responding to local nuances and opportunities.\u00a0 And it impacts organisational design and the Ways of Working for the internal teams and their external Agency partners.\u00a0 And those are not things that can be tackled lightly.\u00a0 Therefore, a fundamental reason for the delay in responding to Digital Transformation is that it is actually quite difficult.<\/p>\n

So what can they learn from the experience of those who have already started to tackle \u2018digital transformation\u2019?<\/p>\n

Lack of clarity about what Digital Transformation means<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unhelpfully the phrase \u2018Digital Transformation\u2019 has become somewhat overused and lacking in consistent meaning.\u00a0 So in order to give some framework to our consideration we are drawing on Neil Perkin\u2019s and Peter Abraham\u2019s \u00a0description in their book \u201cBuilding the Agile Business Through Digital Transformation\u201d.\u00a0 They define it as – \u201cThe transformation and reinvention of the resources, priorities and processes of a company in order to be fit for purpose in a digitally empowered world\u201d. <\/em>Whilst their\u2019s is a broad definition it is still relevant for the context of Marketing Digital Transformation.\u00a0 And specifically, we are narrowing it to \u2018within the Marketing Operations field\u2019.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a tendency to add to the confusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the characteristics we\u2019ve observed of companies and brands responding to the digital challenge is a shift to greater complexity.\u00a0 The Agency roster seems to expand rapidly as specialists are introduced to deliver into each of the specific channels.\u00a0 This creates problems in lack of consistency in messaging as well as confusion over boundaries and scope.\u00a0 And above all it creates a heavy burden on the organisation to manage all of these additional agencies with the associated escalation in agency fees and production costs.\u00a0 Sometimes these specialist agencies are introduced to the roster without too much rigour in the selection process, so the quality and calibre of the agency partners can start to suffer.<\/p>\n

Within the internal teams the response to Digital Transformation is often \u201cwe need more budget\u201d and \u201cwe need more resources\u201d – adding to the debate and confusion if these requests for additional funding and resources are met as they can undermine the efficiencies that digital can bring to Marketing.<\/p>\n

To enable real transformation the complexity needs to be removed.<\/p>\n

There is no \u2018silver bullet\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is no single approach or solution to respond to the impact of Digital Transformation.\u00a0 It very much depends for example, on the strategy of the company, the complexity of the organisation \u2013 e.g. centralised \/ decentralised; global \/ local, the existing skills and capabilities in the teams \u2013 particularly if there is specialist skills and expertise which needs to be protected.<\/p>\n

But there is a methodology<\/strong><\/p>\n

Going back to Perkin\u2019s and Abraham\u2019s definition – \u201cThe transformation and reinvention of the resources, priorities and processes of a company in order to be fit for purpose in a digitally empowered world\u201d <\/em>how do you go about tackling the resources, priorities and processes? \u00a0Whilst there is no single solution there is a proven methodology to deliver the right approach for a company or brand and its strategies.<\/p>\n

There are some broad principles that will help:<\/p>\n