New SiriusDecisions research shows more companies are investing in marketing technology, with web and marketing analytics tech being the two most popular solutions being deployed.
A survey of 200 B2B marketing and sales professionals across geographies, titles and company sizes was the focus of a session last week at the SiriusDecisions 2014 Summit. Respondents were asked how they are deploying and investing in marketing and sales technology.
The problem facing marketers when dealing with technology is that most marketing and sales 
functions don’t establish clear expectations or ROI measures before they are implemented, says Alden Cushman, practice director, benchmarking and analysis, SiriusDecisions.
“Most marketing and sales functions don’t know if their spend levels are appropriate, or if they provide benefit,” Cushman says.
According to the survey, revenue and competition-focused companies are reporting a higher percentage of marketing budgets invested in technology, across all respondents. Web marketing, analytics, social collaboration and management technologies were the most invested-in solutions, according to the report. Of those who had already invested in tech solutions, more than half reported investing in web content management solutions, with fewer investing in marketing automation platforms and social collaboration technology.
Software as a service (SaaS) is the preferred deployment method for nearly all tech solutions, including the big three of web content management, marketing automation platforms and social collaboration, with more than 50 percent of respondents reporting SaaS installation in each of those categories. SaaS is reported to be the preferred deployment method overall, with the exception of business intelligence tools, PR management solutions and web site optimization technology.
Overall, marketing professionals reported more ownership and co-ownership of processes with IT than sales, which is more likely to only contribute to tech processes than own. This can be attributed to marketing’s preference for SaaS-based tech solutions, shorter implementation time for marketing tech versus sales tech and marketing’s higher investment level in services from outside agencies.
Cushman says marketers need to benchmark their tech investment levels, assess the most-deployed technologies and set clear and measurable benefits and ROI before deploying tech solutions.
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