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PLEASANTON, Calif.- February 23, 2011 - Marketing organizations value improved analytics and metrics, viewing them as a way to drive revenue growth and improve the flow of qualified marketing leads for sales, new benchmark research from Ventana Research shows. The vast majority of marketing executives also see value in being able to better understand the impact of marketing initiatives on revenue.

The research also identified a seeming contradiction, though. While more than two-thirds of organizations (68%) want to simplify their marketing analytics and more than half (52%) are not satisfied with their current analytics processes, only one-third are planning to change the way they generate and apply analytics in the next 12 to 18 months and. Looking at the big picture, the research makes clear that most organizations have room to mature in their use of marketing analytics, with only 21 percent ranking at the highest of the four maturity levels in the Ventana Research Maturity Index.

This in-depth benchmark research on Marketing Analytics, the latest from the leading business technology research firm, analyzed marketing organizations around the world to assess the maturity and direction of their efforts. Ventana Research undertook this research to acquire real-world information about maturity, trends and best practices in how marketing organizations use analytics and key indicators to optimize their processes and outcomes. It explores how they do this now, how their marketing teams view the current processes and tools, plans they have to change or improve them, and benefits they hope to gain by doing so.

The findings offer fresh research-based information on companies' attitudes toward marketing analytics. They confirm that organizations use a variety of marketing analytics, but the data indicates that marketing has not yet automated many of the underlying data integration and analytics operations needed to generate metrics. The research also suggests that marketing organizations need to improve because it now takes more than a third of them more than a week to generate analytics. Two-fifths of organizations (40%) want to be able to rent analytics tools as software as a service and 29 percent want to access the metrics easily via mobile devices.

The research indicates that the ability to explore the data underlying analytics and search for relevant analytics and metrics that answer business questions is a high priority for businesses. It also confirms that predictive analytics have come onto the radar screens for more than half of marketing organizations. Both are capabilities not readily available to organizations that currently rely on spreadsheets, which are used universally for analytics by a third of organizations and regularly by another half. Not surprisingly, the research finds that today more than half (55%) of these user organizations are not happy with their existing technology.

"The marketing organization is essential for generating demand, improving brand value and ensuring the monitoring of customer experience, which is why effective marketing analytics and metrics are essentials," noted Mark Smith, CEO and EVP of Research at Ventana Research. "In most cases the marketing organization has not invested into analytics, and that failure has impacted its efficiency and contribution to the organization. Just tabulating numbers in spreadsheets and presenting the results is not sufficient, since it does not provide the needed support for effective competition and revenue generation.

"I'm pleased to note that this research has found indications that the most mature organizations are applying predictive analytics to their marketing activities and are using analytics to assess the marketing impacts of social media on their business. There is a sea change occurring, but we also see a growing divide developing between those in marketing who get it and those who do not and are still operating with a '90s mentality. Unfortunately, the research suggest, those latter folks will soon discover that the lack of analytics investments will decrease brand value, degrade the customer experience and, most importantly, decrease demand for products and services."

Ventana Research will release this benchmark research and detail the findings in a live interactive webinar on March 3, 2011 at 10:00am Pacific time. The webinar will discuss the research findings and offer recommendations for improvement. Key research findings to be discussed will include:

• the current state of marketing's use of analytics and metrics.

• top patterns in the adoption of new methods of marketing analytics.

• the types of marketing metrics and indicators that are most important.

• the current state, future direction of and potential investments in marketing analytics.

• the competencies required for marketing analytics. 

• top five recommendations for marketing organizations.

Register for the Webinar

Those interested in learning more about the benchmark research can find additional information at http://www.ventanaresearch.com/mam/. As a part of your registration you will receive insights and education from Ventana Research on using technology effectively in business. The Marketing Analytics benchmark research executive report will be made available following the webinar.

About Ventana Research

Ventana Research is the leading benchmark research and advisory services firm. We provide expert guidance to help organizations manage and optimize performance - to become not only more efficient but more effective. Our unparalleled insights and best practices guidance are based on our rigorous research-based benchmarking indexes of people, processes, information and technology across business and IT functions worldwide. The combination we offer of benchmark research, rigorous market coverage and in-depth knowledge of hundreds of technology providers means we can deliver business and technology education and expertise to our clients where and when needed. The Ventana Research Indexes - the Value Index and the Benchmark Index family - have redefined the research industry by providing accessible, easy-to-use research-based business and technology guidance to businesses.

Ventana Research provides the most comprehensive analyst and research coverage in the industry; the many business and IT professionals worldwide who are members of our community benefit from Ventana Research's insights, as do highly regarded media and association partners around the globe. Ventana Research was ranked the #1 analyst firm you can trust in enterprise software for 2009 for its relevance to the industry. We focus on business and technology trends and best practices that maximize organizations' potential to perform while reducing the time, cost and risk and still achieve optimal outcomes.

Our views and analyses are distributed daily through blogs and social media channels including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Business Week’s Business Exchange.

Media: Copies of benchmark research report and interviews are available upon request.

Media Contact:

Marisela Reynoso

(925) 242-2579

marketing@ventanaresearch.com