The future of data analytics: How to stay on top of your metrics to boost performance

I remember hearing Barb Stymiest, then the CEO of the TSX, comment that she was glad she had not chosen Marketing as her major in University, settling for accounting and finance which had turned out to be so much more interesting and substantive in nature.

I’m certain now that she would change her mind after seeing the unlimited potential of digital marketing that has forever changed the way we interact and carry out business. Gone are the days when marketers could get by without analyzing metrics. The modern marketer is a “centrist” – not left-brained, not right-brained, but able to be creative and analytical. Marketers need a strong foundation across a core set of competencies that span both spheres of our brains: analytics, costing, forecasting, design, web technology, customer psychology, and more. But don’t let this scare you; after all there are systems in place that help streamline efficiencies without a cause for panic.

For existing marketers, the need to get up-to-speed on the newer topics (especially those leveraging emerging technologies) doesn’t have to be daunting. Advancements in technology have led to a whole new slew of resources for anyone willing to spend a little time to explore and learn.

IBM, for example, provides a resource through its CIO-CMO Knowledge Exchange which helps marketers – no matter their knowledge level – understand the power of analytics and how they can drive value in their organizations. Videos, white papers, case studies and other resources are all categorized and aligned under one of three categories:

Discover what’s possible
Learn from others
Select your solution

When it comes to analytics, IBM software helps the marketer be an expert, without being a statistician or a techie. With software that not only gathers the data for analysis but also interprets it, a marketer can quickly make the journey from “insights” to “actions” smoother, faster and focused on outcomes. To put it simply, anyone in IT who is looking to improve their marketing capabilities would be wise to explore the IBM portal. And anyone scared by the words ‘Big Data’ or ‘Analytics’ need not be; all the resources you might need are only a click away.