As always, Jay McBain from Forrester provides some great insight on how Sales & Marketing Leaders working with the channel, are using TCM to improve efficiency and results.

As always with "systems", I think it's important not to forget that such tools are only as good as the data within them...Rubbish In...Rubbish Out!

We are currently having some great conversations with Channel Marketing Execs, to explore how real-time data can be used to narrow the top of the funnel and ensure that marketing dollars are focused on the right targets. 

For years marketeers have had to direct campaigns at masses of contacts (records), knowing that a high percentage of them are bad or irrelevant. Not only did this waste time, it also diverted funding from the creative side of marketing, meaning that generic, bland campaigns became all too common.

Data analytics techniques now allow a marketing exec to focus on 50 perfect targets, and then put additional investment towards ensuring that a great, creative campaign drives sales and not just click-throughs.