At a recent Marketing Tech Symposium I joined Teresa Sperti, Director/Founder of Arktic Fox to unpack the persistent challenge of securing executive buy-in of digital transformation strategy. From harmonising short- and long-term initiatives to adapting to a privacy-focused, cookieless landscape and investing in the right resources to bridge skill gaps and understand customers for a compelling value proposition, no stone was left unturned. Let’s dive in.

The fuel that propels transformation

Securing executive buy-in is critical. More than just a checkbox, it’s the fuel that propels organisational transformation forward. When leadership fully embraces the journey, they not only pave the way for change but also inspire their teams to rise to the challenge.

However, Arktic Fox’s Digital & Marketing In Focus study highlights a glaring obstacle to this transformation. “What we found is that while organisations are embracing digital transformation – not enough are succeeding,” Sperti points out. “Nearly 40 per cent of leaders stated that one of the key difficulties they face is senior leadership understanding and buy-in. This topped the list.”

This is a real problem, she says, adding, “A lack of executive knowledge and understanding when it comes to digital makes it harder to drive alignment and focus. This results in less investment while increasing the likelihood that more leaders and teams work against, not for, the change.”

Executive buy-in barriers: Why the resistance?

Despite its undeniable importance, securing executive buy-in remains the primary hurdle for leaders. Sperti says this hurdle can be attributed to a combination of factors, namely:

1. Misguided beliefs: There is still a belief that to solve for digital transformation, organisations can hire one executive that is responsible for driving the change.
2. “Not my job” reluctance: Executives and boards don’t always necessarily perceive it is their role to understand the digital space, so they fail to educate themselves on what is occurring in the market.
3. Persistent legacy mindsets: Digital is still, within many legacy organisations, not seen as how business is done in the modern age.
4. Knowledge gap: Executives aren’t necessarily willing to admit their lack of knowledge and expertise, which inhibits their learning.

“Our research also revealed that the second biggest barrier to driving digital transformation was related to skills and capability of teams and securing investment,” Sperti shares. “We see this all the time with teams. We often work with leadership teams on new strategies, and there is enthusiasm around the strategy. But often, the organisation isn’t prepared to take the leap and invest to the level it needs to, thus hampering the ability to evolve.”

Overcoming executive resistance for transformation projects that thrive

There are four critical areas where executive decision-making and prioritisation will have a significant impact on future investments:

1. Prioritisation: Balancing short-term vs. long-term initiatives
2. Privacy: Preparing for changes privacy regulations and a cookieless world
3. Personalisation: Investing in the right tools to understand your customer and build a clear value exchange
4. People: Enabling teams and developing skills to overcome internal skill gaps

Let’s start with prioritisation. When it comes to balancing short- and long-term initiatives, executives must understand what projects and investments will make the greatest impact on the organisation.

Drawing from the insights of industry pioneers like Les Binet and Peter Field from their research, The Long and the Short of It, executives can guide their decision-making to strike the right equilibrium between immediate results and long-term brand building, ensuring sustained success in today’s dynamic business landscape.

Striking the right balance for maximum impact

This means acknowledging that while short-term initiatives can deliver quick wins and boost revenue, long-term brand equity and customer loyalty are equally vital for enduring prosperity. Sperti’s research revealed that the key priority for 78 per cent of leaders is driving growth. Building a customer data strategy and better utilisation of first-party data came in as the second most important priority for the year ahead.

Sperti shares, “For our consulting work, often partnering at heads of level/chief-level executives, we still see far too many leaders and teams focusing on campaign and channel-based metrics as opposed to customer metrics and metrics that drive topline and bottom-line growth. Our job as marketing or digital leaders is to shift customer behaviour to drive market share growth to influence the bottom line.”

When asked to reflect on her two decades of experience client-side, gaining her perspective on how to help businesses see the value of long-term projects, Sperti says the key is to focus on the end game. “First, you need to understand how the executive makes investment decisions and the financial metrics that projects need to hit to garner investment.

“In larger organisations, in particular, projects are assessed against metrics like NPV (net present value) and IRR (internal rate of return) and return and finance are looking for investments that meet their minimum benchmarks – alongside other metrics that are good for business like improving CX (customer experience).

“Partnering closely with finance to develop the business case is critical,” she continues. “Engage them early on and get them to become advocates for your project and business case. You also need to paint a really compelling vision. Often leaders can get lost in the technical aspect, but the tech is not the end game – the experience it delivers is.”

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Personalisation: Making CDPs a key priority for investment

As mentioned earlier, putting your customer at the center of the experience is critical for ongoing success. Mounting research suggests that companies that adopt a customer-centric approach tend to outperform their competitors in areas like revenue generation and market share.

Unsurprisingly, research shows that while leaders are beginning to pare back investments in MarTech overall, however, investment in CDPs is accelerating. In fact, the study demonstrates that 40 per cent of brands say that CDPs are a key priority for investment – double that of last year.

“2023 is clearly the year of the CDP. Over the past three years, we have been tracking investment in MarTech and priority areas for the year ahead. With demonstrable growth in the number of platforms available and the providers serving the industry, it is fair to say organisations are still trying to make sense of the complexity of what is out there and what is the right choice for their brand,” Sperti shares.

“And while there are promises of improved efficiency, effectiveness, relevance and automation at scale – for many the returns are still too elusive as they grapple with how to integrate and embed platforms to derive value and to my earlier comments invest in training so people know how to use the systems most effectively. CDP uptake is being driven by gaps in the MarTech ecosystem, limiting teams to go after opportunities and work through key challenges.”

CDP benefits in focus

Data is the fuel source of modern business. However, the value of data hinges on its quality — unreliable and outdated data leads to unreliable and ineffective decision-making. It’s a classic case of “garbage in, garbage out” and no amount of marketing or financial investment can change that fundamental truth. That’s why a CDP like Amperity is so important.

A CDP acts as a unifying force for online and offline customer data. It takes data from every source inside your organisation, whether that’s point of sale, eCommerce, CRM (customer relationship management) web behaviour, etc and consolidates it, so you can understand who the humans are behind the data.

That gives you a comprehensive 360-degree view of your customers. This deep understanding empowers your business with valuable insights, from past purchases that can fuel personalised recommendations to informing decisions in various departments like IT for analytics or marketing for communications. It’s unified, unlocked data.

However, data unification is just the beginning. The true power of this unified data lies in its integration with downstream systems. Remember, it doesn’t matter what tools you have or implement if you don’t have a clean foundation of data to start with. Good data powers good marketing.

CDP: The indispensable business tool

It’s worth noting that while CDPs were initially conceived with marketing in mind, their functionality has expanded significantly. Their ability to collect, integrate and manage customer data from diverse sources makes them indispensable for multiple business departments. From sales to customer service and even product development, the insights derived from a CDP can drive strategic decisions across the board.

Some businesses even utilise CDPs like Amperity to calculate share prices. The reason is simple, a CDP should be the most trusted source of consumer data in your business.

Closing the skills gap

With change taking place so quickly, organisations must keep their teams up to speed. As such, upskilling must be a key priority. However, Sperti’s research reveals that a third (33%) of leaders felt their teams’ lack of capability and skills make driving change challenging when it comes to digital transformation.

She says, “Data and analytics once again topped the list of technical skill gaps within digital and marketing functions today – with nearly half (47%) of all participants, citing it as a key skill gap. What’s more, when we asked teams about the level of data literacy in their departments, only 35 per cent said it was strong. This means two-thirds of teams are operating without strong knowledge and skills in the data and analytics space.”

Sperti went on to say that little progress in closing the skill gaps in areas of data and analytics over the past three years has been made. “Trying to conceptualise and roll out strategies like a first-party data strategy is impossible if one, your team doesn’t have the capability to do so; two, your teams don’t know what good looks like; and three, if you are trying to build skills and capabilities whilst implementing change,” she explains.

What’s more, the study also demonstrates that while skills gaps abound in both technical and soft-skill areas, brands and organisations aren’t doing enough to address them. Almost half (43%) of leaders admit they have no training budget, which is undoubtedly holding their teams back.

A call to executives: Buy in

Executives must recognise that financial considerations are only one aspect of their role. Those who genuinely buy into the process of digital transformation are more likely to facilitate change effectively and communicate its benefits to their teams. Embracing these priorities and investing in the necessary resources, whether it’s data privacy compliance, personalisation tools or workforce development, is essential for guiding their organisations toward a successful and adaptive future.

About Teresa Sperti, Founder and Director of Arktic Fox

Teresa Sperti is a customer and digital leader with over 20 years’ experience working for leading brands including Coles, Officeworks and World Vision amongst others. Her core competencies include digital transformation, eCommerce, marketing leadership, data, MarTech and customer experience.

About Amperity

Amperity delivers the data confidence brands need to unlock growth by truly knowing their customers. With Amperity, brands can build a first-party data foundation to fuel customer acquisition and retention, personalise experiences that build loyalty, and manage privacy compliance. Using patented AI and ML methods, Amperity stitches together all customer interactions to build a unified view that seamlessly connects to marketing and technology tools. More than 400 brands worldwide rely on Amperity to turn data into business value, including Alaska Airlines, DICK’S Sporting Goods, Endeavour Drinks, Planet Fitness, Seattle Sounders FC, Under Armour and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. For more information, visit amperity.com or follow us on Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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