MarTech Interview with Shirli Zelcer, Chief Data & Technology Officer @ Merkle (a dentsu company)

Shirli Zelcer, Chief Data and Technology Officer @ dentsu and Global Head of Data and Analytics @ Merkle (a dentsu company) highlights the importance of driving modern marketing with relevant data and insights while taking us through the trends impacting B2B marketing and martech:

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Welcome to this MarTech Series chat, Shirli, tell us about your journey at Merkle and more about your recent transition?

Thank you for having me!

In early March, I was named the Chief Data and Technology Officer (CDTO) for dentsu, sitting on dentsu’s Group Management Team. In this newly created role, I am responsible for all of dentsu’s client-facing data-driven, analytics and technology-enabled products and platforms, driving innovation and sustainable growth for our clients.

I have been immersed in the analytics and data field and bring over 20 years of experience in analytics and insights, business advisory and organizational design, AI and data science, and cloud and marketing technologies. I was most recently the Global Head of Analytics and Technology at Merkle, where I led a global division of over 5,600 practitioners across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC.

When it comes to driving growth with data and analytics: what do most B2B marketers get wrong today?

Most B2B marketers think analytics is a tool to do reporting and visualization. And even more do not understand the importance of establishing a strong data foundation and then leveraging analytics to support every single decision tied to driving growth. In the B2B world, it can be challenging to establish a direct line from marketing to revenue and sales due to longer sales cycles as well as disconnected systems across marketing and sales platforms.

This is where B2B marketers can rely on data and advanced analytics to bridge the gaps – bringing visibility into the drivers of growth and using that information to further optimize the performance. B2B decision makers and buyers are ultimately consumers as well and by using data and analytics to understand their profiles, wants and needs, B2B marketers can serve them relevant experiences and accelerate growth.

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Can you talk about upskilling in data and analytics: what can marketing leaders do better to drive much needed modern skills in their teams?

Marketing leaders need to stay on the forefront of new changes.

• In the current age of data-driven decision making, it is not only important for analytics team members to upskill, but also those who are in marketing or sales or product. It is important for leaders to enable teams to stay ahead by giving them the right training, tools, and democratizing data to help them upskill and leverage data to drive decisions.
• With the advent of Gen AI and how quickly that field is evolving, it is important to have continuous training around AI-related topics in addition to educating teams on how we will work with AI in the future and specifically ways to engage with AI with privacy, security, and governance in mind.

If you had to share five best practices for anyone in data and analytics today: what would they be?

• Invest in Data Collection and Integration – While this may sound simple, it is a foundational capability needed to drive success. Having good, clean, and integrated data across systems is critical for organizations to apply AI/ML and drive business outcomes and value.
• Use Cases and Road mapping – Create a roadmap on use cases with level of effort and impact that can be solved through data and analytics. Get executive support for key projects to help drive cross functional collaboration.
• Drive Measurable Impact – Always tie work to ROI to drive continuous investment and interest in the analytics projects. It is ok to start small, test it and show some quick wins to build trust and expand.
• Active Collaboration – It is important to actively collaborate with business stakeholders to understand the context and objectives and work with them to discover the current gaps and problems. The ability to democratize data enables all teams to have access to data and lead with a data-driven approach to solving problems.
• Training and Upskilling – As we discussed earlier, it is important to enable teams to be future-ready by staying up to date on the latest tools and techniques within the industry. With the advent of GenAI, non-technical users can also directly interact with data and glean insights for decision making, however it requires learning how to prompt AI systems.

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