5 Data Management Trends for 2019

Faced with an ever-growing number of data streams, one of the biggest challenges continuing to dog marketers is how to manage it all. Almost half of marketing researchers find data management and marketing technology to be particularly difficult challenges, according to one recent survey.

So, as we approach 2019, it’s worth examining some of the key areas which organizations need to address in order to manage data more smoothly, empower more of the digital team and ultimately draw more business value from it.

1. Self-Service Business Intelligence

As the data we’re able to gather increases, in both quantity and complexity, it’s becoming ever more important that more people can access it. Round-trips to IT departments are an inefficient way of gleaning data insights, and so those organisations best able to ‘democratize’ data will have a competitive advantage.

This is certainly true for marketers. Being able to access data anytime, anywhere in a quick and simple manner, will greatly empower the individual marketer. This means faster access to the kind of insights which will show them what customers want/don’t want and messages which are working/not working.

The faster rate at which marketers can turn analytics into insight and then insight into action, means the greater their agility.

Gartner predicted the analytics output of business users with self-service capabilities will surpass that of professional data scientists next year.

As Carlie J. Idione, research director at Gartner said:

“Rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, Internet of Things and SaaS (cloud) analytics and BI platforms are making it easier and more cost-effective than ever before for non-specialists to perform effective analysis and better inform their decision making.”

Now’s the time to be putting in place a strategy which gives the power of data to more people in the organization.

2. Analytics & Actions Synchronized

Accessing data and insight is one thing, but making it readily actionable is another. Another important trend for 2019 is the use of ‘Insight Platforms’: the name given to platforms that place analytics, insights and actions in the same place in order to close the data-insight-action loop.

Or as Forrester states: “Insight platforms unify the technologies to manage and analyze data, test and integrate the derived insights into business action, and capture feedback for continuous improvement.”

Such platforms can include: predictive analytics, BI-on-Hadoop, big data or insight suites, big data-as-a-service, big data customer analytics, and advanced analytics platforms, such as MarketView.

Any gaps between data, insight and action amount to a time and opportunity cost – and another roadblock in the way of digital transformation. Those companies best able to remove it, will gain an advantage in 2019.

Integration and unification also have a part to play in this. If one platform, such as your CMS, can pass data and insights into another, such as your CRM (and vice versa), then you’ll gain a more holistic view of the customer’s journey and how they behave – without having to dip in and out of individual platforms to manually join the dots.

3. Storytelling Data

When faced with naked data, marketers run for the hills. But what does it all MEAN!? It reads like a foreign language. Which is why the way that data is presented is so important.

As humans we are hard-wired to share stories, not data sets, so any technology that can transform data into a narrative form will enable more of the workforce to gain insights from it and apply it to their own actions or working processes.

Data should be able to create ‘A-ha!’ reactions rather than apathetic stares as data visualization specialist, Steve Wexler once opined.

Visualization techniques can play a key part in transforming data into a narrative. This might take the form of bar charts, pie charts or other graphs; but whatever the visual, it must provide a clear message or story.

It’s hardly surprising that data visualization is a growing market with a forecast average year-on-year growth rate of 9.4% leading up to 2023. So, in 2019, organizations should be looking to leverage data visualization in order to empower their whole digital team.

As with any tech integration, there will likely be teething problems but now is the time to start.

4. Artificial Intelligence

The growing capabilities of virtual assistants and machine learning mean that AI is fast becoming an indispensable marketing tool. Whether it’s driving better customer service or making sense of Big Data; the practical benefits of AI are now being realised by forward-thinking organizations.

Gartner’s latest CIO survey of more than 3,000 CIO’s from 98 countries revealed that 21% of CIO’s are already piloting AI initiatives or have short-term plans for them. Another 25% have plans for AI in the medium or long term.

However, the industry is progressing at such a fast rate that organisations are in danger of either missing out on the competitive edge it can provide or being left behind altogether. As Tom Wilson, CTO for AI vendor CONCURED rightly pointed out:

“The partnership between AI and creatives is going to drive the development of purpose-built hardware and increasingly powerful intelligence models that facilitate more efficient and pervasive analysis, and marketers who invested time in the technology at the outset will have the advantage of experience and familiarity.”

With the business case undisputed; 2019 is the time for planning the use of AI at your organisation – if you haven’t already.

5. Data Ethics

Data ethics should be a pressing strategic issue for all companies, as reflected by its inclusion in Gartner’s top 10 strategic technology trends for 2019.

On the one hand, legislation is setting the tone, with GDPR providing the gold standard and influencing laws in other parts of the world, such as California’s recently announced data protection law – CCPA – and one would be remiss to ignore ePrivacy.

However, focusing purely on compliance is unwise. Legislation will continue to evolve as data technology capabilities progress, lessons continue to be learned – and customer expectations change.

Much better to take an ethics-driven approach which puts respect for customer privacy front and center. Or as Gartner says:

“The conversation should move from ‘Are we compliant?’ toward ‘Are we doing the right thing?’”

Companies need to develop a clear code of ethics for data use; which means taking a proactive – not reactive – approach. The Open Data Institute (ODI) provides a particularly useful guide for establishing an ethics framework.

By establishing a strong approach to responsible data management, you can ensure that your company is well-placed to avoid compliance issues and gain a reputation as a trusted data handler.

If data is the new currency, we all need to handle it responsibly.

2019: A Year for the Nimble Marketer

Putting the right strategies in place to best utilize data is an important first step towards creating an evidence-based marketing operation where guesswork is reduced and better results are achieved (and recorded!).

As the data marketing industry continues to evolve, it’s important you’re not caught out and left among the final 16% to take up a technology. Those forward-thinking companies are those who stand to benefit most by the fast-moving nature of data tech – and the benefits it provides.

2019 is no time for laggards! Wishing you all health, prosperity and effective data management strategies in the New Year!