Over the past two and a half years, I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time reviewing, analyzing, writing and presenting content that deals directly with business trends. One of the recurring themes is directly related to the complete  dismantling of the traditional marketing organization and business model – the connected customer journey. 

We are experiencing a seismic shift in three areas of business related to the customer journey.

  1. The Connected Consumer – the consumer now controls the majority of the interactions between a brand. The concept was high-level consultant speak until the growth of mobility made it a reality.
  2. Organizational Structure – “Siloed” top-down approach to business management is slowly pushing business processes passed the point of control.
  3. Data Management – Disparate sources of data are crippling the business’s ability to deliver a personalized experience for the consumer and eventually an increase in business.

Data and organizational structure is keeping businesses from being able to support the connect consumer. We are fast approaching a time when the majority of consumer’s will demand a seamless experience.

The lack of acknowledgment of the obvious is slowing down marketing’s ability to shift of chance.

I also wrote about seamless experiences relating to the customer journey on the ExactTarget Marketing Cloud blog.