A Digital Transformation megatrend is rippling through every industry, business and job around the world at a breathtaking pace. If you're working in Sales and Marketing, you should be paying very close attention to this trend.
Please don't shoot the messenger... In the next few years look for an increase in sales and marketing automation investments and a reduction of inside and outside enterprise sales rep jobs.
During a talk at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference 2016 in San Francisco, Mark Hurd, the CEO of Oracle shared that they were using marketing automation to eliminate 30% of their typical sales process. According to him, they now do one-third of all their sales calls to CIOs on their website. This is from a company that has been known for decades for hiring and training the toughest, most aggressive professional sales teams in the industry.
In addition to Oracle, some startups like Atlassian and Slack are using self-service and automated workflows to close the majority of customer sales on their websites, tablets and smartphones.
The next step is adding artificial intelligence (AI) to the marketing and selling process. For example, new startup companies are using AI to create sales and marketing interactive avatars that communicate with new prospects until they are qualified and ready to talk with a human. Spooky! I've experienced this firsthand and it takes a bit to get used to, but it's really effective.
This is just the beginning of the Digital Transformation megatrend that is quickly changing the future of Sales and Marketing as we know it today. Change and disruption is unsettling to most of us, however we're entering an exciting period of time that will dramatically improve business models, lower costs and accelerate sales.
Learn more about Digital Transformation
What is Digital Transformation... and Why You Should Care (includes 90-second video)
Read what Top Thought Leaders are saying about Digital Transformation (includes short video)
Contact us for more information or to help you and your team digitally transform your organization
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