As veterans of last century enterprises will wistfully recall, there was a time when data was primarily the concern of IT departments. If you were in HR, for example, you were mostly dealing with people, policies, and employment law. If you were in distribution, you focused on packaging, inventory, fleets, and carriers. And if you were in marketing, your attention would center on advertising, promotion, surveys, and sales. That was then.
Today, marketing is all about data. Every aspect of the marketing function leans on enterprise applications for data and insights to create and deliver highly customized messages to reach prospects and customers through the appropriate channels. Terabytes of data on everything — from customer behavior and preferences to buyer intent and engagement touchpoints — keep marketing operating at high levels.
Most of the data and applications are provided by third-party data companies and SaaS technologies that are housed and governed within marketing, not the IT department. There are several reasons behind this
