Download Marketing Resource Management (MRM)

2014
Gleansight Benchmark Report
Content
Part 1: Topic Overview
Part 2: Reasons to Implement
Part 3: Value Drivers
Part 4: Challenges
Part 5: Performance Metrics
Part 6: Success Story
Part 7: Vendor Landscape
Sidebars
Survey Stats
Benchmark KPIs
Core Technologies
Gleanster Numbers
Vendor Quick Reference Guide
Marketing Resource
Management (MRM)
Marketing resource management (MRM) technology is the
administrative backbone for day-to-day marketing operations. These
systems were originally deployed at very large enterprises that
needed to coordinate back-office marketing activities for hundreds
of marketers in offices around the globe. Today, a variety of delivery
options and features make MRM accessible to companies of all
sizes. MRM is often synonymous with marketing operations, although
the term marketing operations encompasses both process and
technology considerations. Marketing operations is the lifeblood of
campaign execution – it’s the people, processes, and technologies
that plan, create, execute, and measure how customers and prospects
engage with the brand. We call this the marketing value chain, and it
embodies the business planning, creative development, execution, and
measurement that supports multi-channel marketing communications
with customers. The capabilities in MRM systems make the marketing
value chain more efficient and effective.
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Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
2
What we know to be true, even in 2015, is most large bands do a very
poor job of optimizing marketing operations processes. Repetitive and
cumbersome tasks in marketing are often supported manually with
shared drives, dozens of niche or legacy internal applications, email
communications, spreadsheets, and the wisdom of internal resources. How
do you know there is an opportunity to improve marketing operations at your
organization? If, god forbid, something happened to one or two of your best
brand marketing resources, would it cripple your marketing processes? If
the answer is yes, it’s time to consider MRM as a way to make operational
processes more efficient, standardized, and scalable. MRM is a technology
infrastructure designed to centralize and align marketing operations more
efficiently and give executive leadership better visibility into execution and
marketing effectiveness. Three factors have slowed adoption of MRM.
1. Given the average tenure of a CMO (3 years) and the scale of MRM investments,
executive leaders often shy away from sponsoring MRM initiatives that require process
re-engineering in brand marketing, divestments in legacy systems, and often impact
hundreds of internal stakeholders.
2. A misconception that “the way we are doing things” is working – despite inefficiencies
and less than ideal processes marketing gets things done. When MRM is one of many
potential technology investments for an organization it may end up low on the funding
totem pole.
3. Confusion about the available technologies and a lack of knowledge about how to justify
investments, manage change, and mitigate risk.
Common reasons to invest in MRM
That said, every CEO and CMO would agree that marketing operations is essential to top
line growth. Nevertheless, marketing operations technology investments remain one of
the most ignored (and potentially most profitable) investments in day-to-day operational
execution. More often than not, investments in MRM are championed by a single catalyst or
business need.
•
The CMO asks how many events the brand was involved in last year, and it takes brand
marketers three months of manual efforts and digging through Excel to come up with an
estimate (which may or may not be accurate).
•
The CMO wants holistic visibility of campaign execution and measurement across all
business units or regions – but it doesn’t exist.
•
The CMO wants to know how much money is being spent with marketing vendors and
where there are opportunities for consolidation or cost savings – but the information is
not available.
•
Legacy systems are breaking down under the weight of channel proliferation, campaign
execution, or changes in the business model.
•
A new CMO came from an organization that had MRM; they know MRM is essential to
supporting the complexity of multi-channel offline and online execution.
•
The competition somehow reacts to market events 2-3x faster, creating a competitive
advantage that is causing you to lose market share.
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Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
3
What features do marketing resource management solutions offer?
MRM systems typically include two or more of the following capabilities:
•
Strategic attribution: The ability to create a hierarchy of strategic imperatives and goals from
within the system and link every activity to one or more goals. This gives executive marketers
visibility into how spend is being allocated to meet strategic targets and objectives on a periodic
basis.
•
Budgeting & planning: MRM solutions typically integrate with the financial system of record so
marketing budget can be allocated and tracked from within MRM at a more granular level. Budgets
can be approved, moved, re-allocated, and canceled from within MRM for a holistic view of
spending and forecasted spend.
•
Co-op and MDF fund management: In a distributed marketing environment where a national or
global brand is managed by a network of affiliates or local entities some MRM systems provide a
more efficient way to manage shared investments in marketing.
•
Workflow: Role-based security allows business rules to be customized for different users.
Marketing projects, production processes, and activities can be systematically mapped within
MRM to assign tasks and timelines to specific roles. Business rules can be configured to route
tasks through approval workflows and ensure timely delivery of projects. Workflow gives marketing
executives visibility into the marketing cycle time and granular drill-down into bottlenecks or
resource constraint issues before they manifest themselves in lost revenue.
•
Offer management: Offers can be configured within MRM and systematically optimized based on
business rules and an offer optimization engine. This allows offers to be associated with specific
campaigns to close the loop on ROI from production to execution.
•
Asset management: Most MRM systems have a rudimentary form of digital asset management
(DAM) built into the system. This allows assets that are in progress, production ready, or archive
ready to be routed appropriately during the production process and can provide an effective means
of capturing meta-data from users who have context about the asset use or intended use.
•
Project management: MRM assigns specific roles to specific tasks and can be configured to
govern the cycle-time on various tasks. Marketing projects can then be aggregated on a marketing
calendar and flagged as on-time or late for further action.
•
Marketing calendar: Marketers struggle with managing global calendars, especially in enterprise
environments. Instead of managing dozens of Excel calendars or separate tools for each
department, MRM users can add all activities automatically to a central marketing calendar, with
role-based views of marketing activities.
•
Marketing taxonomy: Configure standardized views of products, geography, the marketing
organizational hierarchy, campaigns, and customer segments from within MRM.
•
Partner and supplier access: MRM provides portal based access to fulfillment, agencies, and
marketing services partners who play an ongoing role in marketing operations.
This Gleansight benchmark helps marketers at all levels understand how they can best
take advantage of MRM’s potential. Based on the experience of active MRM users, it shows
how the most successful marketers are using their systems, what challenges they faced,
and which solutions they found most effective. Marketers who are just considering their first
MRM system will find valuable insights into setting realistic goals, anticipating roadblocks,
and measuring success. Marketers already using MRM will be able to compare their own
results with their peers, identifying areas of excellence and opportunities for improvement.
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All marketers will gain a richer understanding of how MRM can support their entire marketing
operation, providing a foundation for future success.
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Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
Survey Stats
The research findings featured in this
Gleansight benchmark report are
derived from the Q4 2014 Gleanster
survey on marketing resource
management.
• Total survey responses: 366
• Qualified survey responses: 298
• Company size: <$1M (11%); $1 10M (7%); $10-250M (19%); $250M
- $1B (20%); >$1B (43%)
• Geography: North America (93%);
Europe (7%)
• Industries: Retail (27%);
Technology & Media (15%);
Financial Services (19%);
Manufacturing (4%); Healthcare
(3%); Restaurant (3%); Life
Sciences (3%); Other (21%)
• Job levels: C-level (4%); SVP/ VP
(20%); Director (11%); Manager &
Staff (65%)
Sample survey respondents:
Out of 366 respondents only 2 were
willing to share name, title, and
company affiliation. That’s a first for
us. We can however list a few brands
represented in the data:
Whirlpool
Wells Fargo
Sports Clips Haircuts
Textron Aviation
Bank of America
ProBuilder
Mattel
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4
Part 1: Topic Overview
Marketing resource management software supports the marketing
operations of an organization. Primary functions include marketing planning
and budgeting, marketing project management, and marketing content
management including approval workflows. Systems may also manage
some procurement, such as purchase of printed materials and of marketing
services, but media buying is generally done separately. Other components
of marketing execution are also excluded, including customer and prospect
databases, mailing list segmentation and campaigns, content creation,
and website management. Reporting and analysis are largely limited to
supporting the system’s main functions. Functions such as production
reporting, predictive modeling, and return on investment calculations might
draw on some MRM data but would be performed outside of the system.
Companies purchase MRM systems to improve the efficiency of their marketing
operations. Without MRM, marketing departments use disconnected systems
and spreadsheets to build plans, set budgets, track projects, manage approvals,
record costs, and store content. This fragmentation has always made it difficult
for marketers to share updated data and current marketing materials, to track and
coordinate activities, and to standardize processes. The problems are magnified
as companies market through more channels, create more content for different
segments, react more quickly to market changes, work with staff and vendors in
more locations, and face tighter regulatory requirements. Faced with these new
burdens, marketing operations risk catastrophic collapse – or, almost as bad, slow
drowning in a rising tide of small errors and inefficiencies.
A central MRM system reduces the marketing operations workload by eliminating
duplicate data entry, enabling collaboration within the marketing department
and with outside resources, providing superior tools for project and content
management, maintaining an integrated framework that relates high-level marketing
plans to specific campaigns and projects, producing a marketing calendar,
reconciling budgets with actual expenses, and making data accessible for more
sophisticated analysis. These features allow a company to define standardized
processes for regular marketing tasks, to track compliance with those processes,
and ultimately to identify and implement improvements. By streamlining internal
operations, the MRM system frees marketing resources for more productive use in
customer-facing promotions.
The increasing popularity of MRM systems reflects both the greater need for the
operating efficiency and the wider availability of solutions as early MRM systems
mature and the software-as-a-service model simplifies deployment. It is also
part of a broader wave of technology adoption among marketers, who are also
upgrading their systems for media buying, email campaigns, social media, Web site
management, customer data, and analytics. Many organizations cannot upgrade all
these systems simultaneously, due to limits in capital budgets and, more important,
in the amount of technical and business change they can support. This competition
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Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
5
with other projects poses an additional barrier to MRM deployment and encourages
marketers to use MRM features built into comprehensive marketing suites. Although
the most suitable approach will depend on each company’s particular situation,
nearly every marketing department can benefit from some version of MRM
functionality.
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Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
6
Part 2: Reasons to Implement
What are Reasons to
Implement?
Reasons to Implement are the
reasons Top Performers invested,
or plan to invest, in a technology.
These also represent the most
common ways to justify the
investment.
Benchmark KPIs
Gleanster uses 2-3 key performance
indicators (KPIs) to distinguish “Top
Performers” from all other companies
(“Everyone Else”) within a given data
set, thereby establishing a basis
for benchmarking best practices.
By definition, Top Performers are
comprised of the top quartile of qualified
survey respondents (QSRs).
The KPIs used for distinguishing Top
Performers focus on performance
metrics that speak to year-over-year
improvement in relevant, measurable
areas. Not all KPIs are weighted
equally.
The KPIs used for this Gleansight are:
• Year-over-year increase in revenue
The overarching reason to implement marketing resource management
is to improve the efficiency of marketing operations. But this general goal
encompasses many specific improvements, and different companies will
assign different weights. One common objective is cost reduction, achieved
by reducing the staff time required for specific tasks, by reductions in errors
and rework, and by better managed procurement spending. Another key
objective is standardization of marketing processes, which ensures more
reliable execution, less reliance on individual workarounds, and compliance
with regulatory requirements. A third set of goals relates to the greater
visibility into marketing operations gained by replacing stand-alone systems
and private spreadsheets with a shared central system. This provides
marketing management with greater control over operations and a clearer
picture of results, helping them allocate resources to the most effective
programs and channels. Many other, specific goals fall within these general
categories.
Six out of ten Top Performers have deployed MRM technologies. (Top Performers
are 2x more likely to invest in MRM than Everyone Else.) It’s good to see companies
get back to the basics with respect to the reasons to implement MRM. Top
Performers stated that the top two reasons they invested in MRM were productivity
(cost savings) and multi-channel marketing optimization. The data suggests that
Top Performers have an affinity for using MRM to make multi-channel customer
engagement scalable for the brand. Average organizations cited the top two
reason to implement was standardization of repetitive marketing tasks (followed
by streamlined internal workflow). This data highlights a sad reality for average
performing firms – Top Performers have cracked the nut on multi-channel marketing
and are therefore more likely to deliver exceptional customer experiences while
average marketers struggle to make legacy processes in legacy channels more
To learn more about Gleanster’s
research methodology, please click
here or email research@gleanster.
com.
efficient.
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use. Electronic distribution via email or by
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Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
7
MOST COMPELLING REASONS TO IMPLEMENT
MRM FOR TOP PERFORMERS*
95%
Say:
Decrease marketing costs.
86%
Say:
Optimize marketing spend across
channels.
** versus 53% of Everyone Else
82%
Say:
Manage brand consistency.
* According to Top Performers, based on 298 Qualified Survey Responses to the Q4 2014 survey on MRM.
**According to Everyone Else shown only when a notable disparity occurs relative to Top Performers
Note: This document is intended for individual
use. Electronic distribution via email or by
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Decrease marketing costs. MRM
systems help to reduce costs in many
ways. Because the entire marketing
department can work on the same
system, less labor is spent copying
data from one source to another and
in updating colleagues about program
status. Tangible cost savings can
be calculated by taking an average
marketing salary and calculating the
cost of current processes (without MRM)
– by number of resources, frequency
of the task, and over a period of 3-5
years. For most marketers it’s shocking
to realize that time savings on process
efficiency can justify a seven-figure
budget for consulting and licensing on
an MRM investment. Comprehensive
budget vs. actual reporting inside MRM
also makes it easier to spot unexpected
costs and anticipate overruns. A
clearer view of marketing results lets
management shift spending toward
more effective programs, either reducing
the cost of achieving the same target or
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gaining additional results for the same
budget
Optimize marketing spend across
channels. The MRM system provides
comprehensive, consistent information
on marketing program costs and results.
As the complexity of digital channels
continues to multiply, managing offline
and online marketing spend, campaigns,
and brand consistency will require
a standardized process that can be
replicated, audited, and referenced
over time. Today, many enterprises
support multi-channel efforts in separate
departments, leading to redundant
processes, creative, copy, and spend.
MRM helps align multi-channel efforts
to a central system where leadership
can gain holistic visibility over the brand
and the customer experience. This
insight can be converted into return
on investment figures, which allows
marketers to compare returns for
different programs and shift spending
to the most productive use. Other
Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
8
considerations also impact optimization
decisions, such as the role played
by different programs (acquisition,
retention, etc.) and revenue targets
by product line. The MRM system
can classify programs along those
lines, helping marketers understand
the net impact of any budget shift and
the campaigns that were designed to
address marketing strategy objectives.
Manage brand consistency. The MRM
content repository makes it easier for
dispersed marketers to share the same
marketing materials. Most systems give
administrators extensive control over
which materials and which functions are
available to individual users. This allows
wide distribution of materials without
risking unauthorized changes. Some
MRM systems also have sophisticated
distributed marketing functions that
let channel partners, such as sales
agents and dealers, download selected
materials and make tightly controlled
modifications. These features may
automatically customize the materials
with information such as the channel
partner’s address and product lines
handled.
Improve marketing cycle time. MRM
helps eliminate cumbersome email
approval processes that frequently
result in lengthy delays due to vacation
time and attrition in marketing (and
can’t be audited to determine where
the breakdown in communication took
place). MRM systems speed marketing
production by eliminating duplicate
effort, enabling workers to access
materials from a shared repository, and
automatically managing the review and
approval processes. The system may
also provide efficient content creation
tools, automated localization (such
as versions in different languages),
and tools to streamline procurement.
Improved reporting also yields shorter
cycle times by letting marketers view
and react to program results more
quickly.
COMPELLING REASONS TO IMPLEMENT MRM
FOR TOP PERFORMERS*
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75%
Say:
Improve marketing cycle time.
65%
Say:
Standardize repetitive marketing
processes.
60%
Say:
Streamline workflow with internal
stakeholders (Finance, Legal,
* According to Top Performers, based on 298 Qualified Survey Responses to the Q4 2014 survey on MRM.
**According to Everyone Else shown only when a notable disparity occurs relative to Top Performers
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Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
9
Standardize repetitive marketing
processes. MRM systems provide
a structure for the processes they
manage, including planning, budgeting,
project management, and approval
workflows. This structure makes it
easy to track compliance with standard
procedures. Many MRM products go
further to include detailed task lists for
each project, which lay out the specific
process steps for users to follow. Users
can generally create templates that
contain standard lists for different types
of projects. These are extended with
specific details, such as dates and staff
members, when the project is created.
Projects can then be centralized on
a marketing calendar supported by
role-based security. Line of business
workers can manage the calendar,
which only shows relevant projects for
that group, while executive leadership
can view all activities classified by
group, division, or business initiative.
Streamline workflow with internal
stakeholders (Finance, Legal,
Operations). Workflow features in
the MRM system can extend beyond
the marketing department to include
other groups that are involved in
program creation and approvals.
This includes legal and compliance
departments for regulatory sign-off on
contents, finance for budget control
on programs, and operations for
coordination on execution. Building
these communications into the
standard workflows ensures that these
stakeholders are included automatically
and with a minimum of additional effort.
Optimize multi-channel content
production. MRM can be used like a
hub to connect ancillary processes like
copy creation, creative, and translation
to marketing projects. That means
the same copy or creative can easily
be re-used for projects that support
different channels. This helps maintain
LEAST COMPELLING REASONS TO IMPLEMENT
MRM FOR TOP PERFORMERS*
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use. Electronic distribution via email or by
posting on a personal website is in violation of
the terms of use.
59%
Say:
Optimize multi-channel content
production.
56%
Say:
Gain visibility into marketing spend.
52%
Say:
Improve the accuracy of budgeting
and planning.
* According to Top Performers, based on 298 Qualified Survey Responses to the Q4 2014 survey on MRM.
**According to Everyone Else shown only when a notable disparity occurs relative to Top Performers
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Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
brand consistency across the web,
print collateral, email, and mobile
communications.
Gain visibility into marketing spend.
The planning and budgeting features of
the MRM system provide a standard,
shared framework for tracking marketing
expenses. This framework helps
marketers relate expenses to larger
categories such as customer segment,
product line, and program purpose
(acquisition, retention, cross-sell,
etc.). Reporting features in the MRM
system present this data in different
ways to meet the needs of different
users. Analytical features allow deeper
exploration of spending trends and
results.
Improve the accuracy of budgeting
and planning. As programs are
managed within the MRM system, it
builds a history of costs and results.
This data is already tagged with
attributes such as program type,
channel, product, and target segment.
This makes it easy for marketers to look
for patterns in past projects, such as
consistent cost overruns in a particular
type of program or department. It also
gives them a basis for estimating future
costs by looking at actual results of
comparable projects already completed.
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Improve compliance with regulatory
requirements. Content management
features of MRM systems include
several capabilities that support
compliance. The most important is the
ability for workflow features to route
new materials to compliance officers
for review. Many systems also provide
mark-up features that let reviewers add
comments to clarify any issues they
uncover. In addition, the system may be
able to enforce constraints on content
use, such as limiting it to specific
geographic areas (i.e., states where a
product is authorized), customer groups
(such as people over age 18), or date
ranges.
Gain a holistic view of marketing
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10
events and campaigns. Marketing
programs for different channels or
products are often executed in separate
systems. The planning and budgeting
features of the MRM system may be one
of the few places to unify information
from these different sources. This
provides a comprehensive view
of spending across channels and,
depending on the data feeds, may
extend to results such as responses
and revenues. This can form the basis
for return on investment analysis and
marketing budget optimization.
Coordinate multi-channel program
development and execution. The
MRM system may store marketing
materials that are either created
within the system or loaded from other
sources. Having this shared, central
repository makes it easier to later
modify the original content for reuse
across different channels. A central
repository also helps marketers to
ensure that all versions of an item are
updated or removed from use when
appropriate. Companies also benefit
from having a single set of workflow
features for content creation, approval,
and distribution.
Multi-channel programs often require
coordination among separate groups
within the marketing organization. MRM
planning and program management
features simplify this by letting everyone
work from shared, integrated task
lists and schedules. Similarly, content
management features help coordinate
content development by providing all
groups with a single tool for review and
approvals.
Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
11
Part 3: Value Drivers
What are Value Drivers?
Value Drivers represent the
processes, organizational
considerations, and tactics that
help Top Performers maximize
the return on investment in a
technology initiative.
These are the things Top Performers
would attribute to the successful
implementation and use of a
technology.
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Deployment of MRM requires training on the new system, changes to
business processes, and integration with other systems. The scope of
change can be huge: it may involve nearly every marketing employee and
process, plus workers in related departments, at suppliers, and at channel
partners. Technical implementation tends to be relatively straightforward,
especially in SaaS systems where there is no software to run in-house.
However, there may be significant data to load from existing systems, often
accompanied by format conversions and added tagging to make the data
useful in its new environment.
The deployment effort must be managed effectively for the system to deliver its
full value. Success begins with selection of a suitable system, continues with
careful planning of the scope and sequence of changes, and relies on training and
incentives to ensure the new system is used as intended. Management support,
organizational adjustments, and adequate investment in external resources are
essential
Integration with other systems.
Marketing operations processes
demand interactions with a variety
of stakeholders including finance, IT,
sales, channel sales, and suppliers. As
such, you should look for MRM systems
that will integrate seamlessly with other
back-office systems like CRM, ERP,
and campaign management. Integration
is a huge challenge for MRM and
frequently requires custom consulting
and support from partners. Make sure
you have a very strong business case
for integration and customizations, as
these changes may impact the future
support for the new MRM system,
the more rigid the customization the
more it costs to support in the future.
That said, integration with ERP may
be critical for aligning budgeting and
forecasting with the financial system
of record. Integration with WCM could
help feed creative or copy to the
website or make offline documents
available for display online. It’s also very
common to see product information
management systems and translation
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services integrated with MRM for a
seamless project flow, even when
work effort takes place outside of
MRM. Bottom line, there’s no reason to
duplicate data, so if information resides
on other systems (CRM, DAM, video
management, etc.), use available APIs
to pull that information into MRM as
needed.
Ongoing training and development.
Companies often invest heavily in
training when a system is first deployed,
but then fail to continue training after
the initial push. This can cause a steady
decline in system effectiveness, as
new users are not taught the correct
procedures or system shortcuts. Even
experienced employees should get
regular retraining both to learn about
new features and to learn advanced
techniques that were not covered
in the initial training. Continuous
training also helps to ensure that
standard procedures remain consistent
throughout the organization, instead of
fragmenting into variations developed
by local groups.
Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
12
MOST IMPORTANT VALUE DRIVERS FOR MRM
ROI ACCORDING TO TOP PERFORMERS*
Destination...
MAX
ROI!
100%
50%
96%
Integration with
other systems.
78%
Ongoing training and
development.
73%
Integrate data and
activities across
multiple systems.
* According to Top Performers, based on 298 Qualified Survey Responses to the Q4 2014 survey on MRM.
**According to Everyone Else shown only when a notable disparity occurs relative to Top Performers
Note: This document is intended for individual
use. Electronic distribution via email or by
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Integrate data and activities across
multiple systems. In some cases,
MRM gains much of its value from
integration with other systems, such
as accounting, customer relationship
management, or marketing automation.
This happens when MRM is controlling
activities in those systems, such as
content delivery or program deployment,
or when those systems are feeding
MRM with critical information about
costs and results. Such integration may
require a more technically complex
deployment than a typical MRM
implementation. Companies with this
requirement need to examine integration
capabilities very closely during their
system selection process. As a general
rule, it’s a good idea to minimize highly
customized integration with other
systems by re-engineering processes
instead of technical customization.
Excessive customization demands
long-term dependence consultants and
technical resources and can impede
software updates or system changes
down the line.
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System ease of use. Most MRM
systems have many users, who bring
varying degrees of involvement in the
system and technical skill. A system
that occasional users can learn with a
minimum of instruction is critical; so is
a system that heavy users can operate
quickly and easily once they are trained.
While these goals do not necessarily
conflict, they must still be assessed
separately during the selection process.
Assessment must also focus on the
specific capabilities the company plans
to use: many MRM systems have a
much broader array of features than
any single company would require.
Determining in advance which features
you need is essential to acquiring
a system that meets your particular
needs.
Establish a center of excellence
for marketing operations. In a very
large organization, the potential scope
of MRM deployment may be so large
that even a phased approach is still too
difficult. These and other organizations
Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
13
might establish a center of excellence
as an internal resource to help different
groups of marketers with their own local
deployments. The center of excellence
provides expertise similar to outside
resources, but more familiar with the
company’s internal processes, needs
and culture. The center of excellence
also helps to create consistency
throughout the marketing organization,
making cooperation easier as marketing
operations become more integrated
over time.
Cross-departmental roll-out:
marketing, finance, legal, etc. Highly
regulated industries or highly dispersed
organizations may focus on crossdepartmental deployment as a key value
driver for MRM. These deployments
require special care because the key
users are not within marketing and may
not be initially committed to MRM’s
success. Executive sponsorship,
extensive training, and ease of use are
likely to play especially important roles
in this situation. Tight integration with
whatever external systems the other
departments rely on may also be critical.
Executive level champions.
Employees are often reluctant to
change their existing processes,
especially if they seem to work well.
Management support is needed to
make clear that change is not optional.
Senior-level support is particularly
important for MRM processes that
cross organizational lines, since
department leaders may not be willing
to cooperate unless their common boss
tells them to. But, while champions are
important, they cannot substitute for
well-considered plans and effective
execution: project managers must
ensure that they are asking employees
to make changes that will ultimately
work.
Engage third-party experts/
consultants. Outside resources can
provide specialized expertise the
organization lacks, such as process
re-engineering or user training, or may
IMPORTANT VALUE DRIVERS FOR MRM
ROI ACCORDING TO TOP PERFORMERS*
Destination...
MAX
ROI!
100%
50%
68%
System ease of use.
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55%
Establish a center of
excellence for
marketing operations.
50%
Cross-departmental
roll-out: marketing,
finance, legal, etc..
* According to Top Performers, based on 298 Qualified Survey Responses to the Q4 2014 survey on MRM.
**According to Everyone Else shown only when a notable disparity occurs relative to Top Performers
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Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
14
simply offer an extra set of hands to
workers who cannot both deploy the
new system and complete the regular
work. Because effective planning and
good initial results are so critical to
long-term success, companies should
ensure that they deploy adequate
resources, including outside experts
as necessary. However, terms of
engagement should ensure that the
necessary skills are transferred to
company employees so the outside
experts do not become a permanent
cost. A typical MRM rollout from
implementation through configuration
and training could take anywhere from
a year to a year and a half depending
on the level of process re-engineering
required. Consultants can bring field
tested best practices to the table to
manage a successful investment with
long-term benefits.
disaster. Implementation phases should
be carefully chosen so the scope of
each step is limited and still lays a
foundation for future change. One
strategy is to start with a small number
of heavy users, who will be thoroughly
trained on the system and then deploy
a sequence of changes fairly quickly.
Changes that involve a large number
of casual users, such as approval
workflows, can be deferred until the
core system is running smoothly and the
heavy users are familiar enough to help
others as question arise. This minimizes
the time they must spend straddling the
old and new processes. Success also
allows project stakeholders to champion
a small win and aligns stakeholders that
will be impacted in future phases.
Phase the implementation. MRM
systems may touch every process in a
marketing organization, but changing
everything at once is a recipe for
LEAST IMPORTANT VALUE DRIVERS FOR
MRM ROI ACCORDING TO TOP PERFORMERS*
Destination...
MAX
ROI!
100%
50%
46%
Executive level
champions.
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27%
25%
Engage third-party
Integration with
experts / consultants. digital asset management system(s).
* According to Top Performers, based on 298 Qualified Survey Responses to the Q4 2014 survey on MRM.
**According to Everyone Else shown only when a notable disparity occurs relative to Top Performers
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Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
15
Part 4: Challenges
Challenges
Challenges represent the various
roadblocks to watch out for before,
during and after a technology
implementation. These are the
things that prevent Top Performers
from maximizing the return on
technology investments.
MRM projects often face significant obstacles to success. Some are
common to all system projects, such as lack of funding or management
support. Others are related to the nature of MRM, which relies on adequate
marketing processes, willingness to share data across departments,
and deep employee engagement. Another set reflects today’s marketing
environment, where systems must deal with an ever-expanding array of
marketing methods and marketers must face ever-increasing demands to
prove the value of their investments.
Meeting these challenges takes planning and perseverance. Some can be
prevented altogether by adequate preparation, such as developing a clear business
case with a sound return on investment projection. Others, such as support from
IT or senior management support, are outside of marketing’s control but can be
influenced by marketing actions. Environmental factors such as organizational
culture, existing corporate systems, and regulatory constraints, must be factored
into project plans even though marketing cannot change them.
Organizational culture. Specific
problems such as poor processes, lack
of cooperation, and low management
support are often part of the broader
organizational culture. Companies
that are generally disorganized and
fragmented will have an especially
difficult time adapting to the more
rigorous, integrated approach required
by MRM. Leaders in those organizations
should move carefully to deploy MRM
in small groups whose culture can be
adjusted over time, and bring to bear as
many external resources as possible
when changes involving large groups
are unavoidable.
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Employee training. Training remains
a significant hurdle for Top Performers,
who are two times more likely than
Everyone Else to already use MRM
technologies. Change management
must be managed and therefore
ongoing training for new employees
must be a consideration. MRM
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technology can be a little overwhelming
for non-technical marketers. The
biggest challenge facing MRM adoption
is continuous support and ongoing
optimization. The minute MRM becomes
an administrative task rather than a
value added enabler, users may resort
to processes outside of MRM, and you
can toss any return on investment out
the window.
Lack of funding. MRM competes
for funding with other projects within
marketing, even as marketing competes
for funding with other departments. The
cost of MRM is generally significant but
not overwhelming, so whether it gets
funded is largely a matter of whether
it seems like a better investment
than alternative projects. The out
of pocket cost is often reduced by
using SaaS systems that are bought
through a relatively low-cost monthly
subscription rather than a single, large
license purchase. In some cases,
Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
16
MOST CHALLENGING ASPECTS OF
MRM FOR TOP PERFORMERS*
100%
50%
91%
Organizational
culture.
73%
Employee training.
67%
Lack of funding.
* According to Top Performers, based on 298 Qualified Survey Responses to the Q4 2014 survey on MRM.
**According to Everyone Else shown only when a notable disparity occurs relative to Top Performers
the SaaS payment can be funded out
of operational budgets, avoiding the
need for a formal capital appropriation.
Marketers should also consider the
added staff time and outside services
required for a successful deployment,
and plan to fund these as well.
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Prioritizing against other initiatives
MRM initiatives (or any productivity/
efficiency initiative for that matter)
can be difficult to justify when the
organization is laser focused on top
line growth. Usually marketers know
processes stink and they could be a
lot better with support from the right
technologies. But you need tangible
metrics for justifying MRM. Look for
catalysts and constraints in the business
that frustrate senior leaders – long
cycle times, lack of visibility, redundant
processes, legacy tools that blow up,
etc. MRM initiatives are ONLY funded
if you can demonstrate why the current
state of the business is inefficient and
how the future state of the business
will be more efficient using MRM. That
means marketers need to take the
time to document the processes and
point out the constraints and issues for
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financial decision makers. If you can
show that spending $1M will save $6M
over three years, that’s an initiative
everyone can fund. Think of it his way,
every initiative that is funded has a risk
and a reward, as the project champion
for MRM you need to demonstrate
that the reward is tangible AND
more importantly the risk of failure is
negligible. Safe investments get funding.
That said, you should also approach
MRM from a milestone standpoint,
you fund Phase 1, and measure the
success. We have never heard of a
successful big bang investment in MRM.
Dependence on legacy systems.
Marketing processes that were designed
before MRM may use existing corporate
systems such as email, reporting, and
web content management. A new MRM
system may not provide all the same
functions, meaning that a process draws
on both MRM and the legacy system
to execute. Such processes are often
redesigned during MRM deployment to
separate the systems. As a general rule
of thumb you don’t want to automate
inefficient legacy processes in the new
system – you’ll just accelerate mediocre
Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
17
CHALLENGING ASPECTS OF MRM FOR
TOP PERFORMERS*
100%
50%
55%
49%
Prioritizing against
other initiatives.
Dependence on
legacy systems.
43%
Cross function
alignment.
* According to Top Performers, based on 298 Qualified Survey Responses to the Q4 2014 survey on MRM.
**According to Everyone Else shown only when a notable disparity occurs relative to Top Performers
results. Really kick the tires on why a
process exists, and if it’s not a value
add to the business, kill it. Use MRM
initiatives to trim the fat on marketing
processes. Your old legacy system
shouldn’t be replicated 1:1 in a new
system. That’s difficult for marketers to
understand sometimes.
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Cross function alignment. Marketers
are by nature creative, and they will
find very creative ways to manage the
most complex problems. But marketers
can also be very resistant to change,
and the thought of uprooting existing
processes in lieu of a centralized system
can be very unsettling for marketers.
But MRM initiative also frequently
interface with IT, Finance, and Sales.
While marketers know how bad things
are, other departments may not value
initiative. Top Performers gain support
by eliciting early feedback from outside
departments in an effort to improve
visibility, data capture, and process
alignment. MRM isn’t just an opportunity
to improve marketing; it should simplify
how other departments interface with
marketing.
Poor marketing processes. MRM
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is built around marketing processes.
Companies that start with poor
processes must add the burden of
designing new ones to the other
steps in MRM deployment. Since
those companies probably lack strong
process design skills, they should
carefully consider bringing in external
resources to help. They should also pay
extra attention to training and process
compliance during deployment. For
Top Performers, success is dictated by
careful planning and process alignment
long before a system is configured.
Some Top Performers indicated they
spent twice as much time documenting
and optimizing processes as they did
actually configuring these processes.
Remember: garbage in, garbage out.
If you rush the implementation and
implement sub-par processes in a new
system it amplifies and streamlines
mediocre results.
Lack of senior management
support. The key executive sponsor
for MRM is the Chief Marketing Officer,
since MRM affects nearly everyone
within marketing and relatively few
people outside. Support may also be
Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
18
LEAST CHALLENGING ASPECTS OF
MRM FOR TOP PERFORMERS*
100%
50%
36%
Poor marketing
processes.
31%
31%
Lack of senior
Lack of ROI / Unable
management support.
to justify
investment.
* According to Top Performers, based on 298 Qualified Survey Responses to the Q4 2014 survey on MRM.
**According to Everyone Else shown only when a notable disparity occurs relative to Top Performers
needed from leaders in Finance and
Information Technology groups, who
will assess the business case and
technology implications. After approval,
the CMO must continue to support
the project to ensure that workers
within marketing work to ensure a
successful deployment. A strong senior
leadership team is a core differentiator
for Top Performing organizations. The
biggest risk to the investment is not
the technology, but people. Executive
champions should take a vested interest
in ongoing communication about the
benefits, goals, and decisions made
during the project rollout. Inevitably,
there are always a handful of resistant
resources who may require some
strong-arm encouragement before
divesting of legacy processes or
systems. Interestingly, the stakeholders
and executives who initially resist the
most often become some of the biggest
advocates of MRM years down the line.
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Regulatory constraints. Government
regulations may specify that data is
treated in particular ways to ensure
privacy or create an audit trail. The
MRM system may play a key role in
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meeting these requirements. If so, the
necessary capabilities will be part of
the selection criteria. Compliance will
also be part of deployment planning,
process design, configuration, and user
training. Meeting regulatory standards
can consume a large portion of the
implementation budget.
Lack of IT support. Many MRM
systems are offered as a vendor-hosted
service, minimizing the IT effort required
for deployment. But even in those
situations, the IT department may be
involved in project assessment and
vendor selection. IT assistance may
also be needed to integrate MRM with
other corporate systems, to manage
access across company firewalls, and
to ensure compliance with corporate
security policies. If internal IT resources
are not available, most MRM vendors
have service teams that can handle
much of the process. In these situations
it’s critical to document the data
governance decisions that were made
to protect the investment at a later
time. More often than not, when IT isn’t
involved initially, they soon find out the
project has a massive impact on the
Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
organization and can slow the rollout
process.
Lack of ROI/Unable to justify
investment. MRM can usually be
justified in terms of cost savings.
However, developing specific, creditable
estimates can be hard, especially in
organizations that lack strong marketing
operations discipline. Marketers in
this situation can sometimes identify
enough savings to pay for the system by
focusing on particular benefits such as
reduced revisions or greater materials
reuse. In other cases, marketers may be
able to justify the system by assuming a
small percentage savings across broad
categories, such as support staff or
production costs.
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19
Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
20
Part 5: Performance Metrics
Performance Metrics
These represent the most common
metrics Top Performers use to
physically measure the success of a
technology initiative before and/or
after the implementation.
Since the goal of MRM is greater operating efficiency, the most important
performance metrics are efficiency measures. But efficiency can be
measured at many levels, from return on marketing investment to cost per
standard task to marketing spend per staff member. Metrics for MRM should
report results that MRM affects directly, not those primarily determined by
other factors. Ideally, the metrics would also show where MRM is working
well and where it can be improved. No single metric can accomplish these
aims, but marketers can easily look at several.
Another set of metrics captures the accuracy of operational data, such as variance
between actual and budgeted costs and between planned and actual schedules.
Although not directly related to marketing efficiency, these are key factors in
assessing the performance of the operations group.
Metrics can also report on use of the MRM system itself. This includes the
number of active users and the percentage of projects or budget managed within
the system. These can help managers identify groups of users who have not
fully adopted the system and find tasks where the system has not been working
effectively.
MOST COMMON METRICS FOR MEASURING
MRM ROI ACCORDING TO TOP PERFORMERS*
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98%
82%
67%
Revenue growth
Projects delivered
on time / on
budget
Marketing spend as %
of revenue
* According to Top Performers, based on 298 Qualified Survey Responses to the Q4 2014 survey on MRM.
**According to Everyone Else shown only when a notable disparity occurs relative to Top Performers
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Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
21
Revenue. Revenue is the most basic
measure of business performance,
but it can rarely be attributed directly
to a MRM system. There may be
exceptions where MRM supports a key
function, such as distributing advertising
materials or supporting a specific media
channel. Even then, factors other than
the system itself are more likely to drive
results.
Projects delivered on time/on
budget. The project management
features of MRM allow users to track
how well marketing projects meet their
schedules and budgets. Improved
management is a primary goal of MRM,
so this is a useful performance metric
for both the system and its users.
Variance of actual to estimated
project costs. MRM should give
marketers better visibility into actual
expenses, thereby helping to predict
future costs for similar projects. Since
better predictions are a primary MRM
benefit, prediction accuracy is an
important measure of system results.
Marketing spend as % of revenue.
The ratio of marketing spend to total
revenue is a general measure of
marketing effectiveness. Since MRM
is primarily a way to improve marketing
efficiency, benefits from MRM should be
reflected in a lower spend-to-revenue
ratio. However, as with revenue itself,
other factors are likely to have a greater
influence on results. Careful analysis
is needed to isolate the impact of MRM
itself.
ROI on marketing spend. Return on
marketing spend is properly measured
using the incremental revenue or profit
created by marketing expenses. In
practice, it is often difficult to determine
how much incremental revenue can
be attributed directly to marketing. The
portion of this due specifically to MRM
is still harder to estimate.
Variance of actual to estimated
program results. In a fully deployed
MRM system, the planning features
include estimates of program results,
and actual results are posted from
execution systems. Marketers should
be able to use this information to refine
their estimates of future results.
Cost per standard marketing task
(e.g. per email sent, per ad created,
etc.). MRM is intended to reduce the
cost of marketing tasks, so these are
appropriate measures. However, using
COMMON METRICS FOR MEASURING MRM
ROI ACCORDING TO TOP PERFORMERS*
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59%
51%
47%
ROI on marketing
spend
Variance of actual
to estimated
project costs
Percentage of
marketing spend
managed within the
system
* According to Top Performers, based on 298 Qualified Survey Responses to the Q4 2014 survey on MRM.
**According to Everyone Else shown only when a notable disparity occurs relative to Top Performers
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Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
NUMBERS
63
63% of Top Performing
organizations use MRM
technology versus 35% of
Everyone Else who reports
the same.
Percentage of Top Performers
who ranked social media
monitoring as a key “new” and
desired feature that comes
to mind when thinking about
marketing operaitons.
90
61
90% of Everyone Else
ranked lack of funding
as a top challenge with
marketing operations.
Percentage of firms planning
on investing in marketing
operations in the next 12-24
months.
42
22
them requires detailed information about
activity volumes and costs, which are
not necessarily available. Companies
wishing to use these measures need to
ensure they have the appropriate data
capture processes in place.
Number of marketing assets
managed within system. As with other
utilization metrics, number of assets
managed is not a direct value measure.
The growing number of assets at most
companies does make it a useful
measure of volume and, combined with
other data, of staff productivity.
Marketing spend per marketing staff
member. Staff productivity may be the
most important MRM benefit, and spend
per staff member is the most general
productivity metric. Trends may also be
affected by change in the media mix,
since some media are inherently more
labor intensive than others. If analysis
can control for these and other factors,
spend per staff member can be a critical
MRM metric.
Number of active users on the
system. Because MRM is a marketingwide system, the number of active users
is an important measure of adoption. It
does not directly measure the benefits
of the system, however.
LEAST COMMON METRICS FOR MEASURING
MRM ROI ACCORDING TO TOP PERFORMERS*
45%
39%
28%
Variance of actual
to estimated
program results
Number of active
users on the system
Marketing spend
per marketing staff
member
* According to Top Performers, based on 298 Qualified Survey Responses to the Q4 2014 survey on MRM.
**According to Everyone Else shown only when a notable disparity occurs relative to Top Performers
75
Percentage of CMOs who
rank “visibility into marketing
processes” as a top 2 reason
to invest in MRM.
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Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
23
Part 6: Success Stories
With the nation’s largest financial services network, Bank of America delivers
quality services and products to more than 30 million customers. At Bank of
America, measuring process improvement is an imperative, as evidenced by
its adoption of the Six Sigma methodology as a means to achieve companywide goals consistently.
The Challenge
Note: The original version of this Success
Story may have been prepared—and
previously published—by an enabling
solution provider. If so, it is edited and
reproduced here by permission. While
reasonable efforts have been made to verify
the accuracy of the information contained
herein through independent fact-checking,
Gleanster disclaims liability for any content
that was developed and submitted by third
parties. Success Stories are selected
based solely on the merits of the content as
judged by Gleanster’s Research Oversight
Committee. Vendors are not charged a fee
for inclusion and no preference is given to
vendors based on their ability to purchase
other Gleanster products or services.
Any questions or concerns regarding this
particular Success Story–or Gleanster’s
selection criteria or policies, in general–
should be directed to successstories@
gleanster.com. Case studies may be
submitted for publishing consideration
using the Success Stories Submission Form.
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the terms of use.
Corporate objectives,” stated the
Communications Manager.
As part of an initiative to improve
The Solution
process efficiency and track
marketing effectiveness, Bank of
Bank of America invested in an
America’s Corporate Marketing and
on-demand MRM solution designed
Communications team reevaluated the
to support plan, spend, and project
way it plans, executes and measures
management. Bank of America’s Brand
its marketing efforts. “Previously,
and Advertising team conducted the
each communications manager
pilot implementation of the Project
handled projects differently,” said the
Management solution. To address
Communications Manager, Bank of
its processes comprehensively, 330
America Brand nd Advertising. “For
Bank of America marketing team
example, wo campaigns would be
members, including 100 from Brand
managed
and Advertising
using different
and 12 external
Establishing a consistent
methods, while
advertising
process throughout our
performance
marketing organization
agencies, were
measurement
has helped us closely
trained on the
tracking
align projects to
applications. Using
for each
corporate objectives.”
the modeling
project was
capability, the
inconsistent.
planning and
As a result, nearly
approval phase quickly produced
10 percent of marketing projects
improvements.
required some level of rework. “We
The Results
therefore needed a standard project
This increased the accuracy of
management approach for marketing
financial data, reduced the time spent
the company, its products and services
researching invoices and made it easier
and to decrease cost and cycle time.
to leverage current financial information
This would also allow us to track results
for decisions. Invoice processing cycles
across projects so we could measure
were significantly shortened. “In the first
process improvements. We needed
year of operation we actually processed
visibility across all marketing projects
33 percent more invoices,” said the
to ensure each one was aligned with
Strategic Market Manager.
“
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Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
24
Part 7: Vendor Landscape
Vendor & Solution Showcases
Browse the MRM
Research Portal
Visit www.gleanster.com to access
vendor and solution showcases for this
topic area, where you’ll find:
• Vendor Descriptions
• Analyst Commentary
• Related White Papers
• Videos & Presentations
• Solution Demos
The economic climate over the last decade slowed investments in MRM –
but certainly didn’t eliminate the need. Budget cuts placed greater emphasis
on demand generation and customer engagement, shifting spending toward
technologies and initiatives that directly accelerated top line growth. Many
organizations considered back-office efficiency a secondary concerns amid
tight budgets. But the last two to three years have seen a sharp increases in
marketing management initiatives that include investments in MRM. Manual
processes and legacy systems are reaching diminishing returns against a
perpetual demand for more content in more channels. In a fortuitous turn
of events, the underlying value proposition of MRM is gaining significant
attention as marketing leaders wake up to the harsh reality of unsalable
manual processes, lack of visibility into marketing activities, and longer than
average cycle time on marketing execution. More and more organizations
are looking to the future and a roadmap for a longer-term infrastructure
that supports marketing success (driven by exceedingly high customer
expectations and increased competition for share of wallet).
• Other Related Research
• And much more...
It’s everything you need to make smart
technology decisions. All in one place.
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Traditional MRM systems were
on-premise implementations offering
workflow, budgeting, digital asset
management, and reporting – designed
for large complex marketing functions.
These systems provide structure
and scalability for aligning marketing
objectives and execution across many
business units, functions, or product
lines. They are expensive, robust,
and really the only option for very
large complex marketing operations
environments. About five years ago, the
industry saw significant consolidation.
The largest MRM players were acquired
by industry leading organizations with
the goal of pulling them into a larger
customer management solution stack.
Unfortunately, consolidation led to a
diminished focus on traditional MRM
capabilities for the acquiring companies
– likely because licenses to MRM
software account for a tiny fraction of a
ten figure deals on hardware solutions;
sales reps just aren’t motivated to drive
investments in MRM. Ironically the
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very organizations that championed
the term have all but disappeared from
spearheading thought leadership and
rarely show up on short-lists.
Today, MRM capabilities are available
on-demand and more accessible to
midsize organization that have a need
for marketing operations management
capabilities. Interestingly, the very
capabilities that make them more
accessible to mid-size companies
are just as relevant for enterprises
where departments or business units
are looking for turnkey and easy to
support MRM capabilities. For midsize
organizations, seamless integration
between back-office activity and
customer engagement is critical. As a
result, some MRM solution capabilities
are blended into a comprehensive
solution that supports planning to multichannel execution. These on-demand
solutions often lack the robust features
and security options of enterprise MRM
solutions, but deliver more than enough
Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
capabilities to align the marketing value
chain.
Services have also become a major
selling point for vendors who will often
include implementation services as
part of the investment (a potential
point of negotiation) in the technology
license. It’s important to keep in mind
that vendors are typically REALLY
good at configuring the technology,
and not as good about non-technical
aspects of the implementation such as
process re-engineering, organizational
alignment, phased implementations,
and industry specific best practices.
As a technology, MRM is an enabler
of people and process. The speed
of deployment should be the least
important component of the initiative.
Do it right, or you will be doing it again.
The most important best practice to
stress when evaluating MRM is to
firmly understand your organization,
the processes, and exactly what you
need the tool to support. Vendors will
answer all of your questions with “Yes it
can do that” or “We can make it work.”
Keep a list of prioritized benefits your
organization needs to accomplish to see
value from the initiative and let vendors
know how you plan to measure success
and hold them to these considerations
during the roll-out.
Note: This document is intended for individual
use. Electronic distribution via email or by
posting on a personal website is in violation of
the terms of use.
MRM systems are designed to
provide structure and cadence to an
otherwise chaotic process. Marketing
is part art and part science, and many
stakeholders will have a difficult time
placing rigor around creative process.
Some users have even referred to
MRM as the ERP of marketing. While
this is partly true, it’s important to
re-iterate the goals of the initiative and
drive organizational alignment across
the company, long before turning
dials on configuration. Engage users,
find out where their pain is in manual
processes and attempt to alleviate this
pain within MRM. A stubborn marketer
may view MRM as more work, and that
might be true if they are unwilling to
Entire content © 2014 Gleanster, LLC. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited.
25
divest of legacy processes or systems.
Change management is critical when
implementing MRM. Demonstrate why
the system is important, how it’s less
risky, and communicate early (and often)
with all stakeholders – particularly in the
technology selection process.
Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
26
ADAM Software http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/adam-software
FAQs About Gleanster
Vendor Rankings
What is Gleanster’s
methodology for capturing
vendor rankings data?
Vendor rankings are crowd-sourced by end
users in Gleanster surveys. Respondents
are asked to rank their current or past
experience with relevant vendors on a
scale of 1-5. A minimum of 8 user reviews
are required to show up on the chart. This
is not a statistically valid sample size, but
it’s quite difficult to get in front of actual
users. Gleanster promotes this survey
independently AND allows vendors to
promote the survey link prior to publication
to drive customer participation. The top 8
highest survey responses are taken into
account on the rankings. All vendors have
equal ability to be covered on the rankings
charts. Vendors do not pay Gleanster to be
covered and cannot influence placement
with an analyst relationship.
How do I interpret the data
on this chart?
Eight users with current or past experience
with one or more solutions from this vendor
gave them an average score of “x” based
on the criteria of this chart. This information
should (1) be taken with a grain of salt given
the sample size and (2) be married with
other sources of rankings data available in
the market research industry.
If a vendor isn’t ranked as
“Best,” what does that mean?
The Good, Better, Best rankings are a
way to segment user feedback in easy to
digest buckets. Any vendor with more than
one customer has a technology offering
that is successfully addressing the needs
of a satisfied customer base. Regardless
of the score, placement on the vendor
rankings charts is a good thing. It means
you get insight into user perception from...
“ADAM Software develops media intelligent
software for marketing/media creation,
management and distribution. Our software
delivers automation and optimization of these
processes, which means faster cycle times, more
consistent quality and branding, and high ROI.”
Gleanster Skinny: ADAM Software is
specifically designed for marketers and media
companies. The solution is marketed under a
unique acronym MEP (Marketing Execution
Platform) which ADAM uses to frame the
evolution of DAM requirements within the
marketing function. ADAM Software is probably
more appropriate for the DAM topic area than
MRM. But they have a robust set of workflow and
collaboration capabilities that would make them
an ideal fit for marketing operations initiatives
that demand digital asset heavy requirements
(also the core focus on marketing makes them
a natural candidate for the MRM landscape).
ADAM is a great fit for national or global
enterprise manufacturers who struggle with
aligning product information management and
digital asset management.
MRM VENDORS RANKED BY EASE OF
DEPLOYMENT
BASED ON EXPERIENCE FROM USERS
GOOD
BETTER
BEST
INFOR, ORBIS
MICROSOFT
DOCUSTAR
ORACLE
IBM, UNICA
3.5 out of 5
3.5 out of 5
SAS
2.9 out of 5
4.3 out of 5
4.9 out of 5
ADOBE
4.0 out of 5
4.8 out of 5
ATTASK
MARCOMCENTRAL
3.7 out of 5
TERADATA
2.3
4.7 out of 5
SAEPIO
4.6 out of 5
* Gleanster Research 2014 MRM Gleansight Benchmark Report
Note: This document is intended for individual
use. Electronic distribution via email or by
posting on a personal website is in violation of
the terms of use.
Vendor Rankings FLASH chart © Gleanster, November 2014 Note: Vendor rankings are determined by the experiences
of industry practitioners, according to survey feedback, and not by the assessment or opinion of Gleanster analysts.
The omission of a particular vendor may be due to lack of sufficient data and may be no indication of that company’s
performance relative to other solution providers. Information on the research methodology used for vendor rankings is
available elsewhere in this Gleansight benchmark report and also in the FAQ section of the Gleanster website.
Entire content © 2014 Gleanster, LLC. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited.
Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
...a tiny sub-set of the vendor’s users who
were willing to provide feedback. But don’t
assume the score is indicative of ALL
customers – be that a top ranking score or
a lower ranking score. Again, use the data
as one of many pieces of information that
may influence your decision. Our goal is to
help buyers, not bias buyers.
If a vendor isn’t ranked at all,
what does that mean?
Not showing up on vendor rankings is
merely an indication that Gleanster did
not capture enough user reviews for
inclusion on the report. Sometimes the
magic works, and sometimes it doesn’t. But
we’re determined to keep trying so you can
make informed decisions on technology
spend. You will, however, notice that these
vendors are covered in our Gleansights
and usually have a Gleanster Skinny
covering their solutions.
Why does Gleanster provide
rankings in this way?
You have access to an abundance of
data from analysts who provide context
about vendors based on the solutions
offered and market presence. It’s more
difficult to capture user feedback based
on criteria buyers consider when investing
in technology solutions. Our rankings are
based on end-user feedback and should be
used as a directionally relevant data point
in your decision – one of many. The data
may not be statistically valid, but it’s better
than a sharp stick in the eye. It’s up to you
to determine if it merits any weight in your
decision process.
Can the data be biased?
Vendors have the ability to promote the
survey link prior to publication. Technically
they could encourage 8 customers to bias
the data. However, survey responses
are anonymous, and generally users are
quite honest – which ultimately impacts
the average score for vendors. Also,
buyers are savvy. Gleanster does capture
personally verifiable data on survey
respondents to validate the accuracy of
user feedback, but analysis is always at
an aggregate level. Personal data from
respondents is put in a special lock box
that Al Gore keeps under his bed.
Adgistics http://www.gleanster.com/vendor/adgistics
“Adgistics Brand Asset Management solution –
the Brand Centre – houses a range of first class
modules, which make your assets work harder
and smarter whilst adding value to your brand.”
Gleanster Skinny: Adgistics is a .NET
based platform designed to help manage the
complexity of digital asset management in the
marketing function. Adgistics Brand Centre®
offers a unique combination of capabilities that
actually align to a variety of Gleanster Topic
Areas including Marketing Asset Management,
Localized Marketing Automation, DAM, and
Brand Management. Adgistics is a great fit
for enterprise brands and showcases clients
like adidas, Jack Daniel’s, Southern Comfort,
and Honda. Adgistics tends to have very high
adoption among users because the system is
designed for marketers – which means it must be
easy to use, brandable, and customized for the
nuances of a marketing operations environment.
The solution is easy to implement and pricing is
generally based on a flat monthly license fee (not
per user) which reinforces the commitment to
driving adoption after implementation.
Adnovate
http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/adnovate
“One online marketing platform to connect
everyone you need in the marketing supply
chain. Roll out marketing content and campaigns
quicker, easier and more consistent across the
channels you want to use.”
Gleanster Skinny: Adnovate has established
a solid reputation in the MRM space with a
marketing solution that boasts a particularly
strong focus on enabling multi-channel content
management. Adnovate supports both the
on-demand, SaaS multi-tenant model and the
on-premise model. Perhaps the only area where
the solution is lacking compared to other leading
MRM solutions is in financial management. The
company has operations in 6 countries and
serves over 9,000 customers including globally
known brands like Ford, Philips, ING, and
Valvoline. Most of its clients are based in Europe.
Adobe
Note: This document is intended for individual
use. Electronic distribution via email or by
posting on a personal website is in violation of
the terms of use.
http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/adobe
“One online marketing platform to connect
Entire content © 2014 Gleanster, LLC. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited.
27
everyone you need in the marketing supply
chain. Roll out marketing content and campaigns
quicker, easier and more consistent across the
channels you want to use.”
Gleanster Skinny: Adobe made initial forays
into the MRM space with the acquisition of
Neolane, which has now been rebranded to
Adobe Campaign. Adobe does not market
Campaign as an MRM solution and rarely deals
with the MRM requirement in deal cycles. But
the solution does have some traditional MRM
capabilities that were recently imbedded in
the product including calendars, budgeting,
forecasting, and task management (they used
to be a separate module). Adobe Campaign is a
more appropriate solution for companies looking
for campaign management capabilities – not
core MRM. But if light MRM capabilities are
desired it may be sufficient at checking some
boxes. Adobe continues to do a phenomenal
job building out the marketing cloud vision for
mid-size and enterprise customers. More robust
MRM capabilities are actually something Adobe
will likely need to invest in to really support
the entire marketing value chain effectively.
In truth, Adobe is likely a point of discussion
in every MRM initiative where integration with
creative suite capabilities is a natural part of the
back-office processed management.
Aptean (formerly, CDC Software and
Consona)
http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/aptean
“Aptean, a global leader in enterprise application
software (EAS), gives businesses of all sizes
a competitive edge. We empower people and
businesses with end-to-end, industry-specific
solutions to address complex business
challenges more effectively. Our software
applications and professional business services
enable more than 9,000 customers, in more than
100 countries, to more successfully manage their
business. Software built specifically for our target
markets, aligned with deep knowledge across
vertical industries, allow businesses to satisfy
their customers, operate most efficiently, and
stay at the forefront of their industry.”
Gleanster Skinny: You can find MRM
capabilities in the Pivotal CRM Marketing
Automation solution which gives marketing
teams the ability to track and manage all
of their resources, processes and projects
from a centralized platform. Currently in its
sixth iteration and built on the Microsoft.NET
Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
Vendor Landscape Quick
Reference Guide
ADAM Software
Adgistics
Adnovate
Adobe
Aptean
AtTask
BrandMaker
BrandMaster
Brandmuscle
BrandSystems
BrandWizard
Brandworkz
Capital ID
Celum
Code Worldwide
DataSource
Direxxis
Distribion
DocuStar
Elateral
Fision
IBM
Infor, Orbis
Kodak
Marketingunity
Microsoft
Mtivity
North Plains
Oracle
Pica9
PTI, MarcomCentral
Resolut MRM
Saepio
SAP
SAS
SprouLoud
Strata Company
SyncForce
Teradata
Vertis
Widen
28
Framework, Pivotal CRM embeds Microsoft
Office, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft SharePoint
and Microsoft Visual Studio. With a portfolio
of over 32 product lines and overlapping CRM
products (Pivotal, Onyx, and Saratoga), Aptean
can get a bit dicey to navigate. To date, the
“pivotal” product the company is mainly focusing
on is Pivotal CRM and all three CRM products
enjoy healthy penetration in three main verticals:
financial services, manufacturing, and high tech.
The company is looking at which product lines
(if any) to migrate into a consolidated stack, so
buyers may wish to gain more insight into the
future product roadmap plans before making an
investment decision.
AtTask
http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/attask
“AtTask has become the system of choice for
organizations worldwide that are looking to
improve how knowledge workers organize and
manage work. Our Enterprise Work Management
solution intelligently combines social media
techniques with traditional project management
capabilities to fully engage team members in
high priority productive activities while providing
management teams with the information and
MRM VENDORS RANKED BY
EASE OF USE
BASED ON EXPERIENCE FROM USERS
GOOD
IBM, UNICA
BETTER
BEST
3.2 out of 5
3.9 out of 5
ATTASK
DOCUSTAR
INFOR, ORBIS
ORACLE
MARCOMCENTRAL
SAS
MICROSOFT
2.2 out of 5
3.3 out of 5
3.3 out of 5
TERADATA
3.3 out of 5
4.9 out of 5
4.6 out of 5
4.4 out of 5
ADOBE
4.4 out of 5
SAEPIO
4.1 out of 5
* Gleanster Research 2014 MRM Gleansight Benchmark Report
Note: This document is intended for individual
use. Electronic distribution via email or by
posting on a personal website is in violation of
the terms of use.
Vendor Rankings FLASH chart © Gleanster, November 2014 Note: Vendor rankings are determined by the experiences
of industry practitioners, according to survey feedback, and not by the assessment or opinion of Gleanster analysts.
The omission of a particular vendor may be due to lack of sufficient data and may be no indication of that company’s
performance relative to other solution providers. Information on the research methodology used for vendor rankings is
available elsewhere in this Gleansight benchmark report and also in the FAQ section of the Gleanster website.
Entire content © 2014 Gleanster, LLC. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited.
Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
29
visibility they need to optimize their resources.”
Gleanster Skinny: At its core AtTask is a project
collaboration platform designed to meet the
needs of Marketing and IT (or anyone). AtTask
doesn’t use MRM in messaging, but the solution
absolutely addresses project management
complexities for marketing operations
professionals. Key features include workflow,
approval, project management, collaboration,
notifications, resource management, recognition,
document management, a calendar, reporting,
and mobile ready dashboards. AtTask is an
ideal fit for companies looking to streamline
and centralize cumbersome internal processes
rapidly via an on-demand solution. It’s a
great way to streamline centralized visibility
on back-office marketing execution and give
executives instant access to mobile ready
dashboards. AtTask boasts some great brands
as clients including NBC Universal, Dell, HBO,
Workday, AMC, Sony, and many more.
BrandMaker
http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/brandmaker
BrandMaker is the leading provider of
Marketing Resource Management (MRM)
systems in Europe. Established in 1999 as
pi-consult GmbH, the company has operated
as BrandMaker GmbH since 2009; it focuses
exclusively on the development and marketing of
MRM VENDORS RANKED BY
FEATURES AND FUNCTIONALITY
BASED ON EXPERIENCE FROM USERS
GOOD
BETTER
BEST
IBM, UNICA
DOCUSTAR
TERADATA
3.9 out of 5
MICROSOFT
3.4 out of 5
ORACLE
3.0 out of 5
4.1 out of 5
ADOBE
4.8 out of 5
ATTASK
4.0 out of 5
4.8 out of 5
SAS
MARCOMCENTRAL
4.0 out of 5
INFOR, ORBIS
4.0 out of 5
4.6 out of 5
SAEPIO
4.2 out of 5
* Gleanster Research 2014 MRM Gleansight Benchmark Report
Note: This document is intended for individual
use. Electronic distribution via email or by
posting on a personal website is in violation of
the terms of use.
Vendor Rankings FLASH chart © Gleanster, November 2014 Note: Vendor rankings are determined by the
experiences of industry practitioners, according to survey feedback, and not by the assessment or opinion
of Gleanster analysts. The omission of a particular vendor may be due to lack of sufficient data and may be
no indication of that company’s performance relative to other solution providers. Information on the research
methodology used for vendor rankings is available elsewhere in this Gleansight benchmark report and also in the
FAQ section of the Gleanster website.
Entire content © 2014 Gleanster, LLC. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited.
Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
demanding software solutions for the marketing
communication of medium-sized and large
organizations. BrandMaker is headquartered
in Karlsruhe and employs approximately 185
people.”
Gleanster Skinny: Germany-based BrandMaker
offers a robust MRM solution that is used across
North America and Europe. The vendor is
differentiated by its broad set of MRM capabilities
sold as modules including planning, budgeting,
media asset management, web-to-print, job
management, and reporting. The modular
approach to MRM is a great fit for organizations
that want to make smaller investments in MRM
(paying for what you need) and then expand to
other areas based on business requirements.
That said, the modular nature of the offering
leaves something to be desired from an
integration standpoint. Budgeting and calendar
modules still require a significant amount of
manual intervention for marketers both from a
creation and management standpoint making
more complex to manage. The workflow
capabilities are however extremely flexible
and can be customized to fit any business
requirements – including customized brand
templates for customization by local affiliates.
BrandMaster
http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/brandmaster
“BrandMaster is one of Europe’s leading
marketing software and services companies.
We deliver high-performance online
technology to help deliver your brands and
marketing campaigns with speed, control and
cost-efficiency. Our customers range from
national to premium global brand leaders who
rely on our marketing software and services to
address the challenge of efficient and effective
multi-channel marketing, across 74 countries, 6
continents and 24 hours a day.”
Note: This document is intended for individual
use. Electronic distribution via email or by
posting on a personal website is in violation of
the terms of use.
Gleanster Skinny: BrandMaster is an online
marketing platform, designed to help you
plan, collect, share, adapt, and distribute all
your marketing online. BrandMaster offers
all the standard MRM features you would
expect including planning, budgeting, project
management, collaboration, calendars,
workflow, templates, asset management, and
reporting. Key features include video streaming
and drag-and-drop functionality for uploading
content. The platform can be run out-of-the-box
or can be customized to a client’s specific needs.
BrandMaster’s customer base ranges from
Entire content © 2014 Gleanster, LLC. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited.
30
smaller companies to global brands in multiple
countries.
BrandWizard
http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/brandwizard
“Acting as the digital arm of Interbrand
Corporation since 1998, BrandWizard combines
branding and Digital Asset Management
(DAM) to bring technology solutions to brand
management challenges. While DAM is certainly
not a new concept, we believe it is evolving
from a basic storage space for brand guidelines
and elements to collaborative marketing
workspaces. As the leading provider of brand
management platforms, BrandWizard is on the
forefront of this shift in the market. For the past
15 years, BrandWizard has built customized
brand portal solutions for global and multi-brand
organizations. Our extensive experience
informs our best-in-class core offering: an
off-the-shelf Brand Center built with your primary
requirements in mind.”
Gleanster Skinny: BrandWizard is ideal for
companies looking for a brand management
focused solution. Its parent company
Interbrand is a subsidiary of Omnicom Group.
BrandWizard’s close connection to the large
agency has helped fuel growth, particularly
with companies that want creative production
management and marketing fulfillment
capabilities. The solution is customized and
branded for each client’s brand guidelines, but
from an MRM standpoint BrandWizard largely
addresses two value propositions: workflow
& approvals and collateral customization.
BrandWizard is an ideal fit for large enterprise
clients looking for turnkey software and services
for brand management. BrandWizard works with
enterprise clients like Hyatt, AT&T, Visa, SAP,
P&G, and many more.
Brandmuscle
http://www.gleanster.com/vendor/brandmuscle
“Brandmuscle has reinvented local marketing
for global and national brands and their local
affiliates. With BrandBuilder®, our local
marketing automation platform and ad builder
solution, your local affiliates can market when,
where and how they need to across multiple
decision points and media channels - while
preserving and strengthening the power of
your brand. We make distributed marketing
management and local marketing automation
Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
31
easy, empowering the brands we serve with
everything they need to ‘own local’.”
Gleanster Skinny: Brandmuscle has over 175
clients and 650 plus employees. The solution
is primarily marketed as a local marketing
platform designed to manage the complexity
of brand execution across corporate and local
affiliates in a distributed environment. From an
MRM perspective Brandmuscle checks the box
on workflow, collaboration, and digital asset
management. There’s also a strong co-op and
MDF fund management module from a financial
Note: While Gleanster strives to
include all of the most relevant and
noteworthy solution providers in the
Vendor Landscape section, the list
is by no means comprehensive in
nature. Omissions may occur due to
lack of sufficient market presence,
as judged by the Gleanster research
analyst team. Space constraints may
necessitate some amount of paring
of even those vendors that do have
sufficient market presence. Simple
oversights may also happen on
occasion. To submit information about
a solution provider, please complete
the Solution Provider Information Form.
To schedule a vendor briefing, please
email [email protected]. Vendor
descriptions are taken verbatim from
company websites or from vendorsubmitted profile information. Gleanster
Skinny (GS) commentaries are
based on vendor briefings, customer
interviews and Gleansight research
findings as well as on company press
releases and various other information
sources.
standpoint. Brandmuscle predominantly targets
North America and Canada, but also references
a fair share of global clientele. The platform is
designed for large established brands with 300 or
more local affiliates on the low end and upwards
of 75,000 local entities on the high end. The
company has never targeted a single industry
and can reference clients across an eclectic
mix of sectors. Nevertheless, the platform has
gained significant traction in insurance, financial
services, and communications due to robust
compliance management and governance
capabilities. While Brandmuscle is a software-
MRM VENDORS RANKED BY
OVERALL VALUE
BASED ON EXPERIENCE FROM USERS
GOOD
BETTER
MICROSOFT
DOCUSTAR
IBM, UNICA
INFOR, ORBIS
3.5 out of 5
TERADATA
3.1 out of 5
4.3 out of 5
BEST
ATTASK
4.8 out of 5
SAEPIO
4.2 out of 5
4.7 out of 5
ADOBE
MARCOMCENTRAL
4.1 out of 5
4.6 out of 5
SAS
3.0 out of 5
ORACLE
3.0 out of 5
* Gleanster Research 2014 MRM Gleansight Benchmark Report
Note: This document is intended for individual
use. Electronic distribution via email or by
posting on a personal website is in violation of
the terms of use.
Vendor Rankings FLASH chart © Gleanster, November 2014 Note: Vendor rankings are determined by the experiences
of industry practitioners, according to survey feedback, and not by the assessment or opinion of Gleanster analysts.
The omission of a particular vendor may be due to lack of sufficient data and may be no indication of that company’s
performance relative to other solution providers. Information on the research methodology used for vendor rankings is
available elsewhere in this Gleansight benchmark report and also in the FAQ section of the Gleanster website.
Entire content © 2014 Gleanster, LLC. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited.
Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
as-a-service technology platform, the company
also offers a managed service offering - which
makes Brandmuscle very attractive to local
marketers who may not have staff or expertise
to execute complex local marketing efforts.
The platform is extremely robust and delivery
agnostic, which means it includes everything
from back-office asset management to
multi-channel customer engagement. Features
include: ad builder, asset management,
marketing automation, local media, print on
demand, print fulfillment, co-op and MDF fund
management, reporting, and training. Buyers
can expect a full-service software and service
offering to range from $150,000 and up annually.
Brandmuscle is an ideal fit for organizations that
want a robust distributed marketing platform
and ongoing strategic guidance, training, and
personalized one-to-one marketing support for
local affiliates.
Brandworkz http://www.gleanster.com/vendor/brandworkz
“Brandworkz specializes in brand management
software and we have spent the last 15 years
building and developing it from the ground up.
Today it is used by hundreds of clients, whether
global commercial companies or medium sized
brand-led businesses across dozens of countries
to grow their brand value.”
Gleanster Skinny: Brandworkz is a cloud-based
software platform that allows marketers to
manage, control and share marketing content.
Brandworkz addresses the complex and messy
challenges associated with managing brand
compliant marketing content inside large global
or national brands. Brandworkz helps enterprise
marketers manage the brand via workflows,
approvals, and centralized management. The
Brandworkz platform comes with seven modules:
DAM, Localization, Brand Education, Reporting,
Showcase, Social Collaboration and Production
Approvals. All modules are included as part of
the core functionality.
Note: This document is intended for individual
use. Electronic distribution via email or by
posting on a personal website is in violation of
the terms of use.
Brandworkz offers per user pricing on a
monthly or annual basis. The company initially
gained traction in the enterprise market, but
the simplicity of the offering is also ideal for
small and midsize organizations as well – which
Brandworkz intends to target heavily moving into
2015. Brandworkz boasts rapid implementation
and high adoption among brand marketing
users, which highlights the benefits of key
functionality such as a highly customizable user
Entire content © 2014 Gleanster, LLC. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited.
32
interface, intuitive workflows, and rule based
asset management (for standardized uploads,
metadata capture, and search).
BrandSystems
http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/brandsystems
“BrandSystems was founded in 1999 by
an innovative group of professionals with a
background in graphic design, advertising,
marketing and branding. From the earliest days
of MRM, we have designed the Solutions we
would like to use, and over the past decade our
products have been tweaked and refined. The
result is an elegant and sophisticated MRM
Solution with the best graphic user interface on
the market. We specialize in solving marketing
departments’ challenges by combining
communication process skills with state of the art
marketing technology.”
Gleanster Skinny: Gleanster has not briefed
with BrandSystems.
Capital ID
http://www.gleanster.com/vendor/capital-id
“Capital ID facilitates marketing impact. We
help organizations to operate more effectively
and efficiently. How? By delivering innovative
solutions at the interface of marketing and
technology for the automation and management
of (marketing) communications: Marketing
Resource/Operations Management (MRM)
and Digital Asset Management (DAM). Our ID
Manager portal combined with many years’
experience of successfully implementing and
rolling out this platform help our clients to get a
grip on processes and facilitate their employees.”
Gleanster Skinny: Capital ID offers a full service
solution for a range of national and international
clients. The company has signification traction
in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom and
limited exposure in the US. The solution includes
brand management, asset management, agency
management, event management, e-commerce,
content management, campaign management,
and creative production management. Capital
ID is built on a proprietary .NET framework
that supports both software-as-a-service and
cloud hosted environments. Capital ID has over
100,000 users and boasts some very impressive
globally known brands as clients. The system
supports both role and location based security
which informs all aspects of the platform. Capital
ID is an ideal fit for large enterprise brands
Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
that are looking a comprehensive solution
for marketing operations and execution. The
interface is fully branded for customers and can
be configured with language or regional specific
functionality.
Capital ID is ideal for complex marketing
operation environments in large enterprise
organizations where both IT and Marketing
intimately understand the complexity of
managing a global or distributed brand. But
pricing is generally competitive with marketing
resource management and integrated marketing
management solutions and could range from
$300,000 and up. The enterprise license comes
with unlimited users, which is an ideal fit for
technology that is truly designed to power the
channel and scale over local entities.
Celum
http://www.gleanster.com/vendor/celum
“celum is the worldwide leader in the
development of business software for brand
and product identity. Our solutions automate
and accelerate communication, marketing, and
sales processes, reducing costs and helping
our customers achieve greater flexibility in their
day-to-day operations. Over 750,000 users,
from more than 650 companies in 32 countries,
rely on celum software to deliver a new kind of
efficiency via digital asset management and rich
content management.”
Note: This document is intended for individual
use. Electronic distribution via email or by
posting on a personal website is in violation of
the terms of use.
Gleanster Skinny: Celum products are suitable
for organizations of all sizes, with its software
as a service (SaaS) solution damcloud.com
for small user groups, to large, enterprisewide deployments with up to 25,000 users
simultaneously using, editing, reviewing and
sharing rich content. Celum offers three core
product lines: Product Media Management
(a central system to manage, distribute, and
control multimedia product content for brands,
product lines, and markets), Social Media
Content Management (a unique offering for
tracking and publishing content via social media
channels), and Digital Asset Management (asset
management capabilities for large organizations
and largely addressing the needs of creative
and marketing teams). All three offerings can
be deployed via SaaS, a virtual private cloud,
and on-premise. Celum’s solutions play a key
role at world-renowned brands like 3M, CLAAS,
L’Oreal Professional, Toshiba, Toyota, Universal
Music, Volkswagen, and many more. Celum
also supports a rich network of global partners
Entire content © 2014 Gleanster, LLC. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited.
33
with expertise in digital asset and product
management.
Central Desktop, a PGi Company
http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/centraldesktop
““Central Desktop helps people work together
in ways they never imagined possible. Our
SocialBridge online collaboration platform
connects people and information in the cloud,
making it possible to share files, combine
knowledge, inspire ideas, manage projects
and more. Central Desktop serves more than
half a million users worldwide. Key Central
Desktop customers include CBS, MLB.com,
Harvard University, the Humane Society of the
United States, the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services, Javelin Marketing Group,
Upshot, Engauge, WD-40 and Workday. ”
Gleanster Skinny: Central Desktop originally
made inroads as an on-demand enterprise
collaboration platform provider. Then, in 2011,
the company shifted focus to specifically address
the collaborative needs of marketers. Today
Central Desktop enables project collaboration
for marketers by providing “marketing-specific
workflows that connect people, content and
customers in the cloud” through its flagship
product SocialBridge. SocialBridge has
established a strong presence in agencies as a
collaborative platform for managing interactions
with clients but the product is increasingly being
used by brands, as well. The customizable
solution is a good alternative to a more rigid and
structured Marketing Resource Management
(MRM) platform. The company had a strong year
last year. Highlights include record year-overyear growth for SocialBridge, key customer wins
and significant product enhancements to address
its growing base of enterprise customers.
Code Worldwide
http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/code-worldwide
“We build platforms for brands and their
agencies to streamline their advertising – control
their content, automate production, build
engagement, harness data to continually improve
performance.”
Gleanster Skinny: A fully owned subsidiary of
Omnicom Group, Code Worldwide is focused
on automating the creative advertising and
branding process for major brands and agencies.
Code’s adZU platform is designed to automate
Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
the production of digital display ads, building
hundreds of variants in seconds, allowing users
to target content to their audience. The solution
integrates with ad networks and social networks,
allowing users to control all their media from a
single console. There’s also a mobile component
which helps to build native apps, hybrid apps
and mobile web solutions. The vendor works
with media partners to connect audience and
performance data to optimize client campaigns.
DataSoruce
http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/datasource
“We provide turn-key solutions for brands with
complex distribution to deliver efficient and
effective multi-channel campaigns to local
markets. With MarketNow, DataSource allows
brands to consolidate functions across their
organization, leverage buying power, increase
speed to market, automate with technology
and streamline processes to precisely execute
integrated marketing and training programs in a
proven framework.”
Gleanster Skinny: DataSource delivers a
turnkey solution called MarketNow which is
frequently sold as a packaged technology and
service offering. DataSource primarily targets
restaurants, financial services, insurance, retail,
healthcare, and automotive. The offerings look
and feels more like an agency or print provider
with a technology offering, so buyers can expect
to also find expertise in: program management,
creative services, marketing services, technology
services, print management, sourcing and
procurement services, retail merchandising,
inventory, and kitting and fulfillment services.
The technology includes a traditional MRM
capabilities including digital asset management,
project and task management, store profiling,
and a brand store.
Direxxis http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/direxxis
Note: This document is intended for individual
use. Electronic distribution via email or by
posting on a personal website is in violation of
the terms of use.
“Direxxis is a leading provider of integrated
marketing solutions designed to support
organizations with decentralized sales and
marketing needs. Organizations rely on Direxxis
to simplify marketing operations by improving
the effectiveness, relevance, efficiency and
accountability of custom programs targeted at
regional customer audiences. Direxxis delivers
the power and flexibility required to deliver
relevant, consistent and timely sales and
marketing communications across all channels,
Entire content © 2014 Gleanster, LLC. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited.
34
including digital media, email, social media, text
messages, telephone, mail and traditional print
and display advertising mediums.”
Gleanster Skinny: Direxxis offers an integrated
marketing solution designed to help manage
the complexity associated with creating,
distributing and managing marketing assets
and content and maintaining brand standards.
The cloud-based platform enables multichannel fulfillment, performance tracking and
program administration. The platform is highly
configurable, easy to use and intuitive. Direxxis
has four solution options — Group Edition,
Professional Edition, Enterprise Edition and
Unlimited Edition, all of which share the same
multi-tenant data architecture. The company
primarily serves the North American market. Its
growing client list includes Purina Mills, Charles
Schwab, American Family Insurance, and FedEx
Office.
Distribion http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/distribion
“Distribion is a leading provider of web-based
multi-channel distributed marketing automation
software that allows organizations to more
efficiently manage the complex needs of a
distributed, multi-channel marketing approach
through a single integrated platform. Distribion’s
signature product offering is the Distributed
Marketing Platform (DMP). The DMP is the only
proven multi-channel marketing solution for
distributed marketing organizations in regulated
industries. We provide a complete solution that
makes it easy for local sales or marketing agents
to localize and personalize marketing messages
without compromising brand or regulatory
standards while effectively moving prospects
from brand awareness to a completed purchase.
The complete solution includes a user-friendly
interface that provides branded, pre-configured
and approved collateral that can be customized
and distributed over multiple channels including
email, direct mail, microsites, and social media.”
Gleanster Skinny: Distribion is exclusively an
on-demand platform which is largely unique
in the localized marketing automation space.
Distribion targets mid-to-large enterprise
organizations in highly regulated industries
such as Financial Services, Insurance,
Telecommunications, and Healthcare. They
also have a strong presence in Hospitality. The
platform is optimized for organizations that need
a scalable way to empower local sales reps with
Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
tools to personalize multi-channel engagement
(while simultaneously managing permissions
and brand compliance). While it’s not positioned
as an MRM tool and therefore has limited core
MRM capabilities, Distribion can help simplify
the collaboration and workflow processes in
distributed environments. Distribion is an ideal
fit for mid-size and enterprise organizations that
want desire more efficient engagement with
indirect sales affiliates.
DocuStar
http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/docustar
““MarketHUB Plus MRM is a SaaS platform that
empowers sales teams to customize marketing
materials and launch turnkey campaigns with
automated corporate approval workflows. By
providing software administration, template
uploads and user management services,
DocuStar helps you get the most out of
technology, not be overwhelmed by it.”
Gleanster Skinny: DocuStar has a 20-year
history delivering marketing process automation,
marketing production, and marketing fulfillment
solutions and services. This includes software,
multi-channel execution, and print management
services. The on-demand distributed marketing
software, called MarketHUB, is administered
and managed by DocuStar (a service they
refer to as software-at-your-service) delivering
marketing communications for large enterprise
clients with complex local marketing needs.
Key industries include Banking, Insurance,
Manufacturing, and Education although the client
roster includes companies from all industries and
company sizes. The DocuStar services team
possesses unique domain expertise in regulatory
environments – which gives them a deeper
level of understanding about solving problems
for banking, insurance, and manufacturing
than the average professional services group.
The flagship product is a marketing resource
management tool that supports process
automation, workflow, approval, and fund
management. DocuStar is an ideal fit for mid-tolarge distributed marketing brands looking to
completely outsource local marketing execution,
operations, customer engagement, and ongoing
administration of the technology - so marketers
can focus on marketing, and not managing
software.
Note: This document is intended for individual
use. Electronic distribution via email or by
posting on a personal website is in violation of
the terms of use.
Elateral
http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/elateral
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35
“Elateral, recognized global leader in Brand
Marketing Automation, sets the standard in
technology and services that enables the
localization and customization of integrated
marketing communications. Elateral streamlines
the delivery of complex global marketing
campaigns across media, borders and channels
for clients such as Autodesk, Coca Cola, Cisco,
New Balance, SAP and Toyota.”
Gleanster Skinny: Elateral offers three
separate but related marketing products that
are strong on marketing fulfillment and brand
management. There’s BrandHub, for managing
marketing collateral; DesignHub, for scaling
one brand story across several different types
of shopping experiences, and keeping that
story fresh and localized to allow retailers to
win at point-of-sale, on the display and in the
packaging; and CampaignHub, an offering
targeted at high-tech vendors looking to drive
partner-led demand generation that’s built on
a platform dubbed Channel Co-Creation by
Elateral. Elateral has been working to strengthen
its leadership team and is adding quality
assurance tools to its customization studio,
which is designed for creating print and digital
marketing content.
Fision Online
http://www.gleanster.com/vendor/fision
“Fision is the only solution that extends advanced
Sales Enablement & Marketing Automation
capabilities across sales and marketing to help
them better reach your prospects, engage
customers and win in the marketplace. The
following video will give you an idea of how
Fision’s cloud-based platform and user-friendly
interface will help your team quickly and easily
organize, create and distribute compelling,
personalized campaigns across the web,
e-communications, social media and print.”
Gleanster Skinny: Fision Online is marketed
as a niche provider of both a sales enablement
and marketing automation solution for distributed
marketers in mid-to-small organizations. The
platform includes: email marketing, a collateral
builder, native digital asset management,
social media marketing, print on demand, list
management, and a brand storefront. Fision is
largely designed to help support the customer
engagement or campaign execution side of the
equation for local marketers and is frequently a
replacement for redundant instances of Constant
Contact among localized entities.
Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
IBM Enterprise Marketing
Management
http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/ibm-unica
“Customer expectations – whether consumers,
citizens or business customers – for relevant,
personalized and consistent interactions are
soaring. Catalysts like social media, real-time
access to information and the growth of mobile
devices are redefining what customers expect.
According to an IBM study of over 1,700 Chief
Marketing Officers, strong consensus exists
among senior marketers across the world
that these trends are fundamentally changing
how marketing must work in order to drive
business success. With end-to-end enterprise
marketing management solutions from IBM,
you can transform all aspects of marketing to
engage customers in highly relevant, interactive
dialogues across digital, social, mobile and
traditional marketing channels.”
Gleanster Skinny: Software giant IBM
acquired Unica in October 2010 to help
customers streamline and automate marketing
processes and understand and predict customer
preferences. Unica has a robust platform
designed to provide web and customer analytics
and offline and online demand generation,
in addition to MRM. The solution, IBM Unica
Marketing Operations, is currently in its 10th
major release. IBM offers IBM Marketing
Operations as an on-premises solution and as
a hosted solution through third-party vendors
(Accenture, Acxiom, Merkle and Epsilon, to name
a few). IBM Marketing Operations OnDemand is
its on-demand, multi-tenant SaaS solution.
Infor Orbis
http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/orbis-global
“Orbis Global is a leading global provider of
Marketing Management software. The company’s
flagship product, Orbis MRM™ delivers higher
levels of efficiency, productivity and control to
the marketing departments of mid to large-sized
companies, ultimately leading to higher ROI on
marketing investments. Orbis MRM™ empowers
marketers at many of the world’s leading brands
in financial services, pharmaceuticals, consumer
goods, telecommunications, retail, oil and gas,
manufacturing and utilities.”
Note: This document is intended for individual
use. Electronic distribution via email or by
posting on a personal website is in violation of
the terms of use.
Gleanster Skinny: Orbis Global was acquired
by Infor in December 2012 and was subsequently
rebranded as Infor Orbis. A pure-play MRM
vendor, Orbis Global reportedly achieved record
Entire content © 2014 Gleanster, LLC. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited.
36
customer acquisition and revenue growth in
its North American operation in 2012. The
company moved its headquarters from Sydney,
Australia to San Francisco in September 2011
and has progressively expanded its footprint in
North America since then. Its flagship solution,
Orbis MRM, was selected by such marketers
as Dell, GE Capital and Barnes & Noble. It
was also recently selected by Sony Computer
Entertainment to help manage their European
marketing operations efforts.
Kodak
http://www.gleanster.com/vendor/strata-company
“Kodak’s Graphic Communications Group is a
unit of Eastman Kodak Company, the world’s
foremost imaging innovator. The Graphic
Communications Group provides commercial
printers, packaging printers, publishers, data
printers, and enterprises with one of the broadest
portfolios of technologies, products, and services
in the graphic communications and document
capture industries.”
Gleanster Skinny: While perhaps better
known for its consumer-facing cameras
and printing solutions, Kodak has a digital
communications division that offers enterpriseclass tools for marketing. Their flagship product,
DESIGN2LAUNCH Brand Manager, is a
centralized, web-based solution for managing
brand assets and content creation. The offering
is targeted at both marketing and packaging
teams. DESIGN2LAUNCH provides a solid
platform for enterprise CPG clients, but the risk
of the bankruptcy looms heavily over the brand
and future innovation strategy.
Marketingunity
http://www.gleanster.com/solutions/marketingunity
“Marketingunity is an integrated software suite
designed specifically to support professional
marketing and procurement teams. It is accessed
via any standard web browser, allowing all
the parties in a supply chain to communicate,
collaborate and contribute online.”
Gleanster Skinny: Gleanster has not briefed
with Marektingunity.
Microsoft
http://www.gleanster.com/vendor/microsoft
“MarketingPilot is a wholly owned subsidiary of
Microsoft Corporation that operates within the
rapidly growing $2.5 billion marketing automation
Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
software sector where we’ve been developing
integrated software for marketing departments
and ad agencies since 2001. Our goal is to
provide our clients with an integrated suite of
tools to help them manage and execute all their
marketing campaigns and activities. Marketers
choose MarketingPilot to improve their execution,
customer insights, time-to-market, operational
efficiency and marketing performance.”
Gleanster Skinny: MarketingPilot began life
as an operations management tool for mid-size
direct marketers, with features for project
management, list and media buying, source
code tracking, expense capture, and vendor
management. It still offers a midmarket solution
but has since expanded to encompass an
extremely broad range of marketing capabilities,
including lead prioritization and scoring, and may
offer the most extensive list of MRM capabilities
of any vendor under the sun. MarketingPilot has
a comprehensive vision for Integrated Marketing
solutions that aligns closely to Microsoft’s vision.
Not surprisingly, MarketingPilot’s product suite,
available both in the cloud and on-premises, is
built on Microsoft technologies. The vendor is
one of the few solution providers in this space
with a product designed specifically for agencies.
MarcomCentral
http://www.gleanster.com/solutions/marcomcentral
“MarcomCentral® is an online, on demand
marketing assets management (MAM)
solution. Integrating marketing communications
systems and marketing resource management
software (MRM) through the customizable
MarcomCentral® online marketing portal.
MarcomCentral enables strategic marketing
communication, marketing collateral
management and marketing collateral
distribution. This enterprise marketing
management system is a marketing automation
solution, brand management tool and marketing
campaign management solution. And as a
marketing operations management (MOM)
tool, MarcomCentral® allows for marketing
content management, distributed marketing and
franchise marketing.”
Note: This document is intended for individual
use. Electronic distribution via email or by
posting on a personal website is in violation of
the terms of use.
Gleanster Skinny: MarcomCentral continues
to gain impressive momentum in the localized
marketing automation space. The platform
offers template and asset management for a
wide variety of channels, including: proposals,
email, presentations, brochures, advertisements,
direct mail, social media, signage, and other
digital assets. MarcomCentral is a subsidiary
Entire content © 2014 Gleanster, LLC. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited.
37
of PTI Marketing Technologies, a leading
provider of technologies for enterprise users
and print service providers. MarcomCentral
boasts a variety of impressive brands including
Sears, TORO, Subway, Tyson, Crocs, and
Nationwide to name a few. The solution offers
asset management, corporate templates, brand
compliance, channel partner marketing, and
sales enablement for mid-to-large financial
services, healthcare, retail, manufacturing,
services, technology, education, non-profit,
associations, and franchises. MarcomCentral
is available both on-demand and on-premise
and features robust integrations with marketing
automation providers like Oracle Eloqua. The
“FusionPro” personalization technologies are a
unique differentiator for MarcomCetnral and offer
scalable ways to personalize images, print, urls,
and microsites with data on individual recipients
for a highly scalable and unique one-to-one
communication.
Mtivity
http://www.gleanster.com/solutions/mtivity
“An integrated yet modularized suite of
technology, Mtivity’s full architecture can be
utilized to support the complete breadth of
marketing operations management.”
Gleanster Skinny: Mtivity offers a fully
brandable on-demand marketing operations
and campaign execution platform featuring a
customizable catalog, marketing procurement,
budgeting, collaboration, resource management,
digital asset management and project
management capabiliteis. Mtivity is used by
print management and corporate clients in the
UK, mainland Europe and North America, in
sectors such as Financial Services, Utilities,
Telecommunications, Manufacturing and Retail
North Plains
http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/vyre
“For nearly 20 years, North Plains Systems has
excelled at helping companies produce, manage
and leverage their ever expanding collection
of visual assets by streamlining the creative
development process of content, improving
workflow, ensuring asset and rights protection,
driving value into brand equity and enabling
effective use and re-use of visual assets. With
over 1,400 installations deployed worldwide,
supporting over 1,000,000 active users, North
Plains’ market-leading software portfolio spans
work-in-progress creative production systems,
Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
large-scale enterprise class digital asset
management infrastructure and comprehensive
marketing and brand asset management
solutions.”
Gleanster Skinny: Providing a complete array
of products, services, and solutions, North Plains
helps content creators, advertising agencies,
marketers and brand stewards to be more agile
in the creative development process, as well as
management and distribution of marketing and
brand communications. Clients can maintain
control of their visual assets and support
processes globally, while improving collaboration
and efficiency.
North Plains is well positioned to meet the
evolving needs of customers across the entire
continuum of the marketing lifecycle via four
main product offerings: Xinet (a server-based
DAM solution complete with workflow and
integration with Adobe Creative Suite),
Telescope (a modular DAM platform available
in both hosted and on-premise), On Brand
(featuring asset management, brand guidelines,
creative workflow, project approvals, campaign
management, and resource management),
and Unify (a web-based marketing application
platform for content management, resource
management, and brand portals). While many of
the North Plains platforms feature overlapping
functionality, the company has always remained
very transparent about its approach to supporting
the marketing lifecycle. Today the portfolio has
amassed some of the most pervasive DAM
capabilities designed for marketers. North Plains
is an ideal fit for any enterprise organizations
looking for DAM capabilities to support
marketing.
Oracle (Siebel)
http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/oracle
“Oracle provides the world’s most complete,
open, and integrated business software and
hardware systems, with more than 370,000
customers—including 100 of the Fortune 100—
representing a variety of sizes and industries
in more than 145 countries around the globe.
Oracle’s product strategy provides flexibility
and choice to our customers across their IT
infrastructure.”
Note: This document is intended for individual
use. Electronic distribution via email or by
posting on a personal website is in violation of
the terms of use.
Gleanster Skinny: Oracle’s Siebel Marketing
Resource Management offers planning,
budgeting, executing, and measurement
capabilities. In fact, analytics are quite robust.
Entire content © 2014 Gleanster, LLC. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited.
38
Oracle’s Siebel MRM is one of many applications
within Oracle’s Siebel Enterprise Marketing
product, a comprehensive solution designed
to serve the needs of business and consumer
marketers across more than 20 industries.
Pica 9
http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/pica9
“Founded in 1998, Pica9 is a recognized expert
in the development, deployment and support
of local marketing automation (LMA) systems
for major brands. With an estimated 150,000
local marketers across more than 100 globally
recognized brands, the company has developed
a breadth and depth of experience in LMA that
few competitors can match.”
Gleanster Skinny: Pica 9 offers a cloud-based
LMA platform, known as CampaignDrive, with
a native “brand resource library” or digital asset
management capability, at its core. The platform
supports print advertising, all forms of print
collateral, email, web ads, mobile (HTML5),
landing pages and social to provide a complete
distributed marketing toolkit. It also includes
a print-on-demand and merchandise ordering
modules, as well as a co-op reimbursement and
tracking facility. CampaignDrive is an ideal fit for
creative brand administrators, field marketers,
marketing communications and brand manager’s
at large enterprise organizations.
Resolut MRM
http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/resolut-mrm
“Resolut provides services to over 80 well-known
brands and companies throughout Europe
use our products. We have grown from 2 to 20
people. 2006 Resolut became company of the
year, appointed by Almi Stockholm…It is our
clients who built Resolut and it is our clients’
requirements, desires and ideas that have helped
us develop and refine our tools.”
Gleanster Skinny: Founded in 2000, Swedenbased Resolut offers over 100 global brands and
their marketing departments a strong set of MRM
tools for creating and planning activities and
local and personalized marketing campaigns,
and storing and accessing media and campaign
materials. Resolut MRM is used worldwide
and supports localization for approximately
60 languages. In addition to technology, the
pure-play MRM vendor offers related services.
Clients include BMW, Audi and Snickers.
Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
Saepio
http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/saepio
“Saepio empowers marketers to plan and
execute meaningful and engaging marketing
campaigns across distributed networks and
around the globe – ensuring local relevance,
brand consistency, speed to market and
significant cost savings. The world’s best known
brands turn to Saepio’s powerful software
platform and extensive portfolio of support
services to automate the marketing process,
eliminate redundancy and ensure that all
marketers connected to the brand – whether
global, distributed, franchise, VAR or chain store
marketers – have the assets and tools they need
to quickly customize and execute campaigns.”
Gleanster Skinny: Saepio established deep
roots in the distributed marketing platform
space (localized marketing automation and
marketing asset management) over a decade
ago. But make no mistake, Saepio can address
MRM challenges for clients – especially large
global or national brands that need to manage
complex marketing processes with localized
marketing constituents. Saepio boasts a very
impressive roster of enterprise clients at some
of the nation’s largest brands. Saepio actually
developed one of the industry’s first proprietary
dynamic template management capabilities.
Over the last decade the company has shifted
the offering into a full-fledged “marketing portal”
which they call MarketPort, and it’s designed
exclusively for distributed marketing. MarketPort
offers both back-office marketing operations and
multi-channel execution capabilities. Saepio also
has a packaged DAM capability, which was built
exclusively for distributed marketers. That means
it’s not only designed to help marketing’s locate
files quickly, but also resize, customize, and
version assets the way marketers think.
SAS (Assetlink)
http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/sas
Note: This document is intended for individual
use. Electronic distribution via email or by
posting on a personal website is in violation of
the terms of use.
“As the world’s largest independent business
analytics company with consistent revenue
growth and profitability since it was founded
more than 34 years ago, SAS provides an
integrated set of software products and services
to more than 45,000 customer sites in 118
countries. SAS leads the pack with its general
and industry-specific business solutions, and
integrated technologies for data management,
advanced analytics and reporting. Across
the globe, both the public and private sector
Entire content © 2014 Gleanster, LLC. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited.
39
use SAS® software to assist in their efforts to
compete and excel in a climate of unprecedented
economic uncertainty and globalization. Since
1976 SAS has been giving customers around the
world THE POWER TO KNOW®.”
Gleanster Skinny: Assetlink has come a long
way over the past 5 years, and represents a
compelling fully integrated MRM solution with
digital asset capabilities optimized for marketers.
Before being acquired by SAS, Assetlink
encroached heavily on Aprimo’s market share
and more than a few large global brands are
currently making a move from “other leading
technologies” to Assetlink. The solution is ideal
for global organizations and stands out because
of the robust portfolio of MRM capabilities
including planning, budgeting, workflow, project
management, collaboration, and reporting.
SAP
http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/sap
“Headquartered in Walldorf, Germany, SAP
is the market leader in enterprise application
software. Founded in 1972, SAP (which stands
for “Systems, Applications, and Products
in Data Processing”) has a rich history of
innovation and growth as a true industry
leader. SAP applications and services enable
more than 183,000 customers worldwide to
operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow
sustainably. With revenue (IFRS) of €12.5 billion
for the year 2010, SAP has more than 55,000
employees and sales and development locations
in more than 120 countries worldwide.”
Gleanster Skinny: SAP offers a broad set of
MRM capabilities through SAP CRM. A robust
and feature-rich solution, SAP CRM is designed
to deliver capabilities for sales, marketing,
service, customer support, e-commerce, and
IT functions. It also delivers tools for partner
channel management, business communications
management, and real-time offer management.
SAP CRM’s DAM functionality is enabled by
a partnership with OpenText, a provider of
enterprise information management technology.
The vendor has effectively strengthened its
collaboration capabilties through the 2012
acquisition of human capital management
software company SuccessFactors. Users may
benefit from the ability to integrate SAP CRM
with other SAP applications and infrastructures.
Another benefit: the SAP CRM application
is designed to support a number of industryspecific processes.
Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
SproutLoud
http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/sproutloud
“SproutLoud is an Integrated Marketing Resource
Management Platform for distributed marketing
organizations that provides brand-approved
marketing resources through their respective
channel programs and to their local affiliates.
We develop technology and services designed
to make our client’s local marketers successful
within their business communities by enabling
integrated local marketing management.”
Gleanster Skinny: SproutLoud has largely
operated in stealth over the last 5-6 years.
But that hasn’t hindered its growth. Today
SproutLoud works with some of the biggest
distributed marketing brands – many of which
prefer to remain nameless on the website.
The platform offers a robust set of campaign
execution capabilities at par with leading
competitors. Where SproutLoud tends to
stand out among competition is in the delivery
model. SproutLoud offers a software and
services solution that targets the channel and
the distributed marketers. In fact, they are a
full-service offering delivering service, support,
creative, and execution for field marketers, which
offloads both the demand for skilled resources
and the skills to execute from local marketing
teams.
The platform offers email, social media, online
marketing, direct mail, and fund management
in a soup-to-nuts offering that reduces the
burden on local marketers- but still delivers all
the compelling benefits of a centrally managed
marketing operations and resource management
tool at the corporate level. SproutLoud is a great
option for franchise, financial services, and retail
organizations with non-technical local marketing
resources who would benefit from a full-service
offering for local marketing execution.
Strata Company
http://www.gleanster.com/vendor/strata-company
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“Strata is a marketing and technology company
designed to provide comprehensive support
services and solutions tailored to meet the needs
of each client. Here, one size definitely does
not fit all. We offer complete turn-key solutions
including strategy, data, execution and analysis;
technology solutions geared to help you work
smarter and faster; and high-quality creative,
production and fulfillment services.”
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40
Gleanster Skinny: Strata offers a complete
marketing asset management solution for
distributed marketers. While the solution could
easily be leveraged by a variety of industries
(including financial services, insurance,
franchises, retail, and manufacturing), the
company has developed a strong portfolio
of clients in the healthcare industry, allowing
them to customize the technology and service
offerings for the unique nuances of healthcare
users.
MarCom On Demand includes a variety of
capabilities including digital asset management,
dynamic templates, collateral and inventory
management, local and corporate campaign
execution, and customized security
administration. The solution is a great fit for
mid-size organizations that find the most robust
technologies on the market are overkill –
MarCom On Demand is accessible to business
users and is designed to be a low administrative
burden to the business.
SyncForce
http://www.gleanster.com/vendor/syncforce
“SyncForce, founded in 1999, is a leading
provider of business software that supports
branded goods manufacturers. SyncForce
integrates product development, launch and
activation (Total Brand Management). SyncForce
reduces the product introduction time by
improving collaboration within organizations and
their sales channels. The cloud service supports
companies in keeping all online and offline
channels up to date by connecting systems and
by sharing product and brand content. SyncForce
is used to bring more than 400 product brands to
the market, consistently and quickly, both online
and offline.”
Gleanster Skinny: Gleanster has not briefed
with SyncForce.
Teradata Applications (formerly
Aprimo)
http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/aprimo
“Teradata is a leading global provider of
marketing software and services that enhance
the productivity and performance of marketing
organizations. Teradata Marketing Operations
proves marketing works by connecting campaign
results with internal operations and spend.
With Teradata Applications marketers can
integrate their marketing execution, get control
Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
of budget and spend, eliminate internal silos with
streamlined workflows, and execute innovative
multi-channel campaigns to drive measurable
return on investment. Hundreds of thousands
of marketers trust Aprimo to revolutionize their
marketing.”
Gleanster Skinny: Aprimo is widely regarded
as the most robust MRM solution on the
market, as evidenced by a client roster that
includes a who’s who of Fortune 500 and
large enterprise customers. In early 2011,
Aprimo was acquired by Teradata, a provider
of data warehousing and business analytics
solutions. The company re-branded Aprimo
in 2013 to Teradata Applications: Marketing
Operations. Aprimo MRM was primarily sold as
an on-premise solution until 2006 when Aprimo
launched Marketing Studio, a SaaS based
marketing operations platform for mid-to-large
organizations over $100M in revenue. Marketing
Studio has been gaining considerable traction,
largely because it provides a turnkey solution
with a lower risk profile than a full scale
on-premise MRM implementation. Marketing
Studio, allows marketers to integrate online
and offline channels, track budget and spend
management, streamline workflow and provides
digital asset management. The solution is offered
on demand or hosted on-premise or in a hybrid
hosting environment. Teradata’s emphasis on
consulting and getting the most long-term value
out of its solution ranks as a major client benefit.
That said, increasing pressure to meet revenue
targets after the acquisition is now resulting in
some implementations that have reportedly fallen
short of customer expectations. Aprimo can
be customized to meet the needs of the most
sophisticated marketing processes. As a result,
Aprimo MRM typically demands expertise from
consultants and systems integrators that at times
cost more than a license to the solution itself.
Vertis (acquired by Quad/Graphics)
http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/vertiscommunications
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“Quad/Graphics (NYSE: QUAD), a leading global
printer and media channel integrator, is redefining
print in today’s multichannel media world by
helping marketers and publishers capitalize on
print’s ability to complement and connect with
other media channels. With consultative ideas,
worldwide capabilities, leading-edge technology
and single-source simplicity, Quad/Graphics has
the resources and knowledge to help its clients
maximize the revenue they derive from their
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41
marketing spend through channel integration,
and minimize their total cost of production and
distribution through a fully integrated national
distribution network. The Company provides a
diverse range of print solutions, media solutions
and logistics services from multiple locations
throughout North America, Latin America and
Europe.”
Gleanster Skinny: In 2013, leading global printer
and media channel integrator Quad/Graphics
announced that it has finalized its acquisition of
Vertis in a deal aimed at strengthening Quad/
Graphics’ ability to serve clients across multiple
print and related channels. Vertis won several
awards, most focused on the company’s digital
printing technology. It has received a total of
seven Gold Ink Awards for printing excellence
in the categories of Direct Mail, Digital Printing/
Variable Data/Personalization, Brochures/
Web and Sunday Magazines. The acquisition
has effectively expanded Quad/Graphics’
retail advertising insert, direct marketing and
in-store marketing solutions. In fact, Quad just
announced that it has made a multi-million dollar
investment in a platform for direct marketing.
WEDIA CrossMedia
http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/resolut-mrm
“WEDIA is the most experienced
print+web+mobile marketing asset management
(MAM) software provider to bring creation,
customization, and distribution capabilities to
all three major content channels: web, print
and mobile. WEDIA helps global companies
engage in more profitable dialogues with
local or segmented customers and prospects
by empowering individuals at the point of
impact, making globally distributed marketers,
salespeople, stores and branches more agile
by moving the design, production, editing and
distribution of valuable marketing assets to the
point of impact while also ensuring message
consistency across three channels.”
Gleanster Skinny: In early 2012 WEDIA
completed the acquisition of BrandProject AB,
a leading provider of brand asset management
technology known for its prowess in developing
digital asset management systems for marketers.
The acquisition of Sweden-based BrandProject
is primarily focused on enabling WEDIA to
expand its business to Sweden. BrandProject’s
client list includes Swedish companies such as
Volvo, Tetra Pak, Mölnlycke Health Care and
Stena Metall, as well as TaylorMade-Adidas
Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
in England and Logitech in the US. WEDIA
next acquired NewLC, a mobile application
development company based in France, in a
deal intended to help WEDIA further strengthen
its position in a fragmented market for mobile
marketing software. Founded in 2004, NewLC
specializes in marketing to smartphones and
tablet PCs, targeting platforms. WEDIA also
completed acquisition of GESCO in early 2012.
GESCO is a leading French Digital Asset
Management (DAM) software provider that helps
companies centralize and manage media, photo
libraries and other digital assets. With these
three companies under its belt, WEDIA is now
closer than ever to realizing its goal to become a
leading provider of MAM software for producing
marketing communications for web, print and
mobile.
Widen
http://www.gleanster.com/vendors/widen
“In a crowd of marketing tech companies,
Widen stands out. Why? Because our culture is
defined by our people. We know the digital asset
lifecycle. You might even say we’re experts. From
pre-media services to web-based digital asset
management (DAM) software, our abilities run
the gamut of digital media workflows. That’s why
Widen has been embraced by photographers,
videographers, designers, marketers, printers
and sales forces as the standard for quality and
service.”
Gleanster Skinny: Widen has been a strong
player in the DAM space for over a decade.
Today the company markets a cloud-based
DAM solution targeting marketers and creative
professionals (but ideal for any internal
stakeholder). The system is fully brandable and
supports workflow, stylized collections, unique
URLs, skins, and branded email communications
for workflow events. Widen wouldn’t be
considered a traditional MRM solution, but
their commitment to marketers and workflow
capabilities make them an attractive offering
for marketing resource management initiatives
that are heavy on digital asset management
requirements. Alternatively, Widen could be
a good alternative to native DAM solutions in
pure-play MRM tools (which typically leave much
to be desired from a DAM perspective).
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42
Gleansight: 2014 Marketing Resource Management
43
Lead Author
Ian Michiels
Principal Analyst
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