IDC Announces New Marketing Performance Matrix; Identifies Tech Marketing Leaders That Optimize Marketing Efficiency and Effectiveness

Business Wire, Feb 16, 2006

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- IDC's CMO Advisory Practice today announced its new Marketing Performance Matrix(SM), which for the first time draws a direct correlation between a company's internal marketing operational efficiency and its effectiveness in marketplace execution. The Matrix indicates the relative position of tech marketers along two dimensions: efficiency of internal operations, and effectiveness or proof of results. IDC identified several companies within the marketing leadership quadrant of the Marketing Performance Matrix, including Adobe, Cisco, EMC, Intel, Oracle, SAP and Symantec.

"The marketing function in tech is undergoing significant fundamental change. All tech marketers need to improve their effectiveness and IDC research demonstrates that a number of leaders are emerging," states Michael Gerard, research director for IDC's CMO Advisory Practice. "IDC will identify and then analyze the marketing management practices of these leaders, with the objective of sharing their techniques with others in the industry."

The IDC Marketing Performance Matrix quantitatively correlates internal marketing efficiency with effectiveness of execution in the marketplace. Four factors are used to measure efficiency: overall marketing investment, staff efficiency, global alignment, and marketing performance measurement. Marketing effectiveness is analyzed through three factors: market share, revenue growth, and earnings growth.

In addition to these quantitative factors, IDC analysis includes exploration of qualitative factors. IDC has identified three innovative leadership attributes that are imperative for the long-term success of a marketing organization:

--Establish marketing as a centralized function without sacrificing the balance of local execution.

--Optimize the alignment of marketing with other company functions, and with the market.

--Establish the foundation and infrastructure to manage marketing more like a business, enabling data-driven decisions where possible.

"Cisco's strong focus on productivity for marketing operational excellence has been driven by continuous investment in people, processes, and systems," said Denise Peck, vice president of Marketing Operations at Cisco. "In particular, the company has invested in technology and systems to re-engineer and automate marketing processes, strengthened its professional development initiative, while maintaining its important focus on our customers and business results."

In the study, IDC's Marketing Performance Matrix, Identifying Innovation in Tech Marketing Leadership (IDC #34839), IDC analyzes areas of marketing organizational efficiency and introduces the Marketing Performance Matrix as an analytical framework to identify leadership strategies which drive the greatest financial return. The IDC Marketing Performance Matrix is the product of rigorous quantitative analysis of tech companies' proprietary marketing investment strategies coupled with their market performance. The study was conducted by IDC's CMO Advisory Practice.

About IDC's CMO Advisory Practice

The CMO Advisory Practice provides IT marketing executives with the industry's most respected marketing benchmarks, research-based advice, and peer-networking, to strengthen planning, operational, and market-execution decisions.

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About IDC

IDC is the premier global market intelligence and advisory firm in the information technology and telecommunications industries. We analyze and predict technology trends so that our clients can make strategic, fact-based decisions on IT purchases and business strategy. Over 700 IDC analysts in 50 countries provide local expertise and insights on technology markets. Business executives and IT managers have relied for 40 years on our advice to make decisions that contribute to the success of their organizations.

IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research, and events company. Additional information can be found at www.idc.com.

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