SMEI Making News For Its Big Data Masterclass
Marketers create demand, build brands, promote sales, and earn customers’ loyalty. But today’s environment implies they must play new roles. They must be strategists, technologists and scientists. They ought to allocate scarce resources to benefit company priorities thereby increasing return on investment. And they ought to capitalize and track the most advanced technologies that are flooding the market. The tasks that were once nice-to-do are today becoming central to a sales and marketing professional’s job. And that is where big data comes in. It enables a marketer to collect data in the most efficient way in a shortest time possible. Marketers make use of this statistics to make decisions in every step of the way in their marketing strategy. So, what is big data in the modern parlance?
Big data
Big data analytics refers to the ability to use the discernment from facts to inform decision-making. This is particularly useful in the sales and marketing industry. Big data enhances marketers’ ability to focus on making customer relationships more successful. By using big data analytics to guide customer development, marketing professionals create greater customer loyalty. Marketing centric companies continue to deploy big data to develop their capabilities so that they can establish the right marketing business model to drive sales. In a survey by Spencer Stuart of Chief Marketing Officers at the CMO Summit, 54% said that the marketing strategy of their respective organisations would be greatly influenced by data analytics.
In addition, harnessing the flood of data from customer interactions also helps companies to price their products and services appropriately by offering pricing optimization suggestions. As far as marketers are concerned, data analytics enriches and boosts their decision-making power when it comes to implementing the right marketing strategy for their businesses.
SMEI’s big data application masterclass in Vietnam
Recently, Sales and Marketing Executives International, conducted an intensive 2-day Masterclass in Vietnam for the management team of Saigon Co-op. The Masterclass brought new ideas and real-world cases to help the Saigon Co-op management team develop practical knowledge of how Big Data can be applied to improve customer loyalty and shorten the buyer journey. The American Professor Marianne Collins, CME, a leading authority in consumer and buyer behaviour taught this masterclass.
Sales and Marketing Executives International Inc.
For tens and thousands of sales and marketing professionals around the world, the globally recognized organization, Sales and Marketing Executives International, hereafter referred to as SMEI, offers members online forums, educational webinars and peer connections for sharing the latest trends in big data analysis. Besides, SMEI’s professional certification programs create a worldwide standard of credibility for individuals seeking recognition for their professional competencies.
The history of the organisation is a fascinating read. The organisation was founded in 1935 by IBM Founder Thomas Watson Sr. In the same year he invited the presidents of many Sales Managers’ Clubs to New York City. The agenda was to discuss forming a network of sales and marketing executives. The result was the National Federation of Sales Executives, the first of several names for SMEI. The federation grew quickly, especially after World War II when member CEOs dedicated them to helping Europe and other war-battered areas rebuild their economies. By the late 1940s, the association included more than 40 countries and was the largest in the world for sales and marketing managers. In 1949 it became National Sales Executives International and in 1961 became SMEI.
Today SMEI has expanded its operations to many more countries including Canada, China, Egypt, Europe, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the writer has been serving as SMEI board member since 2014
