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63% of Marketers leveraging AI use generative while 54% use predictive AI is marketers’ top priority – and biggest headache
Marketers are prioritising AI implementation over all other initiatives this year, according to new Salesforce research in the ninth State of Marketing report.
With customer standards for personalisation continuing to rise year after year and marketing technologies constantly evolving, marketers need to act fast to keep up. Many see AI as a hack to do just that: a go-to for sharper personalization and efficiency, and now, creativity at scale with generative AI. Yet data challenges — from unification, integration, and security — are slowing marketing teams down.
With insights from over 4,800 marketers across 29 countries, the State of Marketing report highlights how top-performing marketers are outdoing their competition by embracing AI and other new opportunities while mitigating these data, trust, and security challenges.
Marketers pursue more tailored engagement amid rising customer expectations
Increasingly, marketers aim for more customised experiences based on detailed data like individual behaviours, preferences, interactions, or other specific indicators. And they are looking to AI to deliver more insights, predictions, automated workflows, and content. As a result, marketers consider having a data and AI strategy of utmost importance. On average, today’s marketers are able to fully personalise across five channels, with high-performers tailoring six channels and underperformers managing to fully personalise across only three.
Channels where content is easy to test and iterate on the fly, like mobile messaging, email marketing, and social media, see the most advanced personalization efforts. On the other hand, channels demanding more production time and planning like audio, organic search, and TV/OTT have the most work to do with 43%, 42%, and 41% seeing full personalization, respectively.
Marketers rev up AI adoption, but underperformers stall out in the evaluation stage
Marketers are pulled in many directions, and are focused on improving AI adoption. However, they’re struggling to actually implement AI and create cohesive journeys, among other difficulties.
Ironically, AI could be one tool to help teams overcome such challenges. Salesforce Chief Marketing Officer Ariel Kelman highlights how companies are entering “a new era of AI, catalysed by the generative gold rush,” and that the technology is being embraced by marketing organisations. As he sees it, “marketers are leading the charge by embracing rapid advancements in the technology to better connect with customers and prospects.”
Marketers are eager to implement AI into their own work streams: 75% are either experimenting with or have fully implemented AI in their operations. A closer look reveals that the embrace of the technology varies by performance level.
The majority of high- and moderate-performing teams are already rigorously testing, tweaking, and incorporating AI into their operations. Still, more than one-third of underperformers have yet to graduate from the consideration phase. In fact, high-performing marketing teams are 2.5x more likely than underperformers to have fully integrated AI into their operations. Until underperformers pivot from passive planning to hands-on action, AI’s advantages will continue to elude them.
Marketers embrace AI to predict, create, and integrate at scale
Sixty-three percent of marketers leveraging AI say they use generative while just over half (54%) are using predictive. And despite its relative novelty, generative AI use cases already rank among marketers’ favourites alongside predictive applications. As a result, teams are harnessing both types of AI for critical use cases like automating customer interactions and generating content — activities that will augment creativity and accelerate productivity.
Despite AI enthusiasm, concerns about trusted data remain
Compared to their peers in other departments, marketers are especially concerned about falling behind on generative AI adoption. Eighty-eight percent of marketers worry about missing out on generative AI’s benefits, compared to 78% of sales and 73% of service colleagues.
Even so, senior marketers remain cautious, citing concerns such as data and job security. Compared to their peers further up the corporate ladder, on-the-ground team leads are particularly wary about job stability. One in four team leads are worried AI will replace their job, compared to one in five executives. For their part, CMOs are most concerned with data leaks, with 41% citing data exposure as their top concern compared to 29% of VPs and 32% of team leads.
While data leaks are marketers’ number one generative AI concern, not having enough of the right data falls at number two. To capture enough valuable information, marketers are primarily leveraging customer service data and transaction data, showing an effort to partner with colleagues across sales and commerce departments to accomplish this. However, unification of that and other data — such as unstructured data from emails, NFTs, and more — remains a challenge.
In fact, only 31% of marketers are fully satisfied with their ability to unify customer data sources. What’s more, only approximately half of marketers say their systems automatically and regularly update with data from other departments.
Without fully integrated data, marketers’ ability to derive sharp insights is blunted, leaving core activities like analysing performance, suppressing audiences, and building campaigns powered by out-of-date or incomplete information. It even jeopardises marketers’ top priority: effectively leveraging AI.
A closer look at the survey results shows that fully integrated data is more common among high-performing marketing teams, suggesting that investing in unification can give marketers an edge. As Kelman explains, “a strong data foundation will be critical to AI success for marketers as they work to bring together and unify customer data for real-time activation.”
Starlink has added major price hikes for its Nigerian customers, with roaming now 234 percent more expensive, despite the cost of living crisis gripping the country.
Nearly two years after launching in Nigeria, Starlink, said that it is hiking the price so significantly because of rampant inflation gripping the nation.
“Due to excessive levels of inflation, the Starlink monthly service price will increase,” reads an announcement seen by TechCabal.
Customers will begin paying the new rates for the standard residential and Starlink roaming plans from 31st October.
The standard residential subscription will receive a 100 percent price increase, from $24 to $48 with the 1TB soft-cap still included.
Meanwhile, customers that use Starlink to roam – allowing them to use the kit outside their homes and workplaces in Nigeria – will see a nearly 234 percent price increase, from $30 to $100 per month.
This is over R1 700 in South Africa.
The $100 per month cost for the roaming price in Nigeria now mirrors the pricing of Starlink roaming in Botswana, a close neighbour of South Africa.
Africa Tech Alliance Forum (AfriTECH 4.0), one of the continent’s leading technology-focused events, is scheduled to hold Thursday, November 07, 2024 at Oriental Hotel, Lekki Road, Lagos-Nigeria.
The forum will bring together industry leaders, policymakers, innovators, and entrepreneurs to explore the theme “Leapfrogging Digital Transformation for Future of Africa’s Economy.”
AfriTECH 4.0 is poised to address critical conversations around the digital evolution of Africa, with a focus on key topics such as emerging technologies, sustainability, policy frameworks, and innovation in the tech ecosystem.
The forum will highlight the importance of building sustainable and inclusive digital infrastructures that can drive economic growth and social development across the continent.
Event Highlights Include:
· Keynote Presentations from prominent technology leaders and policymakers.
· Panel discussions: telecommunications/data centre business, artificial intelligence, fintech, blockchain, cybersecurity, and digital skills development.
· Workshops and Masterclasses led by industry experts on strategies for digital transformation.
· Networking Opportunities for attendees to connect with key stakeholders in Africa’s tech landscape.
· Exhibitions showcasing cutting-edge technologies and innovative startups from across Africa.
· Africa Tech Alliance Excellence (ATAEx) Awards in recognition of individuals, businesses and institutions leading digital transformation in Africa.
Notable Speakers at AfriTECH past events include Mr. Austin Okere, founder, CWG PLC, Ola Williams, Country Manager, Microsoft Nigeria & Ghana; Dr. Ayotunde Coker, CEO, Open Access Data Centre (OADC); Dr. Aminu Maida, EVC/CEO, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC); Kashifu Inuwa, DG, NITDA; Engr. Ikechukwu Nnamani, CEO, Digital Realty (Nigeria); Chuks Anakudo, Managing Director/CEO – Global Accelerex; Prof. Wale Peter Obadare, Chief Visionary Officer, Digital Encode Limited; Dr. Seyi Akindeinde, founder, NeuRaL AI; Chris Uwaje (Oracle) pioneer president, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria; Dr. Krishnan Ranganath, the Regional Executive for West Africa and Morocco at Africa Data Centres; Emmanuel Amos, President, InnovationBed Africa; among others.
Prominent speakers have also lined up for AfriTECH 4.0 who will share insights on driving Africa’s digital economy, fostering innovation, and ensuring digital inclusion for all.
“With Africa’s growing digital economy and the increasing importance of technology in various sectors, AfriTECH 4.0 will provide a platform for stakeholders to collaborate on strategies to harness the power of technology to solve some of the continent’s most pressing challenges”, said, Chike Onwuegbuchi, co-convener, AfriTECH.
Event Registration is now open via the link here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1xQJc8d141wUZ5Swuj2lhiPFLLKUV0xCjE3f_P2bjKfY/edit and interested participants can sign up to attend the forum both virtually and in person.
WhatsApp has been on a roll lately, introducing new features such as the creation of AI images from attachments, the ability to like status updates, and more features in September. Now, as we step into October, WhatsApp has officially added Filters and Backgrounds for video calls to its app.
This comes as an attempt to make video calls more engaging and fun, as in the official release blog, WhatsApp writes, “…we’re rolling out filters and backgrounds to make your video calls even more engaging. With these new effects, you can now change your background or add a filter during a video call for a more personal touch.”
The blog post talks about how filters can create “playful atmospheres.” Meanwhile, when it comes to backgrounds, they emphasize how they help keep surroundings private. I mean, letting those on a video call see your messy room can be embarrassing, so this is a nice feature for sure.
There are ten distinct filters and backgrounds to choose from. WhatsApp says “you can select and mix a wide range of options to create a unique look.” Additionally, WhatsApp also reveals the filter options, namely Warm, Cool, Black & White, Light leak, Dreamy, Prism light, Fisheye, Vintage TV, Frosted glass, and Duo tone.
When it comes to video backgrounds in WhatsApp, users can choose from Blur, Living room, Office, Cafe, Pebbles, Foodie, Smoosh, Beach, Sunset, Celebration, and Forest options. Moreover, alongside filters and backgrounds, WhatsApp has introduced Touch up and Low light modes, which can help enhance and brighten up your environment for more clarity and aesthetics in video calls.
To use the feature, when on a video call, WhatsApp users will need to tap on the magic wand icon at the top right to summon the filters and backgrounds panel. Then, from here, they can make their selection.
Well, that said, these features are not new to WhatsApp Beta users. Back in June itself, WABetaInfo noted the addition of this feature to WhatsApp beta for Android. Anyway, it’s good to see the feature make its public debut. Over the next couple of weeks, the feature will gradually roll out to everyone on both Android and iOS.
Also, another WABetaInfo report suggested that these filters and backgrounds will be making their way to the native WhatsApp Camera, letting users take advantage of them on the fly.
What do you think of WhatsApp’s new filters and backgrounds for video calls? Drop your thoughts in the comments down below!
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