Short of randomly asking “But will it scale?” you can always sound smart in a meeting by saying the real challenge is people, not technology. Here’s proof: a survey of Fortune 1000 executives from tech advisors NewVantage Partners, which found that 95% of respondents cited cultural factors as blocking big data adoption, compared with just 5% citing technology. You can almost hear the teeth grind as fewer claimed measurable results than in last year’s survey.

Maybe CMOs would be more successful if they spent less time answering surveys. Here’s one more, this time by partner marketing specialist WorkSpan. They found that just 11% of marketers are confident their budget is spent effectively. Perhaps hoping to save marketers some time, WorkSpan reported results in a press release without publishing the report itself. And, I was just kidding about CMO surveys: 68% of study respondents held non-CMO titles.

Procrastinators of the world can throw a party whenever they get around to it: Google has once more pushed back complete third-party cookie deprecation.  The new target is “early next year.” Reasons for the delay include concerns expressed by U.K. data regulator Information Commissioner’s Office, an ongoing inquiry by the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority, and widespread discontent in the advertising ecosystem.