For better or worse, marketing has never been IT leaders’ main concern. This IDG reports gives typical results, showing CIOs are most focused on security, IT operations, and aligning with business goals. Marketers probably like it that way: the survey found that more marketing departments (34%) control their own IT spend than any other department.
Marketing isn’t the only department using AI. In fact, personalized journeys are the sixth most common use of AI, well behind analytics, optimization and innovation, according to this Rackspace survey of (mostly) IT people. Automated marketing campaigns ranks even further down the list. The report finds 82% of companies are still exploring or struggling with AI and most barriers are related to data quality.
Website personalization isn’t hurt much by the loss of third-party cookies, since it depends mostly on data collected directly within the Website itself. So don’t be surprised that site search and merchandising vendor Searchspring found 61% of its customers plan to invest in personalization this year. Also don’t be surprised that Searchspring just added a personalized recommendation module.
The U.S. Senate has passed a bill that could potentially ban TikTok in the U.S. if its Chinese owner, ByteDance, does not sell its holdings within a year. The bill now goes to the President Biden, who has said he will sign it. Court challenges are likely to follow.