While rumored for months, noted marketing cloud provider Marketo finally released details about its much talked about Project Orion at the Marketing Nation Summit in May. Considering the influence Marketo has on the marketing world in general, this was not an announcement to take lightly as Project Orion represents a major upgrade to Marketo’s existing platform, one that looks to capitalize on recent advances made in big data and predictive analytics. It’s something that the company calls its biggest ever technology investment, a sizeable shift in architecture that can very well change how customers use the marketing platform. So what does this all mean for marketers in the long run? Put simply, this is about planning ahead for future growth and a full embrace of the potential that big data brings to the table.
From a business strategy point of view, Project Orion makes a lot of sense for Marketo. The company has done quite well using its current platform to find success among small and mid-size businesses, but the enterprise-level customers have so far been lacking. Project Orion looks to change all that, giving Marketo greater access to larger businesses. It should be noted the company won’t be moving away from the smaller organizations, only that they are looking to expand their vision.
That’s why Project Orion is all about future growth. It remains as part of an overall strategy for Marketo that includes growing their sales organization and technology infrastructure. That infrastructure also includes greater use of management tools, improved performance, greater availability and scalability, use of software defined storage vendors, and more effective security. The result will be a greater emphasis on product development as well, meaning marketers may end up doing even more with Marketo offerings.
Marketo customers will likely welcome this upgrade since the current platform does come with some limitations. The upgrade will give the new platform the ability to handle tens of millions of activities per hour straight away. In essence, this is a platform change that is necessary in the wake of increasing use of big data analytics in marketing. Most marketing teams have begun to dip their toes into the big data pool, testing out analytics capabilities and seeing if they hold up to the promises. While use of analytics can lead to big data challenges, having the right tools can make the job so much easier, a fact that Project Orion looks to build off of. Combine that with the project’s emphasis on decreasing latency, and the transition into fully taking advantage of big data analytics will go that much more smoothly.
This incorporation of big data into marketing is simply part of a larger trend. Marketing teams have quickly caught on to the edge big data can give them, particularly in the realm of predictive analytics. Gone are the days of using limited information, gut instinct, and best guesses to determine a marketing strategy that will get results. Now much of the focus is on improving the customer digital experience through marketing’s new capabilities. With that, the role of marketers is going to grow at a steady if not rapid pace. That means marketers need access to all the tools and applications that will be used in this new generation of marketing. Project Orion is basically a needed evolution of that role. The user interface on Marketo’s current platform will not change dramatically, again taking into account user friendliness, but the changes will still be used beneath the surface. Project Orion is also a way that marketing will be combined with sales, creating a more cohesive unit for organizations.
Marketers have been using the tools provided by Marketo to great success so far, but as many marketing teams know, if you’re not moving ahead, you’re falling behind. Project Orion is the company’s way of taking that next big step into involving big data even further in marketing processes while providing opportunities for future growth. As marketers look for improved ways to reach their goals, they’ll find that Project Orion is a solution that will be quite helpful indeed.
