Forrester CMO Milligan On Mastering Big Data’s Big Problem

We talk a lot about big data on the Marketing Superstars podcast, but what do you do when your data is dispersed across many different databases and systems? This was the challenge facing Victor Milligan, CMO of Forrester.

We talk a lot about big data on this show, but what do you do when your data is dispersed across many different databases and systems? This was the challenge facing Victor Milligan, CMO of Forrester.

“A lot of people have paid attention to big data as the big problem to solve, but the larger problem is the dispersion of data,” Milligan told me, referring to all of those tools and systems that we, as CMOs, keep buying.

“Our clients expect us to know a lot about them and to use that information in ways that create value,” he added. “So if we can’t grapple with that information, we are doing a disservice to our clients.”

But bringing data together is not easy, even for Forrester. “It’s a long journey,” Milligan said. So, CMOs, get out your good hiking boots.

Other highlights from this week’s podcast include:

Using analytics to make decisions (3:20)
Shaping Forrester’s brand (5:00)
Forrester’s next key challenge (7:30)
Dealing with the dispersion of data (13:10)
Insights from analyzing the data (18:10)

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