SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – Marketing leaders in Australia and New Zealand are increasingly making technology decisions for their organisations, according to a new study by emerging technology analyst firm Telsyte.

Telsyte’s Australian & New Zealand Digital Marketer Study 2015 surveyed 255 CMOs and marketing leaders in large organisations found that almost all (91%) are making purchasing decisions on technology products and services for their requirements, which has traditionally been the sole responsibility of the IT department. Furthermore, more than half of organisations surveyed indicated that the marketing department has a dedicated IT budget.

This rapid change in the role of the CMO has been driven by the digital transformation imperative in Australian and New Zealand organisations, the widespread availability and acceptance of cloud-based software and computing, and the elevation of the CMO as the custodian of big data and insights functions.

“Marketing’s transformation has moved on from just buying digital advertising to building scalable approaches that provide a single view of the customer, support meaningful measurement, and enable real-time decision-making,” Steven Noble, senior analyst, Telsyte says.

Web analytics or split testing software is the most common purchase, with 39 per cent of marketers reporting their departments buy this class of software. CRM purchases were also very common, at 38 per cent. Furthermore, 36 per cent are using big data analytics for customer transaction analysis.

“Marketing measurement and customer-centricity are the left and right legs of digital transformation,” Noble Says. “This is why Web analytics and CRM are the types of applications marketers are mostly likely to buy.”

Marketing and IT leaders have conflicting perspectives on marketing technology

Marketing departments are investing in IT because they need flexibility, according to 57 per cent of all marketers, and 70 per cent of marketers who mostly use their own budget to source IT. Meanwhile, 45 per cent of marketers said they were investing in IT because they knew more than the IT department about their own needs.

Marketers that buy their own IT claim they are more likely to have the technology products they need. A high 84 per cent of those that mostly use marketing’s own budget agree or strongly agree with “our marketing function has the technology it needs to be effective”, compared with 71 per cent of those who mostly use IT’s budget to buy IT.

Despite the fact that marketers are highly satisfied with their technology purchases, IT leaders are concerned. In a separate Telsyte survey of 336 CIO and ICT leaders that have lines of business that purchase IT products and services, some 36 per cent say their organisations have experienced problems. The greatest problems were with integration requirements (cited by 36%), inconsistent technology selection (33%) and security (32%).

For further information on the report or media enquiries contact:

Foad Fadaghi
Managing Director
Tel: +61 2 9235 5851
Twitter: @foadfadaghi
Email: ffadaghi@telsyte.com.au

For sales and consulting enquiries please contact Foad Fadaghi on +612 9235 5851 (ffadaghi@telsyte.com.au).

About the Telsyte Australian & New Zealand Digital Marketer Study 2015

The Telsyte Australian & New Zealand Digital Marketer Study 2015 is a comprehensive 70-page report available to subscribing organisations and includes:

Trends in marketing budgets and spending intentions across major digital marketing categories
Digital marketing drivers and barriers
ROI experiences with digital marketing
The role and status of online publishers and marketing software vendors

The study was created using an online survey of 255 CMOs, marketing directors and other marketing decision makers, conducted in August 2015. Of the respondents, 221 were in large and very large corporations in Australia (defined as having greater than 100 employees), while 34 were in large and very large corporations in New Zealand (defined as having greater than 50 employees). Telsyte estimates the sample is representative of the largest 12,000 Australian and 4800 largest New Zealand businesses.

About Telsyte

Telsyte delivers strategic insights and advisory services to businesses that are producing, or are impacted by, disruptive technologies. Telsyte publishes studies into emerging consumer and business markets and provides custom research and advisory services. Telsyte is a wholly-owned independent business unit of UXC Limited. UXC is an ASX-listed Australian IT services company and the largest Australian-owned ICT consultancy firm with over 2,500 customer organisations in the private and public sectors across Australasia. www.telsyte.com.au

The material in this article is copyright protected and not intended to be altered, copied, distributed or used for any commercial or non-commercial purpose, except for news reporting, comment, criticism, teaching and scholarship.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA— Despite the promotional hype surrounding smartwatches, only 205,000 units were sold in Australia in the first half of 2015, according to a new study from emerging technology analyst firm Telsyte.

The Telsyte Australian Smartphone and Wearable Devices Market Study 2015-2019 found the initial buzz around smartwatches has softened and a lack of killer apps is holding back demand.

Telsyte also found that some 10 per cent of smartwatch users have stopped using their device altogether.

Telsyte research shows that Apple was the smartwatch market leader with 64 per cent share in the first half of 2015, beating out both Samsung and LG.

Apple’s H1 leadership was mainly due to the lack of new Android compatible smartwatches and Apple’s sales were impacted by its premium pricing.

“The Apple watch remains a luxury gadget, with its sales price typically more than twice the average of rival Android-compatible smartwatches,” Telsyte Managing Director Foad Fadaghi says.

“It is difficult to see mass market consumers paying as much as premium tablets or smartphones for wearable technology that does not have significant new or unique features,” Fadaghi says

Telsyte expects Apple to introduce a lower cost Watch option to help increase sales in coming months.

Despite the slow sales of smartwatches, smart wristbands such as those sold by Fitbit and Garmin continue to grow, up 30 per cent on H2 2014. Telsyte estimates that there are around 2 million smart wristband users in Australia.

Telsyte does not believe smartwatches have failed, rather they are destined to make up a smaller proportion of what can be seen as a larger smart wearables market dominated by lower cost “smart bands”.

“In some ways the smartwatch market can be classified as the premium part of the smart wrist wearable market,” Fadaghi says.

Smartphones still the preferred device

Telsyte research now shows that 17.2 million Australians (72%) own a smartphone and that it has clearly become the favoured device for communications and portable computing.

Telsyte estimates some 3.7 million smartphones were sold during the first half of 2015 (6% down from a year ago), with 450,000 new smartphone users added during the same period.

“The smartphone market is entering a stage of maturity with growth starting to be driven by demographic factors such as net migration and births,” Telsyte Senior Analyst Alvin Lee says.

According to the study, sales of Android-based smartphones pulled ahead of the iPhone in the first half of 2015, with 54 per cent share (iPhone 41%) , while Windows Phone-based devices (5%) showed relatively slow performance due to the lack of new handsets and Microsoft’s transition away from the Nokia brand.

Telsyte research showed Sony overtook HTC in the first half of 2015 to become the third largest smartphone vendor in Australia, behind Apple and Samsung.

Telsyte predicts 4.5 million smartphones will be sold in the second half of 2015. Pricing and brand are still the most important factors cited by consumers when it comes to choosing a smartphone; however, an increasing level of importance is being placed on ‘lifestyle’ factors such as durability and resistance to the elements.

For further information on the study or media inquiries contact:

Alvin Lee
Senior Analyst
Tel: +612 9235 5890
Email: alee@telsyte.com.au

Foad Fadaghi
Managing Director
Tel: +612 9235 5851
Email: ffadaghi@telsyte.com.au

About the Australian Smartphone and Wearable Devices Market Study 2015-2019

Telsyte’s Australian Smartphone & Wearable Devices Market Study 2015-2019 is a comprehensive report which provides subscribers with:

Smartphone market sizing, platform and vendor market shares and forecasts
Smartwatch market sizing, platform and vendor market shares and forecasts
Smart wristband/fitness band market sizing, platform and vendor market shares and forecasts
End user trends across devices, services and usage
Purchase intentions & acquisition channels

In preparing this study, Telsyte used:

An online survey of a representative sample of Australians 16+ years of age conducted with 1,251 respondents in November 2014.
An online survey of a representative sample of Australians 16+ years of age conducted with 1,009 respondents in February 2015.
An online survey of a representative sample of Australians 16+ years of age conducted with 1,077 respondents in July 2015.
Financial reports released by manufacturers, retailers, mobile carriers and service providers.
Interviews conducted with executives from mobile operators, vendors, retailers, and channel partners.
On-going monitoring of local and global market and vendor trends.

About Telsyte