What is frustrating marketers when it comes to tech in 2017?

With the speed of change today, embracing new technology can be exhausting and not to mention, frustrating. Every single day, there is a new tool or technology that promises to solve your worries. But in many cases, they simply just add on to your worries.According to a recent Tech Research Asia report commissioned by Fujitsu, the top three frustrations for marketers when it comes to embracing technology are:• Lack of access and support for using newer technologies. • IT department doesn’t support needs as a business user. • It’s harder or slow to get information from data.Meanwhile, the top three key challenges for marketing departments lie in understanding customers, difficulty in rapidly reacting to price competition plans,  and developing compelling content.What's important right now?When it comes to digital technologies most important to a marketer, email comes in top at 26%, followed by customer relationship management (CRM) at 18% and mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets at 14%.Meanwhile, technologies and tools such as customer facing mobile applications, customer facing websites and content management systems (CMS) tie at the bottom at 6%. What will impact marketers most in the next 12 months?When it comes to trends which will see an impact on their roles for the next 12 months, 49% of marketers said that changing customer behaviours would have a critical impact.Also, 30% agreed that co-innovation with customer and partners will also be something to look out for. Meanwhile, 32% pointed to digital business models as a key trend which will impact their role greatly.What will take precedence in the next 12 to 24 months?According to the report, CRM takes priority as marketers should work towards identifying and addressing any issues which take place. This should be done through a discovery program of engagement and observation. Regardless of what industry the marketer is in, his or her CRM strategy should be seamlessly integrated with customer facing apps and websites, along with marketing automation tools, said the study. These tools should also be made available to marketing leaders and their teams on any mobile device in any location.When it comes to emerging trends, marketers need to investigate how they can leverage the emerging world of cognitive services. This is especially those that automate analysis of customer data and the creation of content that can be published digitally.This can be combined with proof of concept projects that involve chat bots or virtual assistants. According to the report, just under 40% of Singapore’s marketing leaders say AI is urgent and impactful for them in 2017, and 1 in 5 say the same for chat bots.The Tech Research Asia report was commissioned by Fujitsu and results are based on an online survey conducted with a total of 500 executives from divisions including sales and marketing, operations, human resource and finance and accounting.