Will all B2B marketing automation systems eventually be absorbed into CRM systems?

Its tough to say.

Technically, I think the answer is a clear, YES. Since the code database of contacts, their attributes and activity streams are all common to CRM and MA systems, it doesn't make sense for them to redundantly exist in multiple systems. MA can essentially become a rules engine coupled with a segmentation engine that connects to any CRM application and does all of what it does today.

However, there is much more to it than just technical feasibility. The people and process around marketing automation is entirely different than CRM. The objectives of MA are not necessarily the same as that of a CRM and putting them together will most likely constrain both of them or limit their functional capabilities. Its like saying ERP and Supply Chain systems should be one and the same. They are not for a similar reason, I believe.

So my take is that marketing automation will continue to remain a separate category of business application and evolve a processes get more well defined and organizational structures form around this core functional which is central to building a demand generation machine within any business.

I agree with points by both other contributors.

What we see as Marketing Automation today will likely be reflected in standard CRM in the future. However, Automation vendors will continue to innovate and move forward. They are more likely to be bought and merged by the big vendors than be innovated out of existence - a bit like business intelligence tools( this will be an example of how a single database solution will be achieved).

As CRM systems need to innovate across Marketing, Sales and Service its unlikely that they will out compete a 'pure play' Marketing Automation company - due to lack of focus, resources and having to make compromises.

As new channels, content types, social feeds, tactics and the like come to market, a Marketing Automation company will be closer to the action and be able to deliver better/faster solution to tie it all together.

Interesting discussion. I agree with Vaibav that marketing organizations will largely prefer to have their own systems, and with Leighton that specialist vendors will produce the most sophisticated products. But I think this implies that marketing automation will be purchased only by relatively powerful and sophisticated marketing departments, who have both the clout and demonstrated need for advanced products. At other firms, it will be easier to purchase CRM "add ons" which will be cheaper and good enough for marketing needs. This is exactly what happened in the B2C marketing automation space, where vendors like Aprimo and Unica found themselves largely limited to upper tier clients. A mass market never emerged.

I'm intrigued by Craig's notion of "prospect relationship marketing" as something broader than marketing automation. I do expect that marketing automation vendors to expand their scope, for example by incorporating the various "inbound marketing" capabilities such as SEO and Webinars. Whether this will yield something distinct enough from CRM to justify a separate system is unclear, but I wouldn't dismiss the possibility.

There is a much bigger picture.

In the eighties every department had their own IT solution. In the nineties, most of those were brought together into a single company-wide IT infrastructure. One department was left out - marketing. Back in the nineties marketing was about advertising and direct mail and results were not quantifiable.

Everything has changed. Buying has changed and a sales visit is no longer at the start of every buying process. That makes CRM obsolete - there is no data to go on. Meanwhile marketing moved online - the website has moved from a big brochure to the hub of an engagement process through social media, email marketing and search.

In an attempt to make sense of this, marketing automation was developed. Unfortunately it was too early and incorporated several concepts now seen as old fashioned and discredited - push marketing and marketing/sales silos being two of them.

CRM can easily replicate the push marketing aspects of Mk1 Marketing Automation, but that isn't the answer. There are a whole new generation of products coming along which move the goalposts significantly. This new field is called Technology Aided Prospecting (TAP).

Key to these is Buyer Intelligence. A good marketing automation 2.0 solution gathers powerful data on the buyer's intent, from following their visit. It traces them back to company and matches company to likely buyer profile. It finds the key decision makers involved in this sort of decision. Now that everyone has a digital footprint it is possible to build intelligence on prospects in a way never envisaged by CRM designers.

So both Marketing Automation and CRM are obsolete. They will be replaced by something newer, much cleverer and designed for a unified prospecting department. And they'll link to revenue and to the ERP/Accounts/E-commerce back end.

It's possible - here's why (though I'm not endorsing the approach and don't think it would apply for all businesses):

Businesses have been chasing the idea of a 360 degree customer view well before MA. Achieving a solution where all the knowledge of potential and existing customers resides in one place - the 'one source of truth' - would benefit all customer-facing groups. In many businesses, CRM is considered that one source of truth, and where the larger investments have been made. So if you're approaching the problem with the CRM mindset, you would be inclined to want to put all your data in your CRM, and support your business with the CRM's native functionality or extend it through add-ons.

As far as CRM add-ons, we've already seen salesforce purchase Radian6 for social, solutions already exist (e.g. tealeaf) that monitor online behavior to support other functions of the business beyond marketing. Many marketing organizations already use CRM for budgeting and approval workflows, and as they become more accountable for revenue generation they're leveraging more of the existing CRM functionality. In this environment the need to have a separate MA system for prospecting and engaging audiences appears to diminish, especially if there are add-on solutions that fill the feature gap.

Consider the business case and support for the argument:

The buying process: We know that the decision-making process has changed and online has is a major channel throughout the buying process. So yes, it is important to understand the online patterns of consumers, and MA solutions can make this possible. But marketing isn't the only group that can benefit from this information during the sales phase (or the customer lifecycle; our profit comes from existing customers). Solutions already exist that allow 'customer experience monitoring' which aren't a pure marketing play. In this light, should marketing 'own' the digital profile using marketing-specific systems?

Social: Marketing won't own social in most companies (I'd argue customer care is a better choice in many orgs), the existing social functionality in MA solutions is immature (most don't do much beyond social sharing), and CRM vendors are further along in acquiring social functionality. Because social will become a larger part of the digital footprint, and MA doesn't look like they'll be your company's social hub (I don't see any MA company's purchases social media companies), the need to house your customer's digital footprint in MA becomes less compelling.

CRM: Many marketers today spend time in CRM systems managing the pipeline, reporting on leads through the lead stages, etc. Some also manage their budgeting and approval workflow through CRM. If you look at the Raab diagram comparing CRM to MRM and MA, there is huge overlap in the MRM space and add-ons chip away at the current distinct features of MA.

Beyond prospecting: Online behavioral profiling is powerful stuff, but not the end-all-be-all. Most marketers spend a considerable amount of time marketing to existing customers, and a complete view would consist of all data: demographic, behavioral, transactional, and attitudinal. MA doesn't give you all of this, and many businesses gain a fuller view for a broader range of marketing via CRM.

The CIO: most CIO's don't want to contend with 'vendor soup' as they've probably had experience joining together best of breed solutions into a cohesive solution in the past and know the challenges. They'd rather contend with a limited number of vendors.

Differentiated MA opportunities: What's next for MA and how differentiated is it? How will they fare if larger vendors like CRM are gunning for the same features/markets?

For these reasons, I see consolidation as one possibility. But there is always space for good solutions in a market with enough customers to support it, so I wouldn't count marketing-specific solutions out any time soon.

MA solutions have always been touted as a means to help bridge the huge gap that exists between sales and marketing - and this is true. Furthermore, MA + CRM is greater than the sum of its parts. There is a natural fit between CRM and marketing automation.

Expect new technologies here where the baseline foundation is integrated sales and marketing, with a key focus on prospect lead quality. Both on same technology platform. No more silos.

Expect new technologies here where the baseline foundation is integrated sales and marketing, with a key focus on prospect lead quality. Both on same technology platform. No more silos.

It's impossible to predict the future. But mergers and consolidations will continue. Teradata bought Aprimo; IBM bought Unica, Act-On bought MarketBright. More are coming.

Another macro trend is consolation of applications. BI merged into Oracle and IBM. And Sales apps like Salesforce.com will be integrated with marketing. I would not be surprised to see Salesforce.com buy a MA vendor, particularly Marketo. They could also buy an email company like ConstantContact or ExactTarget.

Stay tuned. It will be fun.