During challenging economic times, many organisations look for ways to reduce costs. And since, typically, the marketing department has the largest discretionary budget; it is often the first to be cut. According to a recent CMO Council survey, shrinking budgets and "doing more with less" was among the top issues marketing executives face.* Yet, marketers are still asked to meet their demand generation goals and to contribute to the bottom line. And increasingly, CEOs and CFOs are calling on marketers to be more accountable for their resources, expenditures, and marketing activities.

Consequently, marketers are seeking solutions to help them gain better visibility and control over the entire marketing process, to optimally utilise the limited resources, and to successfully execute marketing programs across multiple interaction channels both globally and locally. Marketers need solutions that will help them to do more with less, while successfully connecting with customers to drive customer demands.

SAP can provide visibility and control of the entire marketing process so you can optimally manage all your marketing resources and activities in a differentiated application tailored to your business. A complete customer view allows you to successfully target and connect with customers with relevant and personalised messages that will help you build profitable customer relationships. Increasing marketing efficiencies in your organisation will help enable you to reduce costs, better allocate resources, and achieve more with less.

* CMO Council, Marketing Outlook 2008, February 2008

HOW DO I...?

• Optimise sales and marketing investments to introduce a more disciplined approach to the allocation of marketing spend and promotional investments
• Create the optimal offer that targets the right audience with the right offer at the right time and with the right message.