Systems & Data – The foundation that makes it all work
This is part 4 and the final part of our blog series 'Break Silos with Marketing Automation'. Read previous articles here.
They who use their data best, win.
It’s not just about collecting data — it’s about connecting it, understanding it, and acting on it.
Marketing Automation plays a key role in that journey: it doesn't just use data — it helps define which data actually matters. By setting clear requirements for segmentation, personalization, and messaging, MA pushes organizations to structure and align their data more effectively.
When Marketing Automation initiatives work in sync with Systems & Data, you get smarter targeting, clearer business logic, and results you can actually measure.
In this post, we’ll show how MA initiatives have become catalysts for better data quality, clearer priorities, and more effective use of existing systems — and how the right data makes MA even stronger.
Three real-life examples:
”Enriching the data, defining what matters"
Global manufacturing company with scattered data and limited segmentation capabilities.
In many organizations, data exists — but it’s not always useful. Fields are empty, inconsistent, or irrelevant. And no one really knows which data actually matters.
Marketing Automation changed that for one company.
As they started engaging with leads through automated journeys, they began asking simple, relevant questions:
- What industry are you in?
- What’s your biggest challenge?
- Are you already working with a distributor?
Every answer helped build a clearer profile. Over time, leads weren’t just email addresses — they were real contacts with context. And that context started feeding back into the CRM.
At the same time, they aligned on which data points mattered most, for segmentation, scoring, and sales handover. Clear definitions, formats, and ownership made it easier to structure the right data and take more targeted action.
Using the systems started making sense. CRM wasn’t just a dumping ground — it became the source of truth and the source of insight.
"Fixing the scoring disconnect"
Global industrial company struggling with lead scoring alignment.
They had implemented lead scoring, but it wasn’t working.
Why? The scoring model focused on individual contact behavior, not on the company level.
That meant a single highly active contact could trigger a "hot lead" alert, even if no one else from the company was engaged. Sales quickly lost trust in the scores and stopped following up. To solve it, they reworked the model to aggregate behavior at the company level. That required unlocking and structuring account-level data, and ensuring Marketing Automation could read and score accordingly.
The result: A more accurate scoring model — and stronger alignment and trust between marketing and sales.
"Connecting the dots with purchase data"
Global manufacturing company with siloed ERP data.
The goal was simple: communicate with customers based on what they’d already bought. The challenge? Purchase history was locked away in the ERP system — completely siloed from the marketing team.
By bringing the data into a CDP and making it available for the Marketing Automation platform, they were finally able to build campaigns based on real transactions.
That meant:
- Recommending relevant add-ons
- Following up at the right time based on usage patterns
- Segmenting based on product type and buying behavior
The result: Higher engagement, better timing, and measurable increases in sales. The data was always there — it just hadn’t been accessible.
Closing the Loop with Data & Systems
Real impact comes when Marketing Automation and Systems & Data stop working in silos and start evolving together.
It’s a feedback loop: customer actions shape the data, the data shapes the logic, and your communication gets better with every interaction.
You don’t need more tools — you need tighter connections, smarter systems, and a setup that learns as you go.
This was the final part of our series on break silos with Marketing Automation. But we're not done sharing. Follow us on Linkedin for more thoughts!
