January 2021

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 23 jan 2021

COVID-19 pandemic has brought the focus on online learning and educational technologies. Even though the initiatives have been around for quite some time, but they have not been implemented at such a large scale. It is also observed that there is an imbalance in terms of preparation and implementation of online education in various countries and institutions. Some were able to execute online strategies better as they have been experimenting and utilizing such learning technologies and educational methodologies for many years. Prof. Ray Schroeder, Associate Vice Chancellor of Online Learning at University of Illinois at Springfield (US), explains how online education has rescued education during adverse circumstances and what the future holds for higher education after the pandemic has subsided and traditional education gets back on its feet. He cites an example of innovative strategy of UK unversities during SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) epidemic in Asia 2002-2003 when they offered online delivery of class materials to students at Hong Kong universities. He says, 'I was studying the implications of online learning interventions during SARS when Katrina devastated nearly two dozen college and university campuses along the US Gulf Coast. With my colleague Burks Oakley, then associate vice president for academic affairs for the University of Illinois, we brought the opportunity for online learning intervention to the attention of Frank Mayadas, program director at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. This quickly expanded to engage a host of other higher education leaders...The remarkable effort was chronicled by George Lorenzo. Ultimately, the effort dubbed "The Sloan Semester" engaged more than 100 colleges and universities in offering online classes at no charge to students displaced by the hurricane. The intent was to provide transfer credit for those students to continue their degrees from wherever they took refuge while their campuses were closed and under repair.' He explains the current state of higher education with falling enrollments in US institutions and students opting for alternative and economical modes of learning through MOOCs and other at-scale online programs. There has been many fold increase in enrollment in such programs during the pandemic. Moreover, with decreasing US population growth and oversupply of colleges and universities the disruption of the education sector is expected. He further explains, 'The shakeout has begun with faculty layoffs, program cuts and deep deficits. The trends I have been following show this to be undeniable and pervasive. That brings us back to online learning to the rescue. As the U.S. Department of Labor reports the average tenure at an employer is just 4.2 years, we are seeing an ever-increasing number of adults returning to universities for continuing and professional education to retool and upskill for new and changing careers. And, by and large, they are doing this online.' He suggests that it will be an opportunity for education providers and they should focus on 'the "60-year learner" who returns again and again to prepare for work in an ever-changing economy fueled by artificial intelligence.' Read on...

Inside Higher Ed: Online Learning to the Rescue: Again
Author: Ray Schroeder

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 20 jan 2021

Forrester's SiriusDecisions 2020 Metrics Study looked at metrics that B2B marketing leaders use on their company's CMO dashboard to manage performance and found valuable insights regarding the state of B2B marketing today and provides a perspective on how successful companies focus on performance measurement. HIGHLIGHTS OF THE STUDY - (1) Leadership Attention Is Precious: On average, 8 metrics on the dashboards need consistent review, emphasizing to focus on metrics that summarize marketing's value. Prioritize metrics that highlight marketing's performance against key growth strategies. (2) Sourcing Metrics Continue To Dominate: Marketing-sourced revenue and marketing-sourced pipeline are two most commonly focused metrics, emphasizing that marketing organizations are utilizing more energy to manage their ability to sources net-new opportunities. But sourcing isn't well aligned with many of the go-to-market strategies B2B organizations are embracing. With declining sourcing rates across the industry there is a need for marketing leaders to quickly diversify the metrics they use to more comprehensively capture the contribution of their function. (3) CMOs Aren't Emphasizing Lead Metrics: Less than a quarter of organizations focus on lead volumes and conversion rates. The concern is that these metrics exist within top 10 metrics used at B2B organizations, but these metrics drop out of top 10 for organizations with high rates of revenue growth (greater than 10%/year). (4) High-Growth Companies Focus More On The Customer Lifecycle: Low-growth companies (less than 5%/year) emphasize more on measuring demand metrics but high-growth ones focus on metrics that describe value created during the customer lifecycle (e.g., retention rates, customer lifetime value, customer satisfaction, customer advocacy). (5) Top Performers Are Minding Cost Efficiency: At high-performance companies customer acquisition costs and cost of efficiency of demand generation were used on 27% and 23% respectively, while only 5% and 9% for low-growth ones. This points out at the need for marketing organizations to utilize the resources entrusted to them most efficiently to be accountable contributors to growth. Read on...

Forrester: What B2B Marketing Leaders Are Measuring: Five Key Takeaways
Author: Ross Graber