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Act-On Software launched Data Studio, a data access and analytics tool that enables users to visualize, select, configure, and move data from Act-On to a business intelligence (BI) platform.
Data Studio gives small- to medium-size businesses (SMBs) the ability to select any data that exists within the Act-On platform, by using pre-defined data templates or by using point and click queries, filters and aggregation options, to create custom views into the data.
The platform features visualization tools to help marketing departments analyze the data sets chosen to ensure they warrant more in-depth analysis. It also has the ability to export the data either on-demand or on a scheduled basis to any variety of external systems, ranging from third- party business intelligence tools to Microsoft Excel.
“SMBs are typically known for having fewer resources and smaller budgets, and marketing automation in its early days was expensive, required dedicated IT staff to manage and was looked at as a complex system to use,” Gal Josefsberg, vice president of product management and marketing at Act-On, told eWEEK. “Act-On saw that the mid-market was under served when it came to marketing technologies and, as a result, developed a marketing automation system that caters to the specific needs and challenges of small- and mid-sized businesses.”
Josefsberg said Act-On Marketing Automation has helped to level the playing field for SMBs that compete with larger enterprises that have had access to marketing technologies for more years.
“Today, SMBs can have well-defined marketing and sales processes supported by technology, be strategic in their outreach initiatives, make data-driven decisions and, ultimately, be more accountable for marketing and sales performance,” he said.
Data Studio is available now and is part of the Act-On for Enterprise package. Pricing starts at $2,000.
“Analytics have typically been expensive to setup and maintain. A BI package costs thousands of dollars in license fees before implementation even begins, and a typical BI package needs a dedicated IT resource to setup and configure,” Josefsberg said. “These are insurmountable blocks to small teams operating on a limited budget. Data Studio overcomes these obstacles by presenting data extract in an easy to use and configured way, and integrating to the world’s most popular, yet also the cheapest BI package, MS Excel.”
GoChime, a specialist in social marketing automation, recently launched an integration with Act-On, which enables Act-On clients to retarget known customers in real time. They can do so by list, segment, or email behavior with mobile and desktop Facebook ads.
The integration is made possible by GoChime’s Automated Custom Audience Management feature that enables a real-time exchange of anonymous customer data between a marketer’s Act-On account and Facebook ad campaigns.