Distractions are a pervasive problem that do not discriminate. From chat and calls to search and social, Web pros are interrupted throughout the day, causing productivity to plummet.
Add on fragmented marketing technologies (e.g. CRM, social media, Web analytics and email marketing) that are not integrated, and 'Net workers have a serious productivity problem on their digital hands, as they are required to switch from solution to solution and undoubtedly get distracted along the way. Marketing automation platform Act-On Software looked into this issue and found 83 percent of marketers believe fragmented marketing systems to be one of their top challenges, causing them to struggle with current marketing objectives (read PDF).
Thinking there was a better way, Act-On just announced Act-On Anywhere, which essentially serves as a browser extension to remove distractions and improve productivity. Regardless of what Web-based environment a user is working in, they can click, according to Act-On, the Act-On Anywhere icon in their browser to access marketing automation features, and they can view engagement information for any person in the Act-On database.
"Our strategy at Act-On is to enable our customers to take full advantage of the incredible explosion of new tools and services while still getting the benefits of an integrated marketing automation platform," said Raghu Raghavan, CEO of Act-On Software. "Act-On Anywhere does this by augmenting those technologies with marketing automation capability from right within their browser."
Act-On Anywhere can be used for a variety of marketing functions, including running SEO audits on their websites after creating them, social media publishing, content authoring (quick access to images, links and forms stored in Act-On), LinkedIn prospecting (pulls up activity history), customer relationship management and gmail communication (to use templates and get alerted when a prospect interacts with the email - see image below).