A small (but technical) consulting firm, 4Thought Marketing, has hired me as a project manager and account manager. They are an Oracle/Eloqua partner and they offer some of the more technical, data-intensive services surrounding Eloqua (a fairly hot “marketing automation”, or “MA” technology), including data integration services, data cleansing, and an overall “health-check” of Eloqua data and operations.
I’ll be their contact person for all Eloqua users in the eastern US. And so if you happen to be an Eloqua or “marketing automation” person, please feel free to get in touch with me.
Marketing automation is a genuine growth industry in our economy. One observer has commented that while some 20% of companies were using a marketing automation platform in 2012, 50% are projected to use one in 2015. That’s a significant growth rate in the next few years. Even if the estimate is off a bit, things still promise to be on the upswing.
Plus, there’s been quite a bit of consolidation in the industry. For example, Oracle purchased Eloqua this year for about $870 million. Salesforce.com purchased Exact Target (and the MA platform Pardot) for more than $2 billion. And Adobe (makers of Photoshop and others) purchased Neolane.
All of these are positioning themselves as leaders in the “data management” or “database marketing” fields. I’m just very happy to have landed, for now, in an area of the economy where there is a bit of a tailwind.
I’m glad these last six months are behind me, and I’m looking forward to a period of fruitful and useful employment with 4Thought Marketing.
Thank you for your prayers and encouragement during this difficult time.
Congrats, John! I'm happy for you and your family.
ReplyDeleteIn Christ,
Pete
Great news, John. Best wishes for years of success!
ReplyDeleteI appreciate it Constantine. Thanks for your very tangible help and encouragement over these last years.
DeleteBeen in that boat a few times I am glad you have found new employment and hope it is lucrative and I do hope dearly for the continued health of those in your family. I read this blog quite abit, you people drive me crazy to be honest and on more then one occasion I have wanted to through some object across the room. That aside it is scary not to be employed, the prospect has always terrified me. You are correct, big data has a real future in many aspects and it is an industry that can really help customers and people and John I get that you are about that. I cant tell you how you stuck with your family touched me deeply. Having lost several family members to such illnesses and involved in their care daily and financially I relate a bit. I "wish" I had your faith and assurance, I dont consider that an options now but that is just me.
ReplyDeleteI am just some human being that has walked some of the same ground and I am very happy for you.
Hi Brian, I appreciate your hopes and prayers. The important thing is to keep focused on the Lord and also to keep an eye on what the world is doing. I'm not so much going to be involved in "big data" so much as "understanding and using" data, maybe from the perspective that will help you to purchase your next widget or gadget. As for family, you know, you can't pick them. The Lord gives them to you; they are His gift and His charge. It's easy for me to appear "assured" when writing and posting blog articles. C.S. Lewis wrote about this a bit -- on the other side of the keyboard, (on my side), there are tremendous hopes and fears, not all of which work out the way we want them to.
DeleteKeep focused on the Lord, and He'll take you where He wants you to go.