Global sales and marketing expenses are expected to grow at 4.7% and 3.5%, respectively in 2010, exceeding the forecast growth of IT global revenue of 3.2%, according to market research firm IDC.
The firm said that the expense gains will lead tech executives to accelerate their initiatives to improve the productivity and cost efficiency of sales and marketing.
In addition, executives may continue to seek greater sales and marketing alignment through organisation and reporting changes, as a way to solve the costly misalignments, which have continually undermined sales and marketing integration and efficiency.
According to the research, over 20% of tech organisations with revenues of more than $1bn have witnessed significant organisation change during the past twelve months. Majority of senior tech sales and marketing executives expect the trend to continue throughout 2010.
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IDC said that executives have numerous opportunities for savings and efficiency within the typical tech marketing organisation.
Michael Gerard, vice president of sales advisory service at IDC, said: With sales costs increasing, the number of leads necessary to close a deal increasing, and the length of sales cycles increasing, sales organisations will have no choice but to ramp up their productivity to ensure survival in an highly competitive environment.
“Sales operations must be considered a strategic driver of process improvements across the sales organisation in addition to its more tactical support function. Key areas of focus include sales enablement, customer intelligence, account planning, and pipeline health.
