The Future Of Marketing Needs Tech, But Let's Not Forget About The Humans

Many of us in the marketing profession talk about preparing our organizations for the future. This invariably turns to talk of technology. This is appropriate given that marketing needs to be brought fully into the data-driven, tech-enabled age in which we live. However, in my research on topics such as the digital transformation of marketing and advanced marketing analytics, as well as conversations with marketing professionals and leaders in organizations large and small, I've come to believe that a critical aspect of preparing organizations for the future of marketing has not received enough attention. In all of the excitement about tech, it seems that we have tended to overlook humans. Yes, humans.
Be honest. What seems more interesting? Having a conversation with colleagues about things like the amazing possibilities of marketing automation systems and artificial intelligence? Or have a discussion about your marketing team's skills and capabilities vis-a-vis readiness for the future? I doubt I need to do research to know that most of us would likely think the tech-focused chat is the more appealing one. But the latter–the people-focused one–is undeniably also important. How can we ready ourselves for the future of marketing, which does involve a lot of techs, without thinking about the people in our organizations (and ourselves!) and the extent to which we have the requisite skillsets?