8 Common Challenges Faced While Implementing A New Eloqua Install

Oracle Eloqua is a powerful ally in any marketer’s arsenal. It is a vast, enterprise-level platform that can handle your digital marketing needs.

As with anything this capable, though, there is a pay-off; Eloqua’s learning curve might be the biggest challenge to overcome when implementing an entirely new install. However, given enough time and patience, the platform can surely reward your company with great value.

Or you could save yourself precious time and hire an Eloqua consultant to design and implement the platform for you, giving you all the needed benefits while removing all the hassle and challenges associated with learning how to implement a new marketing automation platform in your company.

Let’s find out what these are first.

Throughout this article, we will cover the most common challenges that arise when implementing Oracle Eloqua as your marketing automation platform, giving you a comprehensive overview of the process implications.

1. Change adversity

Human beings are creatures of habit. Every time a routine gets changed or something completely new is implemented, there will be some resistance to change. And there are many reasons for this kind of attitude.

For many people, change means loss of control brought by uncertainty. Concerns of competence can also be a valid worry for employees who will work with new implementations.

With this, underperforming fears in the newly created environment may arise, which can put an employee in a stressful state of mind, making them perform worse, which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Undoubtedly, the duty of a great leader will be to provide helpful guidance in the process of change. With enough information and assisting resources, fears can be alleviated, making it easier for them to adapt and embrace the change, thus allowing them to move further.

2. Security Considerations

Data security nowadays is more important than ever. Large companies that unfortunately had to deal with data leaks have faced a significant backlash from customers who lost trust. Big names such as Adobe, Uber, Sony PlayStation, Facebook, Marriot International, Yahoo, and many more suffered cyber-attacks by hackers leaving up to 3 billion accounts compromised at a time after the attack. Because of this, companies worldwide of all sizes have started to invest more and more in cybersecurity.

For this reason, when you begin implementing a new marketing automation platform such as Oracle Eloqua, it is of utmost importance to consider the safety of your customers’ data.

Maintaining security best practices can be a challenging task, even for the most experienced. Implementing the right kind of protection for assets, data, and permission can be hard work. On top of that, managing Contact Level Security (CLS) labels that need to be applied to both users and contacts in your database can add another layer of complexity.

However, Eloqua’s Layered Environmental Security has no record of data breaches. It is the only marketing automation platform to complete both Type I and Type II Statement of Auditing Standards (SAS) 70, an internationally recognized auditing standard, developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).

This certification emphasizes Eloqua’s commitment to the highest operational standards, meaning that an Eloqua expert can ensure your data’s safety.

3. Sufficient Training

Suppose you decide that the best course of action for your company would be to handle everything related to implementing a fresh new Eloqua install in-house. In that case, you need to prepare to undergo thorough training for your employees.

Eloqua is a complex platform that takes time to master because of its steep learning curve. Naturally, this implies an added cost that is substantial as to both valuable time and monetary resources. With proper guidance and dedication to knowledge throughout this entire process, however, everything is possible.

4. Take inventory

When migrating to or implementing a new marketing automation platform such as Eloqua, it’s crucial to consider your current inventory of assets, templates, configuration processes, administrative settings, and so on.

Doing a thorough inspection of your inventory and deciding which items to migrate into your new Eloqua install will take time and be rather complicated. However, this will help you make room for future assets, allowing you to have a clear overview of the most important ones.

Skipping this step can only make it harder for you afterwards. Not having access to your accounts, contacts, leads, or audiences can hinder you in generating, collecting, or organizing this kind of data later down the line, meaning that your business activities may experience inevitable delays.

5. Archive key assets

Once all the essential items are identified, you can start archiving the articles that you think you might need later but aren’t necessary right now. Archiving historical assets is crucial because they might help you recreate things later down the line.

You can archive those items by either saving the code in a text file or taking a screenshot. Assets that can be archived are HTML, Old Emails, Landing Pages, Campaign Workflows, Form submission data, Report, etc.

6. Allow for extra time

When planning an important decision, such as migrating to a new marketing automation platform such as Eloqua, you don’t want to rush things. Rushing and making poor decisions can create more challenges down the road, with the potential to increase the cost of your new platform’s implementation substantially.

You must make sure that enough time is allotted for the new migration, especially if this is the first time you are undergoing this demanding activity. That’s how you can make sure that no extra costs are generated by rushing in and overlooking important details.

7. Allow proper testing

This point is tied to the previous one. By allocating enough time for the implementation, you are also giving enough time for proper testing. Proper testing is paramount to ensure that everything is running how it’s supposed to, thus avoiding any unwanted sudden Eloqua implementation challenges.

To do this correctly, you have to liaise with your implementation partners and assess the right times to migrate all selected assets and configure all platform settings. Ensure that all is running as it should be by testing everything at the best time. These unquestionably save you quite some frustration down the line.

8. Set up cut-off date

Given the complexity of implementing Oracle Eloqua, there is yet another challenge to be addressed to ensure that everything is running smoothly.

Specifically, you have to set up a date when you will begin configuring new assets and campaigns in your fresh Eloqua install – the moment when your migration is final, and you start solely using your new platform. Meaning, any pre-existing campaigns in your old MAP need to come to an end.

This is a crucial move, especially if you have a CRM system, web forms, or other integrated systems with your old MAP. When adequately executed, migrating campaigns may take time, no doubt, but ensure that no precious time gets wasted fixing a malfunctioning asset or cleaning up junk data.

Final thoughts

Having to consider all these challenges can be a daunting task for everyone. However, together with the right team to handle this ambitious assignment, you can make a world of difference. There are certainly a few challenges that you have to take into account when you decide to change your marketing automation platform to Oracle Eloqua. This move will require good planning on your part and an even better allocation of resources. However, given this platform’s vast potential, Eloqua can surely multiply the resources invested into its implementation.

Nevertheless, in case you want to reap the benefits but save yourself the trouble of undergoing such an extensive implementation process yourself, you can always reach out to our certified team of Eloqua consultants. We can help you on this journey and design, configure, and manage precisely the Eloqua platform you need.

This way, you get to enjoy all the benefits that Oracle Eloqua has to offer without stumbling upon any challenges.

Are you interested to learn more? Dive in all the reasons why an Eloqua expert is an essential addition to your Eloqua implementation team or check out our customer success story for more information about how we redesigned a new install in Eloqua for a global tech giant.

On top, we offer you a demo of our trusted Eloqua implementation services. Check out this unique offer to retrieve your Eloqua Implementation Delivery Plan – a comprehensive Gantt chart that can relieve you of the uncertainty commonly associated with setting up a new install, containing all the process phases, their dependencies, and the type of resources required at each level.