Are marketing professionals prepared for the digital future? Because frankly — it’s here. In fact, we’d go so far as to say, “If it’s not going digital, it didn’t happen.”

Marketing honchos are going to be losing ground if they don’t understand that the content that works today is streamed, mobilized, optimized, and analyzed through digital channels.

It could be a rough ride for some.

New info provided by Accenture estimates that digital marketing will make up more than three-quarters of overall marketing budgets by the end of this decade. While 78 percent of the nearly 600 Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) surveyed said they believed digital, mobile, and analytics would fundamentally change their marketing, an amazing percentage (79 percent) admitted they didn’t believe their companies were prepared for the mega-shift.

Much of the reticence to get on the digital train is due to old legacy systems, says Glen Hartman, global managing director of digital transformation for Accenture Interactive.

“The way that marketing has been defined in the past needs to change. Marketing [is now] linked with technology and analytics and that means new areas that CMOs need to embrace,” Hartman is quoted by Marketing Daily. “The purview of the CMO needs to expand to drive a transformational agenda.”

Embracing new technology developments within marketing, understanding customers, and guaranteeing a smooth customer experience across all channels is critical, Hartman believes.

The same survey results showed that just 62 percent of CMOs thought their companies are actually providing quality customer experience.

“How to be relevant to the consumer is where the CMO needs to think differently,” Hartman added in the report. “It has to do with making businesses more consumer-centric and creating initiatives vs. marketing outcomes.”