We’ve said in the past that the b-to-b industry is focused on Marketing Automation today, as much as it used to be focused on social media 3 years ago.  And a story from B-to-B Magazine confirms that companies are aggressively ramping up spending in this area.  An excerpt from an August 19 article:

In BtoB's “2013 Marketing Automation” study, 81% of respondents said they will have strong or complete adoption of marketing automation systems by next year, up from 62% this year. Fifty-two percent said they will have complete adoption of marketing automation technology—fully integrating it into their sales and marketing organizations—up from 26% this year. The study was based on an online survey of 204 b2b marketers conducted in May. Forty-two percent of respondents said they would set aside new funds for marketing automation technology over the 12 months following. Others will shift funds from other areas, including digital marketing (34%), email or direct marketing (31%), events (18%), print advertising (16%) and broadcast advertising (4%).