Vast amounts of data can quickly and cost-effectively be processed opens the door for more relevant and personalized advertising. The challenge for marketers is to be able to effectively tie together the different data strands that originate from the cross-device user journeys.

B2B buyers do a lot of their shopping online, too, jumping from laptop to smartphone to tablet before checking out. The digital convenience and often-tailored experience they receive when shopping for shirts, pants and shoes is the same thing they expect when purchasing a pallet of laptops for their organization.

Although the focus MediaPost's Publishing Insider Summit stayed predominantly on digital, there were many applications for cross-channel. Most apparent were the themes of programmatic and mastering data, and how the two are coming together to revolutionize the landscape.

In the age of social, mobile and user-generated content, the traditional ways of assigning agency teams for integrated marketing campaigns are ripe for change and review.