July 14, 2014
Now, more than ever, there is a digital expectation from your customers. They expect easy access to information when they want it, how they want it, and from wherever they are. But to successfully deliver this digital expectation means getting to know your customer as people, not transactions before you can drive deeper engagement. No wonder 85% of CEOs said getting closer to their customers is a top strategy, according to a recent IBM study.
Delivering against this expectation and driving digital engagement takes executive vision, customer insight, flexible technologies and great employee alignment across traditionally siloed business units. We've found one of the biggest barriers to delivering an integrated digital customer strategy has less to do with the technologies deployed, and more with aligning executives and employees around a single, shared vision.
The most influential "power couple" these days to deliver against this digital expectation is the relationship between an enterprise's chief marketing officer (CMO) and chief information officer (CIO). Why is that? According to Gartner, by 2017 the CMO will spend more on IT than the CIO. Marketing departments are purchasing significant amounts of technology and services from their own capital and expense budgets. Why? In my previous article, I discuss the trends that are driving the evolved CMO. These two executives have a critical role today in helping to craft a customer obsessed vision and strategy to deliver what customers expect from your business today.
In the past, marketing and IT have been like oil and water. But now leading CMOs and CIOs know they must align to gain a competitive edge in the marketplace and develop a joint strategy that is helping to produce some of the most innovative, customer-focused solutions we are seeing in the market today, at companies like L'Oreal, Stanley Black & Decker and GlaxoSmithKline to name a few. Here are a couple main reasons why a rift exists between the two roles and what you can do to overcome these obstacles.
