CMOs, CIOs increasingly see chief customer officer as relationship saviour

New report from Accenture Interactive on the ongoing challenges of the CMO/CIO relationship sees both IT and marketing looking to a newly emerging chief experience officer role as key to alignment and engagement

trio.jpg

dreamstime

dreamstime_0
trio.jpg dreamstime dreamstime_0

CMOs and CIOs are increasingly turning to the emerging role of chief experience officer to foster greater collaboration and integration between marketing and technology.

According to the latest Accenture Interactive survey, Cutting Across the CMO-CIO Divide: Digital drives a new wave of collaboration, 35 per cent of Australian CMOs and 25 per cent of CIOs say the creation of a ‘CeXO’ role was a priority for improving collaboration across the two functions.

The position was described as potentially a board-level role that owned the customer, with responsibility for a combined team spanning customer-facing IT, marketing, product development, sales and customer service.

Core benefits cited in creating such as role include delivering better products and services, improving customer service, driving brand value, loyalty and advocacy, and increasing revenue growth and cost and performance transparency.

The fourth annual Accenture report into the CIO-CMO relationship also found fewer Australian CMOs see IT as a strategic marketing partner than do CIOs (45 per cent versus 61 per cent). This compared with global results of 83 per cent and 69 per cent, respectively.

Key reasons for collaboration between IT and marketing cited by respondents were the rise of digital marketing, access to customer insight and intelligence for competitive advantage, and digital transformation.

In addition, a smaller number of CMOs saw collaboration with the CIO as important in driving company growth through customer service excellence in comparison to last year (63 per cent, down from 67 per cent in 2013).

Related: CMOs and CIOs still don’t trust each other, finds Accenture report
CMO Council finds CMO/CIO friction is inhibiting digital marketing innovation

Only 12 per cent of Australian CMOs said the amount of collaboration is currently at the right level, compared to 17 per cent of CIOs, while 32 per cent of CMOs said more was needed. This compared with 35 per cent of CIOs.

The ongoing battle to bring IT and marketing into alignment was also prevalent in the survey results. For example, 53 per cent of CMOs said they were taking control of their marketing IT requirements and isolating them from CIOs. This included commissioning technology services from third-party providers.

The Australian figure contrasted with a global average of just 21 per cent, which was also found to be declining year-on-year. Among the core frustrations for marketing chiefs is that technology is siloed and too difficult to use to craft cross-channel experiences.

Nearly two-thirds of Australian CIOs, meanwhile, were frustrated CMOs didn’t understand the complexities of integrating new data sets into corporate IT systems. This compared with a global average of 49 per cent.

One-third of local IT leaders also said one of the biggest reasons marketing IT implementation issues arose was because marketing teams bypassed IT to work directly with vendors.

Despite this, both functions share views on core areas of marketing technology investment such as customer experience, social media, customer analytics and the corporate website.

CMOs and CIOs also agreed they are struggling to manage multi-channel customer experiences in order to provide real-time, relevant and consistent services to customers across all channels from digital to in-store.

When it comes to how to approach better collaboration, there was some discrepancy. Top priorities for CMOs included establishing a digital marketing function with IT and marketing resources; establishing a CeXO role; establishing a strong CEO mandate and governance structure; and aligning CMO/CIO goals, KPIs, budgets and objectives.

For CIOs, top priorities were establishing a strong CEO mandate and governance structure; training marketing and IT together in emerging marketing technologies and platforms; co-locating marketing and IT teams; and creating an IT lead within marketing and a marketing lead in IT.

The 2014 CMO-CIO Alignment survey is the fourth annual study conducted by Accenture into the impact of digital disruption on IT and marketing executives and their relationship. The latest Australian survey was based on responses from 100 marketing and IT decision makers.

5 key steps to making the CeXO role work

  1. Firm leadership support
  2. Vision and planning
  3. Aligned KPIs with the CMO and CIO
  4. Collaborative mindset
  5. Cross-discipline insight

Follow CMO on Twitter: @CMOAustralia, take part in the CMO Australia conversation on LinkedIn: CMO Australia, join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CMOAustralia, or check us out on Google+: google.com/+CmoAu

Signup to CMO’s email newsletter to receive your weekly dose of targeted content for the modern marketing chief.

Join the newsletter!

Or

Sign up to gain exclusive access to email subscriptions, event invitations, competitions, giveaways, and much more.

Membership is free, and your security and privacy remain protected. View our privacy policy before signing up.

Error: Please check your email address.
Show Comments

Latest Videos

More Videos

More Brand Posts

What are Chris Riddell's qualifications to talk about technology? What are the awards that Chris Riddell has won? I cannot seem to find ...

Tareq

Digital disruption isn’t disruption anymore: Why it’s time to refocus your business

Read more

Enterprisetalk

Mark

CMO's top 10 martech stories for the week - 9 June

Read more

Great e-commerce article!

Vadim Frost

CMO’s State of CX Leadership 2022 report finds the CX striving to align to business outcomes

Read more

Are you searching something related to Lottery and Lottery App then Agnito Technologies can be a help for you Agnito comes out as a true ...

jackson13

The Lottery Office CEO details journey into next-gen cross-channel campaign orchestration

Read more

Thorough testing and quality assurance are required for a bug-free Lottery Platform. I'm looking forward to dependability.

Ella Hall

The Lottery Office CEO details journey into next-gen cross-channel campaign orchestration

Read more

Blog Posts

Marketing prowess versus the enigma of the metaverse

Flash back to the classic film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Television-obsessed Mike insists on becoming the first person to be ‘sent by Wonkavision’, dematerialising on one end, pixel by pixel, and materialising in another space. His cinematic dreams are realised thanks to rash decisions as he is shrunken down to fit the digital universe, followed by a trip to the taffy puller to return to normal size.

Liz Miller

VP, Constellation Research

Why Excellent Leadership Begins with Vertical Growth

Why is it there is no shortage of leadership development materials, yet outstanding leadership is so rare? Despite having access to so many leadership principles, tools, systems and processes, why is it so hard to develop and improve as a leader?

Michael Bunting

Author, leadership expert

More than money talks in sports sponsorship

As a nation united by sport, brands are beginning to learn money alone won’t talk without aligned values and action. If recent events with major leagues and their players have shown us anything, it’s the next generation of athletes are standing by what they believe in – and they won’t let their values be superseded by money.

Simone Waugh

Managing Director, Publicis Queensland

Sign in