Marketers and IT professionals should both embrace new digital marketing technologies to acquire, maintain and enhance customer relationships and increase revenue, according to a report from the CMO Council and consulting firm Accenture.
The groups also reported that marketing and IT executives do not believe they are effective partners, even though they have common goals in the race to adopt new digital marketing capabilities. The companies recently surveyed more than 300 marketing executives and 300 IT executives.
Most respondents felt their companies were unprepared to exploit new digital channels. Just 4% of marketing executives and 7% of IT executives said their companies were prepared to do so, and only 8% of marketers and 6% of IT execs said their data and analytics are completely integrated. About one-third of both groups said they have difficulty integrating analytics capabilities or believe they are not integrated at all.
“The research highlighted an issue we’d observed in the market while working with our clients,” says Michael Svilar, senior executive responsible for Accenture’s interactive marketing analytics. “Technology is changing so quickly, and digital has the potential to truly revolutionize how businesses operate. However, CMOs and CIOs need to receive top-down direction, support and adequate resources with the backing of their CEO, and that needs to come with the recognition that the return on those investments may not be on a typical return-on-investment cycle. It may take longer.”
Research shows that marketers and IT professionals both understand the impact of digital channels and the need for closer CMO-CIO alignment. However, 64% of marketers and 48% of IT executives said they have had problems implementing marketing solutions or IT projects to advance marketing effectiveness.
