The CMO-CIO relationship can be a tough one, especially as advances in technology are changing marketing. Both executives may feel like they’re fighting over turf or getting left behind. But it’s important for the two leaders to set aside their differences and focus on the goals they have in common. For our customers, we’ve seen time and again that when marketing and IT collaborate based on common business objectives, implementations and the overall project success rate are dramatically better.
This week, I’ve collected some articles that look at the CMO-CIO relationship, what makes it difficult and how to ensure it works.
The Key to CIO and CMO Collaboration? Be Customer-Centric. Deloitte Digital: “Shared skill sets support evolved thought leadership. Strong leaders call for both roles to evolve toward converged skill sets. As individuals rise through the ranks, concessions must be made in order to arm staff with necessary tools to make them well versed in customer insights to drive corporate initiatives. Enabling both the CMO and the CIO to focus on what they do best can set the best example for teams.”
4 Steps to Building a Strong CMO-CIO Relationship. iMediaConnection: “As a marketer, you’re focused on driving ROI. You want results. There’s a good chance that you’re a fast-talker, move through projects quickly, and love a good creative brainstorm. In order to ensure productive collaboration with your CIO, however, you’re going to want to adapt your communication style a bit and put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Part of this means familiarizing yourself with the vocabulary and types of questions that IT engages with regularly. But it also means going beyond language to understand what drives and motivates the IT function. For a marketer, this is a crucial step that will enable you to share cases in a way that resonates with the CIO, articulate challenges more thoroughly, and pay closer attention to technical complexities and requirements. Similarly, you’ll need to spend time with your CIO to familiarize him or her with your marketing speak and processes.”
CIO and CMO Hold Keys to Business Success. Mobile Enterprise: “Most CMOs and CIOs know they should collaborate to lead the evolution of their organization. Mature collaborations generally follow similar paths of evolution, transitioning from a role-specific focus to broader internal partnerships to integrated teams. Deloitte Digital’s ‘CMO Quarterly Study: The CMO-CIO Relationship’ found that 71 percent of CMO-CIO conversations focused on these evolving roles as they related to bridging the gap between the two leaders.”
Why CMOs Must Take Mobile More Seriously. CIO: “Perhaps the biggest hurdle CMOs must overcome in order to embrace mobility is the dysfunctional CIO-CMO relationship. Too many CIOs stand in the way of CMOs from taking charge, seizing the mobile mantle and owning the customer experience. Mobility is transformative and can disrupt businesses. It’s not merely a technology to fight over. Then again, perhaps the turf war is just heating up. ‘Your CIO may argue against you and claim that mobile is just another technology where his organization needs to manage costs, risks and security,’ says Forrester analysts Julie Ask and Jeffrey Hammond in their report CMOs: Own Mobile to Own Your Customers. ‘Your CIO is wrong, and you will be outplayed by your competitors if you take this approach. Mobile is an opportunity — not a threat.’”
5 Ways CMOs Can Deliver a More Integrated Customer Experience. Huffington Post: “Co-design the optimal customer-driven technology roadmap: CMOs need to develop an understanding of the technology that is required to deliver the optimal customer experience and co-design the technology roadmap with the CIO, allowing flexibility in design to incorporate new technology and third party applications.”