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Former Member

In today’s hyperconnected world of business, it’s hard to believe that silos still exist between departments.  But…they do.  Silos create mistrust, erode relationships, hinder growth and reduce agility.  These all lead to diminished customer experiences, slower time to market and potentially reduced profit.


With plenty of competition and options available, consumers have become more demanding. To top it off, they have a plethora of information available to make the right decision. A few years back, if you had to buy a washer-dryer, you had to talk to a sales representative. Now you have reviews available on websites. This also holds true for the business-to-business (B2B) world.


Insights into the customer’s explicit data (such as past purchases or campaign responses) and implicit data (browsing behavior or page clicks)  must be combined to create the best customer experience.  Marketers need real-time, contextually based knowledge about a customer’s intent to be able to take next best action.


The Case for IT and Marketing – Better Together


It is critical for businesses to develop and maintain a single view of the customer which can be leveraged by marketing, sales, and other customer-facing teams within the company.  Achieving this integrated view is a key driver for IT and marketing to work together.


Here are some of the other business benefits of the CIO and CMO two working together [see video] for the greater good of the business:


1. Changing role of marketer – The role of marketers has changed over the years; it is no more just about creating awareness, promotion, and PR. The proliferation of digital and social channels has empowered the customers, and the big question for marketers is how to engage customers who have unlimited choices in the world and all the information needed. Modern marketers are expected not only to deepen the customer experience and grow market share, but to show return on investment. CMOs are turning to technology to empower them to make quick data-driven decisions. The CMO and CIO partnership is necessary to enable the data insights necessary to enable the delivery of personalized and relevant customer experiences. 

2. Cultural Shift:  Agile and Information Driven – Siloed programs breed dysfunction.  Most businesses are shifting from autonomous functional areas to a more strategically oriented business model where information is consolidated and shared across the company. According to recent report by TBR (Driving agility in consumer product business with data visualization) “companies’ ability to react to market trends is intrinsically tied to comprehending and acting on data gleaned across segments.” Finding synergies and making faster decisions that have a greater impact for the whole of the business is paramount.  Data is a strategic asset that must be explored anywhere, anytime and in a way that is meaningful in order to maximize its value to take advantage of the insights that are generated.  The report also states that “companies can change their business by looking outside core relationships to new data sources and points of insight.” The call to action here is for IT to move from supporting siloed programs to the consolidation of information across the entire business.  This will enable IT to better support and empower the business and shift the culture to one of collaboration and insight-driven decisions. 


3. Walk the customer journey together – The journey to create a successful digital user experience, starts with the IT and marketing jointly looking at the customer journey.  The IT architects along with the user experience experts should collaborate to:

    • Figure
    • Analyze
    • Create


This joint collaboration ensures that the customer journey and the technology goals are synchronized at all times and all of the key players at the table and in agreement on moving forward.  Greater collaboration and greater alignment will yield tighter group inter connectivity and improved customer focus.

Learn more about how technology can simplify your business and break down your silos.