“Have you tried turning it off and on again?”
If that phrase is the extent of the interaction between marketing and IT in your organisation, you’re not alone. While the sales department is traditionally marketing’s biggest source of internal frustrations, IT is gaining an unwanted reputation as a rival for marketers’ disaffection.IT staff – perhaps more so than marketers – suffer from an internal image problem, characterised as the (deliberately) obstructive, socially awkward geeks in the basement. Of course, tarring all IT workers with this brush is unfair, but there are no doubt times when it seems the two functions speak a separate language.
As the growth of martech pushes each department into the other’s orbit, both sides will need to find a way to collaborate more effectively – or join a collision course.
Why the relationship is becoming more important
The clear reason why the relationship between marketing and IT is increasingly important is the martech stack – and its inherent complexity. Thirty years ago the only ‘technology’ marketers would have needed was a pencil and paper.
“Modern marketing is about understanding CX, striving to understand customer interaction and behaviour in more microscopic detail,” says Marcus Lambert, CTO at agency Omobono. “That has required a whole slew of solutions, apps and website plug-ins. You have the big systems of record, like your CRM, and this plethora of smaller solutions that need to join together. That’s what makes it complex – its broadness.”
Marketing isn’t the only function experiencing this rapid transformation. Whole organisations, even sectors, are grappling with digital evolution. Businesses are struggling to keep up with the pace, and are trying to avoid ‘digital Darwinism’, where brands that fail to adapt perish.
“Digital sits in the middle of IT and marketing. It requires a whole different way of doing things,” says John Igoe, associate director of digital marketing at Envigo. “It’s eroding how we see teams, the skills and experience we need in both marketing and IT, and how those two functions connect.”
IT may also have control of the channels marketing needs to reach its audience. If IT owns the website infrastructure, any changes marketing requires could be dependent on the development resources within. Not great if you want to make quick tweaks to boost your SEO or online conversion rates.
The complexity of the stack has also meant the technical skills needed to manage it have gone beyond the expertise of many marketers. “The more complex the technology becomes, the more the team needs to support driving personalised measureable and meaningful experiences for customers and prospects,” adds John. The data analysis skills needed to power advanced marketing automation or predictive analytics for example, might only exist within the IT team.
What’s hindering the relationship?
Despite the necessity for both sides to work in harmony, in reality it’s far from simple. Many of the relationship challenges marketers cited are a result of historic decisions, which the rapid development of technology have rendered obsolete.
The first of these is a lack of clear ownership. “Increasingly, marketers are making technology decisions that blur the lines between marketing and IT – including who really owns marketing technology,” says Sumit Srivastava, head of corporate marketing analytics at LexisNexis Risk Solutions. “If rules of engagement around martech decisions and ownership are not in place, it can lead to friction and a perceived power struggle between marketing and IT.”
But the complexity of the landscape makes this difficult. Siddharth Asokan, global marketing and communications director at Futurice, says he doesn’t believe the evolution is currently sufficient for either marketing or IT to ‘own’ responsibility independently.
The siloed structure of most organisations also inhibits a close relationship. Both departments have a tendency to independently serve different masters. Marketers tend to have a customer-first, external campaign focus. IT concentrates on internal concerns such as architecture, security and administration. Often marketing will come to IT with a preferred solution in mind, having only considered the former. This creates an adversarial relationship from the get-go.
Another major source of headache is the lack of alignment in the way the two functions are measured. Whereas marketing is held accountable for revenue generation, IT is targeted on KPIs, such as website maintenance and uptime, etc. If both sides aren’t working towards the same goal there’s bound to be conflict when priorities don’t match.
Another challenge raised was around the different cultures and expectations of the two functions. Lazy stereotyping aside, contributors noted IT professionals tend to be risk-averse, inward-looking and process (rather than outcome) driven. But at the same time they were described as highly-skilled, passionate about what they do and super smart.
These cultural misunderstandings often originate from misaligned expectations on each side. What a marketer means by ‘as soon as possible’ might be very different to someone in IT. As Sara Brown, VP marketing at Multi-Tech Systems, notes: “We might be speaking the same language, but using different definitions. Although a few lines of code may be ‘done’ in terms of functionality (when I click this, that happens), it may not be ‘done’ for me, because it’s the wrong color, or the text needs to be tweaked.”
Loudhouse Research recently looked at five different buying personas – marketing, IT, finance, operations and HR. They examined the challenges they had while working together and how closely aligned those functions were.When asked about collaborating on investments in technology, the study found marketing was less aligned with IT than any of the other functions.“HR, finance and operations generally started from some agreement over what they wanted to buy, whereas marketing started from a greater distance,” says Loudhouse MD Angela Richmond. “One in five marketers said they couldn’t agree with IT at all, and a further half start from a different point of view, but agree in the end.”The two primary areas of conflict surrounded integration with other systems, plus price and commercial factors. Marketers were also more likely to disagree over the best product for their needs.The research also found IT professionals to be the most autocratic when making work decisions. “Marketers are the most likely to build consensus,” adds Angela. “It’s just they’re not using those skills when it comes to IT decision-making.”
How to form a strong bond
1. Get on the same page
A good relationship between the two functions starts at the top, between CMO and CIO. According to Andy Johnston, marketing and PR director EMEAA at Stericycle: “Regardless of organisational structure and delineation of boundaries, it starts on the personal level.”
Recognising the two worlds were getting closer together, Andy proposed he and his IT counterpart hold regular meetings to kick-start the dialogue on a relationship basis, rather than a discussion over ownership.
Helping IT understand the context in which marketing operates is also vital. Everyone’s got an opinion on what marketing (or IT) is and does, so setting out what marketing means in your business and its priorities, can really help. As can simple things to bring the two sides together. “Just before Christmas we got the pizzas in and got the two teams together. It’s basic stuff, but it’s amazing what a pizza can do,” Andy adds.
2. Be ready to give up some control
Both sides bring different expertise to the relationship. Ideally, the CIO should play the role of the technical expert, with the CMO advising on the marketplace. But with confused ownership and vendor landscape, that’s not always possible.
Maureen Blandford, VP marketing at Community Brands, said she built a great relationship with her CIO in a previous role, partly because she ceded many decisions to him and worked within the boundaries he set, as he owned much of the tech risk.
“IT departments have to deal with a lot of condescension,” she says. “They have a serious role to play in the company, and a boatload of risk to manage. Treat them like the internal experts they are, and that goes a long way towards a truly collaborative experience.”
3. Make sure there is early involvement
As we previously highlighted, if one side makes a decision without the other side’s input, you’ll get off on the wrong foot. Ensuring IT is involved as early as possible, so they have early sight of any implementation or management resource that may be needed. Developing a joint roadmap (see point six) will support this.
Richard Fitzmaurice, CMO at TMF Group, advises: “A great way to do this is by requesting an IT business partner, someone who sits within IT who can help marketing navigate the internal IT function and can procure IT solutions faster, better and cheaper. The earlier you bring IT (and procurement) into martech decisions, the better the final outcome will be – and the smoother the ride.”
4. Improve communication
The quickest way to improve communication in the teams is to tear down the walls – in some cases literally. Amelia Ebdon, marketing manager at Network Telecom, says its marketing and IT functions sit side-by-side, so both teams can communicate easily. Working close by each other increases awareness of each other’s roles and encourages collaboration. For deeper integration, you could also consider hiring IT professionals directly into the marketing team.
5. Implement a digital governance model
Disagreements over responsibilities and ownership can be reduced with the implementation of a digital governance model, which sets out accountability,
roles and decision-making authority for an organisation’s digital presence.
“Having a digital governance model helps teams collaborate earlier in the right way. It defines roles and responsibilities, and ensures everybody has a voice but that they’re heard in the right way,” says John Igoe. Not only will this help build a stronger relationship between the two departments, but also with the broader organisation.
Igoe recommends Managing chaos, a book by digital governance expert Lisa Welchman, to inspire thinking around this topic. Perhaps you could pass one to your CIO as a gift (after you’ve read it, of course)?
6. Develop a shared roadmap
A strong relationship will only be possible if you’re heading in the same direction. The best way to achieve this is for the CMO and CIO to work together on a shared roadmap of martech strategy and demands for the future. A complex tech stack offers you an opportunity, says Marcus Lambert of Omobono, providing you understand where you stand.
“I’d look at jointly developing a roadmap that combines both legacy and new tech. It’s really trying to build out that roadmap, knowing in six months what we’ll be buying, turning off and where we need to migrate data. Also identifying where and how to fit cool new tech into the stack,” he says.
7. Give them a reason to work together
Greater collaboration between the two departments will be good for business, but finding additional motivation for both sides to work together will cement the relationship.
“The IT guys who I have worked with like new technology and platforms. They naturally find that stuff super interesting so getting them to listen about platform X, Y or Z isn’t normally difficult at all,” says Richard Fitzmaurice.
You can use this enthusiasm to your advantage. Involve them early on and get their input when vendors are showing off their latest tech. This will turn them into valuable allies if the solution is viable and you want to include it in the stack.
He adds: “IT departments are increasingly being asked to prove their ability to be more than cost and that they can influence growth. Aligning with marketing is a great, tangible, way for them to do that.”
Marketers from tech firms noted the value IT staff can bring to the sales process. Getting your internal developers or security experts to speak directly to your prospects can bring greater authenticity and credibility to your offer. This information exchange works both ways, says Bianca Valkenburg, customer journey expert, workplace services at ING Tech.
“Marketers need to involve IT in their research when they talk to the customers, as they learn so much from these moments. They can use this input when they build the product. IT need to involve marketers when they build their prototypes and allow them to test it in an early stage to learn if you are really solving the problem a customer has.”
8. Remember, everyone’s human
Stereotypes are difficult to displace, and often become entrenched when problems arise. So it’s crucial to keep things in perspective.
“IT people are people, too – just like you. They have goals. Objectives. Bosses they have to answer to. Teams they have to manage,” says Sara Brown. “I prefer to build bridges. That may sound mechanical, but in reality it’s an exercise in humanity.”
