Only 10% of CMOs & CIOs believe they collaborate effectively

Only 10 per cent of the senior marketing and information tech executives believe collaboration between CMOs and CIOs is currently at the right level, according to a new study by Accenture.

Seventy-seven per cent of CIOs surveyed agree that CMO-CIO alignment is important, compared to 57 per cent of CMOs. However, despite CIOs appearing more open to engaging with CMOs, only 45 per cent of CIOs say that supporting marketing is near or at the top of their list of priorities.

However, CMOs and CIOs agree technology is essential to marketing with its primary purpose is to gain access to customer insight and intelligence (60 per cent of CMOs and 73 per cent of CIOs). But while CMOs claim gaining customer insight is their number one motivator for collaborating with IT, CIOs rank this tenth on their list of reasons to work together. CIOs’ top motivation for collaborating is to improve the customer experience, which CMOs rank as their third most important motivator.

Meanwhile, the report reveals when collaborating on a marketing initiative, neither the marketing executives nor the IT executives come away satisfied. According to the survey, 36 per cent of CMOs say that IT deliverables fall short of the desired outcome, and 46 per cent of CIOs say marketing does not provide an adequate level of detail to meet business requirements.

The survey also shows a disagreement over the freedom and control of the use of technology and data also prevents effective collaboration. While 45 per cent of CMOs say they want to enable their teams to leverage and optimize data and content without IT intervention, 49 per cent of CIOs counter that marketing uses technologies without consideration for IT standards.

Despite the issues in collaboration raised by the survey, both CMOs and CIOs believe their relationship has improved over the past year: 45 per cent of marketing executives and 47 per cent of IT executives share this opinion.

Brian Whipple, global managing director of Accenture Interactive said: “The CMO and CIO continue to work in silos, but now more than ever bridging the gap between those two organizations is critical for success. With today’s multichannel consumer seeking highly relevant experiences and with digital and analytics platforms emerging to help companies respond, marketing and IT executives must work more closely together.

“C-suite decision makers face a variety of challenges when collaborating, ranging from a lack of trust to differing business goals. These issues must be resolved to turn a company’s digital marketing capabilities into a platform for market differentiation, business growth, and profitability.”


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