This morning I came across an article published in the November 1, 2011 issue of CIO magazine entitled “The Odd Couple: Why your CMO hates you and what you can do to improve the relationship”.
The article is very brief, but I wanted to utilize a learning journal post to pull some of the key points gleaned in the article.
The premise of the article, penned by freelance writer Stephanie Overby, is that there could not be a more opposite relationship within a corporation’s structure as that between marketing and IT. While marketing is focused on quick and creative, IT is focused the back-end and long-term and neither department seems to have any appreciation for what the other does. This creates a challenge for the CIO who, according to research analyst Nigel Fenwick of Forrester Research “is forced to plan technology into the future, and this long view can be at odds with the need to make a market impact this quarter”. The article strongly encourages CIOs to more or less get over this hurdle and strive to build a strong relationship. The strength of that relationship is in itself a long-term strategy. Firms who can make it work increase their chances for success down the road. Robert Urwiler, CEO of Vail Resorts, calls out to all CIOs stating that “Enabling the market agenda could not be more important to your future success”.
For organizations already experiencing an either contentious or non-existent relationship between IT and marketing, Ms. Overby proposes the following eight steps (with my summarization):
1. Make the case for collaboration: Find mutual goals. For instance, if you can get IT involved in a technological aspect of a marketing campaign, then that frees the marketing department to focus on their strength – marketing.
2. ID rogue IT groups: This could probably be step #1 in my opinion. If your company’s IT budget is stretched thin in terms of budget and manpower, collaboration with any other departments probably won’t happen. This problem must be addressed first before anything else.
3. Become A+ students in marketing: Because of their tasks, IT departments rarely have any interaction with or understanding of the end-user (i.e., the consumer or whomever is being marketed too). An appreciation of the marketing aspect and understanding consumer needs could bring IT into sharper focus as to their tasks and department goals.
4. Get flexible: IT needs to understand how marketing thinks (i.e., next week not next year).
5. Master customer data: Marketers need to understand how customer data is captured and then use that understanding as part of a “go-forward strategy”. There is power in data, but you need to understand it so you know how to harness it.
6. Drop the jargon: IT personnel speak a language all their own. This lexicon is useless to virtually everyone else in the company. IT professionals need to bridge the gap by dropping the technical speak, so to speak.
7. Share your expertise: Part of the collaboration effort. Both the CIO and CMO should examine each others’ budgets and see where they can help to trim.
8. Respect boundaries: Basically, know where you belong and where you don’t. Both departments have their core strengths, policies, and procedures. Understand which ones not to try to overhaul if you are not a member of the department.
For the entire article, please see
Overby, Stephanie, “The Odd Couple: Why your CMO hates you and what you can do to improve the relationship” CIO: Business Technology Leadership (CXO Media, Inc.: November 1, 2011) 58-60.
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