The CMO-CTO-CIO relationship is crucial as the tech and marketing functions are co-dependent. Marketing data and digital innovations have helped both areas to offer better products and campaigns at scale.
While collaboration is the key to driving higher business impact, departmental silos can limit the potential of partnerships across the executive team.
In 2024, the CMO, CTO, and CIOs must work collaboratively, achieving a strong partnership that permeates their respective teams.
They must have a practical framework to turn ideas into action by infusing customer-focused marketing and tech strategies.
Here are five conversations every CMO-CTO-CIO should have in 2024
1. How Do We Balance the Teams?
Marketing and tech teams move at a different paces, causing friction. Hence, the heads of technology, marketing, and IT must discuss their teams’ priorities and how they can balance them.
They must devise strategies aligning with the firm’s nuances and modify the approach that best fits the unique dynamics and goals of the team.
As per a recent report by Lenovo, “Lenovo’s Global Study of CIOs, “CIOs find it most difficult to solve challenges related to
In 2024, the three C-Suite must form a cross-functional team with diverse skills and perspectives that can deliver innovative solutions.
At the same time, they need to ensure all team members can access the required data. Joint data review sessions help to discuss insights and implications to generate collective decisions. Shared approaches to data will simplify analytics and help the teams come up with fresh ideas.
2. How Do We Drive CEO Support?
Senior leadership support, like the CEO’s, is crucial for CMO-CTO-CIO partnership and long-term success. In 2024, seek the maximum support of the CEO to promote this collaboration.
They can achieve this by choosing initial projects that will allow for quick wins with a significant impact on strategic goals.
Focusing on small data analytics and pilot projects will facilitate quick problem-solving and agile development. This encourages risk-taking and a learn-fast/ fail-fast mindset among the team.
Moreover, it will help the CMO-CTO-CIOs enforce best collaboration practices and offer proof of concept to boost their credibility with the CEO.
In 2024, C-suites leading transformations across all tech and marketing sectors must bridge the thought leadership gap by focusing on executives’ pressing issues. This allows them to drive innovation across the wider digital marketing practice.
3. How Do We Close the Communication Gap?
While the CMO, CIO, and CTOs align the communications to cater to each other’s objectives, it is also essential to ensure that marketing and IT communicate properly at all levels.
Lack of communication might cause misalignment of marketing and IT and hinder the outcome of collaborative projects.
For example-
Firms like IBM, Motorola, and JP Morgan Chase have established centers of excellence to bring together diverse skill sets in an agile group. This group will help test and optimize CXs and platforms.
As per a report by Manpower Group, “2024 Global Talent Shortage,” the top soft skill employers report the most difficult to find is collaboration and teamwork.
In 2024, CMO, CIO, and CTOs must close the gap by facilitating broader collaboration among cross-functional teams. It will also require hiring and training staff with overlapping skill sets.
Moreover, firms are outsourcing 20% of marketing activities to outside agencies, vendors, and partners as per the latest CMO survey Managing AI, Digital Strategies, and DE&I in Marketing. This must be due to the rising talent gap.
Therefore, conduct training sessions for existing employees with new skill sets to improve their understanding of each other’s projects, processes, and culture.
Given the overlap of marketing and tech skill sets, the CMO, CIO, and CTOs must collaborate on hiring to build a hybrid team that helps connect these three functions.
4. How Do We Facilitate Collaboration on Tech Selection and Ownership?
The CIO must be a reliable consultant to the CMO for MarTech decisions. Even though a CIO does not ultimately answer for marketing strategies, they will have vital insights to validate the technology. They can help the CMO identify the best-fit tool per their business plans and how it can help scale and integrate appropriately with the existing technology infrastructure.
The CMO-CIO-CTOs must give up the idea of silos between customer data and tech ownership- to become more customer-centric. Such fluidity in ownership enables the CMO to use the right tools to help build the right CX strategies.
With the right data and tools, CIOs and CTOs can craft strategies from the business intelligence and marketing data to benefit the entire business.
5. How Do We Set New Data and Tech Governance Practices?
The CMO-CIO-CTO group must work closely to set data and tech governance practices apart from standard IT governance processes.
In 2024, they must set governance models to align marketing’s need for speed with IT’s compliance, security, privacy, and integration needs.
Agreed-upon governance policies ease issues about data access and tech ownership. It also helps advance the enterprise’s strategic marketing and business goals.
Also Read: Top 3 Challenges CMOs Face in 2023 and Recommended Actions
Conclusion
These five conversations will help the three C suite executives – CMO, CTO, and CIO -redefine collaboration and share vision and values. It will boost cooperation and help mitigate the risks of misalignment, departmental silos, and conflicts that could delay growth.
In 2024, CMO-CTO-CIOs must share performance incentives and KPIs that measure their success, stimulate collaboration, and drive long-term business growth and CX. They must discuss progress on these KPIs, and this will provide CMO-CTO-CIOs transparency throughout each project.
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