Check the visitor sign-in sheet in the main lobby and chances are you’ll see that vendor account reps that had been calling on you in IT are now instead calling on your buddies on the marketing floor. There is probably no greater example of this shift than in the proliferation of what are generically called “Marketing Clouds”.
Most of these applications include the underlying CRM technology that IT traditionally had an intimate purchase and deployment relationship with. However as the “C” in CRM expanded to mean “conversation”, so did the enterprise purchase influences involved the adoptions. According to Rich Vancil, head of IDC’s Executive Advisory Strategies, “2/3 of the total investment in marketing automation is now in the marketing budget”.
Since virtually all of the new Marketing Cloud products incorporate conversational and social elements, CIO’s find themselves much deeper into applied marketing technology and theory than they may have ever been. This reinforces previous posts where I have emphasized the CIO’s responsibility for inculcating SMAC skills sets (social, mobile analytics and cloud) in the organization.
A quick survey of current Marketing Cloud features offered by the key players in the segment reinforces these skills requirements:
- Web Site Management
- Marketing Optimization
- Rich Media Management
- Marketing & Social Analytics
- Social Media Listening & Moderation
- Augmented Reality
- Campaign & Content Management
- Mobile Optimization
- Customer Relationship Management
Much of the research shows that few CIO’s have what could be described as an intimate relationship with these social and conversational platforms. So it becomes readily apparent that the Marketing Cloud adds a whole new meaning to “understanding the business” from what I like to call a “Social BRM” point of view.
Yes one could argue that CIO’s in large enterprises will have team members that specialize in social media technology strategy in the businesses they serve. But I would argue that until IT begins to live and breath the components of marketing cloud, the chances for disintermediation in the implementation process will increase dramatically.
To what degree is your IT organization involved in Marketing Cloud deployments ?
Is the CMO adding new IT talent to raise the safety net on marketing cloud implementation or is central IT providing support for these projects ?
How deep do skills in social and conversational media need to be for IT to feel comfortable with these converged applications ?
Frank Cutitta is the CEO of The Center for Global Branding and a Research Associate with CSC’s Leading Edge Forum. His practice, Weapons of Mass Discussion® focuses on leveraging the convergence of IT, Marketing and Data Science.