Collaboration between CMOs and CIOs: A great way to achieve success now

If CMOs and CIOs work together as one, they can help their business grow by delivering new products and services fast, by creating top-class customer experiences, and by adopting new, efficient operational models.

In a recent post, my colleague Julia Hansen wrote about the need for greater collaboration between marketing leaders and their technology peers. That need is mostly accepted, but it comes with challenges.

Along with Julia, I’ve attended a series of CMO Connects events that we held in Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo and Stockholm. There was an exploration of how Salesforce Genie can help create outstanding customer experiences, and a discussion about the need for a close working relationship between C-suite roles.

While Julia looked at some of those challenges from the CMO perspective, I have attempted to do the same from the CIO side.

Marketing needs data. It also needs systems that will make data analysis easy for non-technical people to work with. It needs measurement tools, platforms to manage outbound and inbound activity, and so much more. All of those needs are technology investments that will become part of the corporate IT infrastructure. For the CIO, that raises questions of compatibility, maintenance, and security. ?

Most IT departments are overstretched and being asked to provision new tools or applications will mean that their time and resources are further depleted. It’s easy to understand why there might be some tension around new tech purchases, which is why it is so important to get IT and marketing working well together.

Developing enhanced customer experiences –?including more effective buyer journeys and customer engagements – needs the right tools and technology to be embraced and implemented. Securing the ongoing success of the business calls for greater collaboration and cooperation.

Juan Perez, CIO and EVP at Salesforce, has identified four key steps CIOs should take to deliver success now – even in the face of economic uncertainty. You can (and should) read about those four steps in full, but I’d like to highlight one point Juan makes and how it sets the scene for greater CIO and CMO unity: the opportunity to use AI and automation to boost efficiency and productivity.

At Salesforce, we use automation to increase our own efficiency and create better, more valuable customer experiences. Naturally, our customers use our tools to create the same advantages for themselves. And because we make low-code automation software, it can be put to use quickly and easily by technical and non-technical employees alike. It’s no surprise that?79% of automation users?say productivity is on the rise.

Is this the future of CIO and CMO alignment? Well, you could say that we hope it is. But I’m certain that some of you reading this may have your own views and experiences. Why not share your thoughts and any helpful resources you may have within our group.