CIOInsight magazine last week reported on a new IDC report on how the CIO role will change by 2018, the report identified getting close to marketing as 3 of the key trends/challenges for CIO’s due to marketing’s ownership of social media, digital engagement with customers and innovation and concerns that unless IT partners with marketing they will be left behind. Peter Weill in his CISR research briefing in May 2013 “Managing Total Digitalization: The Next frontier” identified that many business technologies are often developed and managed outside of IT such as: digital products, robots for production, CAD systems, telephone networks, digital games, digital services and social media strategies and sensors in a range of devices. Weill argues that enterprises need to take a holistic view of their digital platforms and give IT control over enterprise digitalization.
I am going to go a step further than IDC and Weill and suggest that IT should be reporting directly to the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). There is one important exception to this, and that is where IT ‘is’ the organisations strategy and reports directly to the CEO. An organisations digital footprint has expended way beyond the automation of back office processes and is now a key tool for interacting with customers and a driver of business growth. CIO’s and other technology professionals are well placed to advise and manage the technical side of the digital enterprise however they are being locked out of the extended digital platforms especially digital interactions with customers and user experience which are owned by the chief marketing officer and marketing team. Having IT reporting to/teamed with marketing would ensure the organisation digitalises as fast as possible while producing agile and scalable solutions.
This is far preferable to the alternative of IT reporting to the CFO or COO (historical artefact of business process automation) both of which are focused on cost control rather than innovation and business growth, hence marketing and other customer facing areas preference for avoiding IT and going it alone.
So, should IT report to marketing?
Links and references:
CIOInsight article http://www.cioinsight.com/it-news-trends/slideshows/how-the-cios-role-will-change-by-2018.html/?kc=CIOMINEPNL02122014&dni=105641598&rni=23734261
Weill & Woerner, 2013, Managing Total Digitalization: The next Frontier, CISR Research Briefing, Vol XIII, Number 5, May 2013 http://cisr.mit.edu/blog/documents/2013/05/16/2013_0501_managingtotaldigitization_weillwoerner.pdf/
Exploring the value of IT to organisations
email: david.gwillim@optusnet.com.au
blog: http://www.businessitvalue.blogspot.com/
