CIOs and CMOs reckon their relationships are 'awesome," survey says
The latest Squiz State of ANZ Marketing Technology report shows that there has been a shift towards a more positive collaborative effort compared with last year’s survey responses.
This year, 55 per cent of IT respondents have indicated a "collaborative" or "awesome" partnership, along with 46 per cent of marketing respondents, making up almost half of those surveyed (48 per cent).
Just last year, however, more than half the IT respondents (52.1 per cent) described their relationship with marketing as "needing room for improvement", along with 49.6 per cent of marketers. Only 18 per cent of IT respondents said the relationship was "collaborative", along with 28.4 per cent of marketers.
The number of respondents that labelled the relationship as “awesome” in 2015 (6.6 per cent IT and 6.9 per cent marketing) almost equalled the number that described it as “adversarial” (8 per cent IT and 6.6 per cent marketing), leaving room for improvement.
“Everyone has heard about the supposed animosity between marketing and IT - marketing wants everything and they want it now; IT wants security, integration and flexibility. It’s hard to get those goals to align and teams to see eye to eye,” the 2016 report reads.
“Last year, the vast majority of respondents weren’t speaking very highly of their marketing or IT colleagues… one year on and this state of affairs has shifted," the report said.
The influence of marketing on IT is also becoming evident as the 2016 report shows 60 per cent of IT workers said ‘improving customer experience’ was their top digital goal, whereas the top goals of 2015 included more traditional IT remits such as security and cost effectiveness.
The report also demonstrated a 39 per cent drop in organisations without a digital strategy, showing digitised businesses is becoming the norm.
“Collaboration between the IT and marketing teams is continuously improving,” says John-Paul Syriatowicz, group CEO of Squiz.
Syriatowicz said siloed approaches across departments will no longer get you to this end point of achieving memorable customer experiences, meaning open communication between these two teams will become essential for success.
“With this vested interest in customer experience, IT workers are using their skills in technology and UX to implement the digital-first experiences that customers now not only want, but demand.
“IT teams that can work effectively with their marketing counterparts to deliver customer-centric journeys and experiences, will come out far ahead of their competitors,” he said.