When I started managing an IT department, web services began to become more and more popular in companies. The IT department then recognized the importance of the web, even before marketing specialists. At that time, websites were often presented as a separate experience, with little graphics and very focused on content rather than uses. However, marketing teams quickly realized the role the web could play and began to take control of the content. This is how the alliance (sometimes in pain) between computer science and marketing began. Nothing alarming since most of the time this alliance has often worked well. The results obtained were generally up to the expectations of leaders but not always of consumers…
It must be recognized that members of an IT and marketing department can have very different cultures and perspectives from the world around them that sometimes favor misunderstandings. Marketing, for its part, has a solid knowledge of the brand image, it knows how to control it and it spends a good part of its daily life refining the message that must be transmitted to users.
More sophisticated marketing services
The problem is that these achievements of the printing world are only very rarely translated into the digital world. This lack of familiarity with digital technology has led over time to real computer problems such as slow websites trying to imitate the paper press, emails used as dissemination media or fantastic illustrations on paper but completely ineffective on a phone screen… On the other hand and by definition, the IT department includes people who are very comfortable with the digital world. Conversely, they have rarely been able to identify the sensitivity of a brand or communication. It is often said that they tend to speak a different language and it is easy to find cases of misunderstanding between IT and marketing.
Over the last decade, marketing services have become much more sophisticated and the vast majority of these professionals have developed very good skills on the web and the digital experience. As the Internet has become better understood and more familiar with the arrival of generations Y and Z in business, important changes in our daily lives have occurred, again threatening to break the balance between IT and marketing.
Big data pillars, connected objects and social networks
Three important points require today more than yesterday, a redesign of a company’s digital strategy: big data, connected objects and social networks. These three areas promote profiles who know how to adapt quickly to technology and who can work and exploit a company’s data. Although paper and printing have not yet (completely) disappeared, its role is increasingly diminishing in communications projects. 20 years ago, marketing projects revolved around paper, printing, distribution and mail. Today, there are as many different distribution channels as there are messages to convey. The only way to make all this work is therefore a close alliance, or even a merger, between those who understand the message and those who will allow you to get the message across as quickly as possible to the right category of population.
Take, for example, the field of data analysis where analytical tools are now available to better understand customer needs and behaviors. IT must therefore ensure that marketing has an infrastructure and tools that are aligned with their expectations and needs. Once again, by working closely together, IT and marketing will be able to exploit the customer knowledge that is so valuable and necessary to achieve good business results today. We can ask ourselves whether the key to this success does not lie in finding someone who is both CIO and CMO? This reflection may only be the definition that can be given of the “chief digital officer”, you know the one who finds itself exactly between where the company interacts with its customer.