CMO vs CIO

"Coming together is a beginning.  Keeping together is progress.  Working together is success." - Henry Ford

Customer Experience is still the battleground on which all companies compete (including service providers).  In fact, the battleground is becoming more fierce as, according to Forrester, 64% of organizations cite competition as the most important factor driving their work on customer experience.  Increasingly, the digital "experience" is becoming the product.

Because of this shift, digital conversations continue to migrate away from the strict domain of the CIO.  Of course, the CIO remains a critical part of the dialogue because any digital transformation requires a strong technology backbone.  That is, powerful operational capabilities are a prerequisite for delivering empathetic digital-powered client experiences....and any company with better operations has a competitive advantage.  In my experience, the majority of the CIO digital conversations focus on integration capabilities and how service providers can help them enhance their existing technology investments and be more responsive to their business clients.

That said, the CMO role continues to be an equally critical driving force in the delivery of digital solutions.  CMOs are obviously much more focused on initiatives that engage with end customers and drive revenue.  They are focused on personalized solutions that enhance the company brand, and for more and more organizations, the digital budget resides with the CMO.

So who wins in the digital landscape moving forward?  Some analysts expect the CMO technology spend to outstrip the technology spend of CIOs in the near future.  Other analysts believe that view is nonsense because the capital required to enhance or maintain existing systems will always keep the CIO in charge of any technology discussion.

I believe that it can not be one or the other, and that any successful digital transformation must include both the business and IT.  CMOs and CIOs should have joint alignment on the vision they want to deliver to the end customer and they should be partners in delivering exceptional end-user experiences.  Digital transformation is fundamentally not about just the technology or just the brand, it is about the strategy...and all executives must be aligned on the strategy to win the battle.