The best strategy at succeeding with digital transformation is to stick to priorities because the temptation to get distracted is enormous. New technologies, providers, and trends emerge each day. And who wants to be accused of not willing to change?
But many miss the reality that the road is long and filled with unexpected potholes. In the real world, fixing potholes and creating speedy highways comes from infrastructure investment. And, similarly, “infrastructure first” is the way it works in the digital world.
During the early years of the Internet 2.0 era, there was a battle between IT and marketing departments over who set the priorities. Thankfully, IT won because of priority thinking. IT departments have the technology experience, infrastructure, and DevOps to build the foundation for winning marketing strategies and customer experiences.
It also set the stage for silo-breaking teamwork between departments that rarely collaborated before. And it keeps marketers out of the code. Whew!
New Era for Chief Marketing Officers
All this is good news and marks a new era for Chief Marketing Officers. According to Altimeter Group’s “State of Digital Transformation – 2019” report, principal analyst Brian Solis said the end of this battle now marks the beginning of a new phase for CMOs and their marketing teams. This phase allows CMOs to take that infrastructure foundation created by the CIO and pursue winning marketing strategies and customer experiences.
“Customer experience will only continue to serve as a primary catalyst for digital acceleration and maturity. As a result, elite CMOs are shifting the role of marketing to create a business growth engine focused on CX, performance, and innovation,” Solis says.
“This valuable front-line experience and expertise will place marketing back in a leadership position as organizations increasingly place customers at the center of their digital transformation initiatives,” he added.
Until then, the CMO’s role is to align the C-suite, and the organization towards a new culture of constant innovation, iteration, and collaboration. More on that here.
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