CMOs still feel underprepared to deal with data and social says international IBM study
Over 90 per cent (94 per cent) of CMOs worldwide believe that analytics will play a significant role in helping them to achieve business goals, though 82 per cent still feel underprepared to capitalise on the data explosion according to an IBM study.
‘Stepping up to the challenge: How CMOs can start to close the aspirational gap’, which is based on findings from face-to-face conversations with more than 500 CMOs from 56 countries and 19 industries worldwide, found that high-performing CMOs were integrating internal and external data for deeper insights to help them understand their customers.
“After speaking with CMOs around the world, it became evident that more companies across all industries are striving to integrate their physical and digital presence in order to provide a more integrated, seamless customer experience,” said John Kennedy, vice president, marketing, global business services, IBM.
The study identified three types of CMOs: traditionalists (37 per cent), social strategists (33 per cent) and digital pacesetters (30 per cent). According to the findings the digital pacesetters were more likely to be financial outperformers and were prepared for the dramatic growth of data, social and mobile channels. They were also more likely to be integrating their physical and digital sales and service channels and were the most likely to be regularly using advanced analytics to extract insights from customer data.
In addition to feeling underprepared to capitalise on data IBM’s Institute for Business Value (IBV) who carried out the research also found 66 per cent felt unprepared to deal with the growth of social media, with today’s CMOs were also found to be less concerned with monitoring and monetising their brand on social. 94 per cent of market leaders said they believed apps would play a significant role in helping them reach their goals in the next three-five years, a figure which is up 80 per cent from three years ago.
The digital pacesetters were found to be the strongest at executing a mobile strategy, with 58 per cent able to conduct business regardless of location or device.
Also measured as part of the survey was CMOs influence within their organisation, with the findings showing that their level of strategic involvement is increasing as nearly two thirds (63 per cent) of CEOs are involving their CMO in the creation of the organisations overall business strategy, with their influence coming second only to the CFO at 72 per cent.
The results suggested that when CMOs had closer working relationships with an organisation’s CIO the enterprise would be more likely to perform better overall with high-performing CMOs reported to have a stronger working relationship with CIOs than those who were underperforming financially.