The way CMOs and CIOs procure technology is distinctly different and unlikely to change in the near future, even as the two roles become more aligned.
This is the view of Ensighten president, Dan Dal Degan, who was visiting Australia last week to announce an expansion to the vendor's local office, as well as plans to dominate the digital tag and data management markets globally.
Ensighten is focused on tackling the data challenges marketers face in managing multiple digital properties today, and has raised US$55 million since it launched in 2009 with a tag management system (TMS). The solution automates tag management across all Web properties as well as devices.
The company has also released a solution for Web data management called Activate, which is claims gives brands the ability to own and manage online data sets they previously couldn't harness.
Dal Degan has worked in the enterprise software space for more than 25 years, selling ERP and CRM solutions to the CIO or functional line executives for Oracle, Sybase and Siebel Systems. Prior to joining Ensighten in November, Dal Degan ran Salesforce's US cloud business for three years, and said the position opened his eyes to the growing role marketing is taking in technology procurement.
He claimed chief marketing officers have a history of leveraging best-of-breed solutions across a wide variety of technologies and categories, and are aggressive and opportunistic about adopting point solutions if it gives them a competitive edge over the brands they compete with.
This lies in direct contrast to CIOs, who generally look for integrated technology suites to mitigate risk, minimise the number of vendors they do business with, and drive cost and operational efficiency, Dal Degan said.
"CIOs have historically been focused on efficiency as opposed to top-line growth," Dal Degan toldCMO. "Companies like Oracle and Salesforce will try to sell to the CMO as if he/she purchases like the CIO, but my experience and that of those who have worked in the enterprise software vendor space is that they don't.
"CMOs are not buying the suite; they want the best solution in each category and they don't mind the proliferation of solutions across the enterprise if they're adding incremental value."
Dal Degan also pointed to the "natural tension" that has existed between IT and marketing thanks to shadow IT.
"Most of this has been in marketing… and marketing has been the most aggressive area in companies that has been impatient with IT and developing their own technology skillset," he claimed. "But we're seeing this start to change. Most evolved CIOs have acknowledged that and partnered with CMOs in a way that's more productive in those enterprises and reduces the amount of redundancy in skillsets."
No comments:
Post a Comment