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Marketing an increasingly tech-driven business function

Regina Pazvakavambwa
By Regina Pazvakavambwa, ITWeb portals journalist.
Johannesburg, 13 Oct 2015
Marketing is rapidly becoming one of the most technology dependent functions in business, says NetApp's Sven Hansen.
Marketing is rapidly becoming one of the most technology dependent functions in business, says NetApp's Sven Hansen.

Marketing is rapidly becoming one of the most technology dependent functions in business - driving the emergence of a new type of C-suite executive - the chief marketing technologist (CMT).

This is according to Sven Hansen, senior systems engineering manager at NetApp, who notes this senior hybrid role, part strategist, part creative and part technologist and broadly the equivalent of a CTO and a CIO dedicated to marketing, is growing in popularity.

Gartner predicted that by 2017, a company's chief marketing officer (CMO) would be spending more on technology than its chief information officer, says Hansen.

The reason the CMO will spend more on technology than the CIO is because they're engaging their audiences through software-mediated channels, he adds.

According to a Deloitte report, marketing has evolved significantly in the last half-decade. The evolution of digitally connected customers lies at the core, reflecting the dramatic change in the dynamic between relationships and transactions, says Deloitte.

A new vision for marketing is being formed as CMOs and CIOs invest in technology for marketing automation, next-generation omnichannel approaches, content development, customer analytics, and commerce initiatives, it adds.

Hansen points out that marketing is increasingly about designing and delivering customer experiences, and software is the digital clay used to sculpt them.

"The CMO is responsible for that outcome, so it makes sense that the CMO should take a leadership role in the technology strategy to achieve it."

However, candidates for the role of CMT often lack the integrated knowledge required in the new role, says Hansen.

For example, marketers seldom come from an engineering background and technologists only have a remote understanding of the marketing world, he adds.

The speed of change that enterprise technology goes through, especially in the software-driven world, further complicates matters, says Hansen.

The role of marketing - and with that marketers - will continue to evolve as the business's customers evolve and use different channels to interact with the business and spend their time on different media channels, especially mobile media in the South African context, says Yaron Assabi, founder of Digital Solutions Group.

Assabi notes as the industry continues to be affected by growing technology adoption, there is also demand for new skills sets. "One of the biggest challenges in South Africa is transformation and skills gap for digital marketing and media."

The growth in digital marketing created a need for marketers to focus on customer insight and business intelligence, systems that are managed traditionally by the CIO, says Assabi.

There is an opportunity for the CIO and CMO to work together, innovate and become early adopters and use key technology influences to differentiate their business, he adds.

"As strategists, marketers are expected to be growth drivers, unifiers within the business (bringing people together to resolve customer problems), as well as innovators who are able to recognise global trends that will impact the business and find customer engagement solutions."

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