Pace Of Industry Change Challenges CMOs, CIOs

Coping with the pace of change.
Coping with the pace of change.

The relationship between CIOs and CMOs isn't getting any chummier, but people in those positions will have to figure something out before the world passes them by.

In this scenario, CMOs and CIOs risk losing their jobs to folks like Scott Brinker, CTO at Boston-based marketing apps firm Ion Interactive.

Brinker is a marketing tech expert, and his vision of the future – the near future – includes a platform layer developed by major vendors, including Oracle and Adobe, that makes it easy for existing ISVs and new innovators to develop and deploy essentially plug-and-play technology.

Brinker says the change will reach far beyond marketing, to "solutions across the corporate landscape." This environment leaves little room for infighting or poor communication between CIOs and CMOs.

IT Best of Breed touched on the subject in a recent interview with Forrester's Sheryl Pattek.

Vendors have turned to selling technology, especially marketing technology, to CMOs, who find themselves up to their necks in sophisticated technology that they're not sure how to deploy efficiently.

On the other hand, CIOs understand the technology, but aren't so good with the communication and customer experience end of things.

Systems integrators and consultants have relationships with CIOs, but increasingly, the CMO is driving the conversation.

As the pace of change in the IT industry quickens, companies will get tired of the challenges these breakdowns cause. Because of the weak relationships between them, these execs tend to buy technology that isn't going to be used to its full potential, or is difficult to understand, fragile or expensive.

"Look how easy it's become to create sophisticated, cloud-based software; IaaS for pennies," Brinker said. "The barriers to entry have almost completely vanished."