Where is the CMO in digital transformation?

Digital is changing the world and chief marketing officers (CMOs) know it. They are embracing digital channels with fervor, but it’s time to do more, believes Accenture. “A new generation of digital natives is fast approaching-with emerging roles such as chief digital officer, chief customer officer and chief experience officer included in the digital lineup. Sidestepping the confines of traditional marketing to deliver a more relevant and integrated customer experience across the business, will help ensure the future of the CMO on the digital playing field,”

In a survey of nearly 600 CMOs, Accenture found that majority (78 percent) CMOs believed corporate marketing will undergo a fundamental transformation over the next five years due to the use of analytics, digital and mobile technologies. However, a similar number of respondents (79 percent) believe their company will not be a fully operationalised digital business in the same amount of time.
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More than one third of the executives surveyed expect digital spending to account for more than 75 percent of their marketing budgets within five years, and 41 percent believe their spending on digital marketing will increase by more than five percent next year alone, the research highlighted.

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Emerging vs. Mature markets

Only 18 percent of CMOs in established markets believe their company will become known as a digital business, but one-third (32 percent) of senior marketing leaders in emerging markets think that way.

Marketers in emerging countries also are twice as confident in their ability to transform into a digital business (70 percent vs. 38 percent in mature economies). While they’re willing to try a variety of methods to achieve their strategic marketing objectives, emerging-market CMOs are much more likely to initiate or complete a companywide transformation to become more digitally focused (71 percent vs. 42 percent for mature markets), the survey noted.

Customer experience high on CMO agenda

Some 77 percent of marketers say it is essential or very important to deliver an effective customer experience for their company, but only 62 percent think they are doing a good job. High-growth companies are more focused on the importance of customer experience (89 percent), compared to only 60 percent of low-growth companies.

The research also recommends an increased collaboration with the C-suite, including chief digital officers and chief information officers to achieve this goal. “By collaborating with other C-suite executives and drawing on external partners to boost internal expertise, CMOs can become more visible change agents for digital transformation.”

“Marketing executives should do more to integrate marketing channels with real-time analytics, invest in agile technologies and cloud-based services, and reorient the marketing model so that new talent with all the necessary skills in analytics, mobile and digital put digital marketing to its most effective use in boosting the customer experience.”

Where’s the CMO in digital transformation?

More than half (52 percent) of C-suite executives expect digital to cause significant change or complete transformation in their industries. One-third of C-suite executives (35 percent) say the CEO is responsible for digital innovation. The chief technology officer and chief information officer follow closely at 23 percent and 22 percent respectively. The CMO, however, is at 1 percent.

“The CMO is well positioned to assume this role because the opportunities and threats are all about the customer, the brand, the interface with the customer, and how the customer is empowered. No one should have the pulse of that better than CMOs,” Accenture believed.

With the increasing pace of technology and device innovation, it is not surprising that one in four CMOs cite a lack of critical technology or tools as the chief barrier to digital integration. “CMOs know a plethora of digital technologies to leverage; their challenge, however, is to rally around the right ones for their business.”