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Will Today's CMO Drive Tomorrow's IT Strategy?

It wasn't long ago that most IT departments controlled vast swaths of spending regarding key company initiatives. They were the captains of the "mission critical" applications. Today, with the vast array of niche service providers and the proliferation of Cloud and SaaS, the choreographed ERP ecosystems of yesterday are becoming “old school.” Marketing departments in particular are at the forefront of this change.

For most companies today, operational excellence from an IT platform perspective is a given - companies have been perfecting this for decades. What is not perfected though is a clear path to consumer engagement. The traditional methods of marketing and customer acquisition have suffered the fate of the monolithic ERP systems.  

CMOs today are faced with innumerable vendors that play specific roles in connecting their brands into the lives of today's consumers. Most importantly, however, marketers are now empowered to find the right choice.

And that means that today’s CMOs will most likely spend more on IT initiatives in the next several years than the CIO. In a highly competitive market, figuring out how to engage customers and build brand loyalty is a top priority for most CEOs - and their CMOs are being assigned to the mission.

It's a new day for CIOs and CMOs with reporting lines and job descriptions becoming blurred. How well they play together will ultimately redefine organizational power in most organizations.

What do you think is next for CMOs and CIOs? Share in the comments section.

Disclaimer: The statements and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Thoughtworks.

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