CIOs and CMOs Working Together for the Benefit of CX

You may have noticed this notion circling around the industry for a few years now, and it seems to be continuing to grow: CIOs, with the help of CMOs, are taking on more and more. The conventional positions of these two roles are merging into one with a common focus: customer experience (CX). The ever-changing nature of the CIO-CMO relationship is fast becoming more collaborative, more imperative and more valuable.

CX is a hot-button issues, and while the CMO has traditionally been the one to create a company’s CX strategy, it’s becoming increasingly more clear that this role is paramount to a CIO’s success, too. As we’ve covered in previous blog posts, customers are raising the bar when it comes to CX. They expect a company to deliver a seamless, self-aware experience or they’ll move onto someone else with a quickness.

With that being said, the CX priority list needs to trickle down through all departments, especially when it comes to technology and IT. This is mostly because the majority of new information — via social media, smartphones and tablets — is coming through a steady, tech-heavy tributary. The customer’s viewpoint is best interpreted by the CIO, and the CMO simply doesn’t have the tools or background available to streamline or evaluate this data.

While a CMO’s role is still incredibly important to acquiring customers and developing a brand, it has to focus on evolving, too. Part of that shift will include assisting the CIO with access to things like broad-spectrum customer interactions, from in-person conversations to mobile purchases. Where the pipeline once went from CEO to CMO to CIO, it now should move from CEO to CIO and CMO.

For the best level of CX, CIOs and CMOs have to figure out how to work together to optimize their overall customer ratings and to hone-in on the long-term advantages that set their company apart from the rest. It will be interesting to observe how this core relationship continues to evolve to benefit companies’ CX and bottom line.

Originally published at prototype1.io on March 20, 2016.