CIO Insight – Why the CIO Needs the CMO

The corporate bridge too far, the one needed between CIOs and chief marketing officers, is now seen as attainable and, in fact, inevitable.

Social media, which is remaking firms of all sizes in fundamental ways, is forcing 360-degree roles on the CIO and CMO for the first time. Suddenly, there’s a great deal of overlap in what they do, with whom they work and tools they use.

Even after the philosophy of business integration became conventional wisdom, the CIO’s focus fell within the firewall.

Organizationally,CIOs were collaborating more deeply throughout the C suite than ever before, but for the most part, CIOs kept their distance from the primarily outward-facing CMO. Then there’s the fact that CMOs tend to have short tenures complicates strategic IT-supported project planning.

CMOs, almost by definition, have preoccupied themselves with life outside their firms. This has led to, among other things, legendary Dilbert comic strips about marketing execs clueless about their own companies.

More of the CIO Insight article from Jim Nash

Alex Carroll

Managing Member at Lifeline Data Centers

Alex, co-owner, is responsible for all real estate, construction and mission critical facilities: hardened buildings, power systems, cooling systems, fire suppression, and environmentals. Alex also manages relationships with the telecommunications providers and has an extensive background in IT infrastructure support, database administration and software design and development. Alex architected Lifeline’s proprietary GRCA system and is hands-on every day in the data center.