Reprint: R1407F
Marketing is rapidly becoming one of the most technology-dependent functions in business. In response, a new type of executive is emerging—the chief marketing technologist. CMTs are part strategist, part creative director, part technology leader, and part teacher. They go by various titles, but they share a common job, intersecting with four key stakeholders in the organization:
Here, the CMT supports strategy by ensuring technical capabilities and advocating for approaches enabled by new technologies.
The chief marketing technologist facilitates and prioritizes technology requests from marketing, translating between technical and marketing requirements and making sure that marketing’s systems adhere to IT policies.
The task here is to ensure that the marketing staff has the right software and training.
The CMT assesses how well outside vendors’ technical capabilities meet marketing’s needs, helps integrate the systems, and monitors their performance.
A thumbnail profile of Mayur Gupta, the global head of marketing technology and operations at Kimberly-Clark, shows just how open-ended the CMT role is and why an executive fully at home in both marketing and IT is essential for the job.
Marketing is rapidly becoming one of the most technology-dependent functions in business. In 2012 the research and consulting firm Gartner predicted that by 2017, a company’s chief marketing officer would be spending more on technology than its chief information officer was. That oft-quoted claim seems more credible every day.
