Future of Marketing–Good for Digital, Bad for CMO (sort of)

The Center for Media Research’s article “The CMO and the CIO Getting Closer” makes some interesting predictions for the future of marketing and role of CMO.

The marketing organization:

81% agree with the statement: “We need to change the structure and design of our marketing organization to meet the needs of our business over the next three to five years.”
Interestingly, response was heard for both b-to-b and b-to-c and company size didn’t influence response.
By 2016, companies will restructure and create both center of excellence and in-house agency models to meet growing skills gaps and meet the business needs.
Top areas of investment: social, mobile, analytics, and good ol’ email. Go digital marketing!

The role of CMO:

The article expects to see continued short tenure in the position and anticipates “25% of high-tech CMOs will be replaced every year through 2018.”
Not sure where the control will net out, but the prediction that by 2018, “25% of CMOs and CIOs will have a shared road map for marketing technology” will drive the need for greater technology acumen in the role. Also, pragmatically, CMOs must be ready to drive more buy versus build conversations, and in the case of buy, the vendor evaluation and selection process.
When will the CMO role start to include the customer care/call center interactions, especially as these interactions drive key marketing metrics of NPS and brand sentiment? The future looks promising if the article’s predictions come true:
“Slightly more than one-third of marketers polled say they are responsible for managing the customer experience today.”
“over the next three to five years, “75% of marketers say they will be responsible for the end-to-end experience over the customer’s lifetime.”

The above, coupled with the often cited 2012 research report by Gartner, that predicts by 2017 the CMO will outspend the CIO on technology, will continue to shape the marketing organization and its leader toward greater influence on the customer experience, technology decisions, the importance in data-driven decisions, and the continued greater emphasis on the digital marketing channels (hopefully!).