Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...
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1. 1
“Gentlemen, the satisfaction of your customers is
deteriorating, your market share is shrinking and
your share price is plunging”.This is what the blog-
ger Jeff Jarvis wrote to the computer manufacturer
Dell. Jarvis had disclosed his frustration about Dell’s
customer service and products in his blog several
months previously. But Dell ignored him.The blog-
ger then monitored how his criticism circulated and
inspired growing numbers of customers to report
similar experiences. Finally the mass media repor-
ted on the silence of Dell and Jarvis composed his
harsh analysis as an open letter to Dell’s boss.
Only then did it become clear to Dell how its image
suffered with each day that the criticism remained
unanswered on the Internet.This was in 2005. Dell
learned from this.The company completely reori-
ented its customer communication.Today it scours
all social media channels from Facebook toTwitter,
provides customer service via them and even invi-
tes customers to submit improvement proposals on
Dell products on the “IdeaStorm” platform.
Dell should be realized that communication on the
Internet is a source from which it can generate
knowledge of its customers.Winter sport outfitter
Rossignol has taken this a step further and develo-
ped a surprising service for its customers, which in
addition provides usage data on them.The French
company has developed an app for this purpose
with which skiers and snowboarders can save their
descents and share them on Facebook andTwitter
with other skiing fans. Rossignol itself can give the
winter sportspeople tips on their skills - and gets
usage data that helps to improve existing products
and develop new ones. In this way, Rossignol saves
itself expensive market research to a large extent
through the expert use of social media.
Anarchy of information rouses companies
These examples show that the relationship to cus-
tomers has changed completely.Whereas compa-
nies used to decide for themselves what informati-
on they wanted to release, the Internet now
generates radical transparency. Customers can find,
compare and exchange information. At the same
time, consumers worldwide have become accusto-
med to ordering from their PC at home – or while
they are on the move with a mobile device, at any
time and anywhere.
This degree of transparency and availability of pro-
ducts is unparalleled.The connection between cus-
tomers and companies is becoming increasingly
fast and more direct. Evolutionary IT development
is not enough to be able to react to market trends
at the speed required and establish customer proxi-
mity. It must rather undergo transformation in key
technologies.This includes almost all analyst com-
panies, the disruptive technologies cloud compu-
ting, big data, mobility, collaboration and the com-
THE COOPERATION OF CIO AND CMO
IT as the strategic key to more customer proximity
EXECUTIVE BRIEFING
2. 2
prehensive subject security.Transformation in
these fields is the key to success.
Marketing promoted to the IT champions’
league
Targeted deployment of technologies is thus the
decisive basis for binding customers. For example,
as the most important interface with the customer,
marketing has to be able to evaluate enormous
quantities of customer data and measure the effect
of social media campaigns. Moreover, in order to be
able to react quickly (see the example of Dell), it is
also necessary to obtain important information
from this data in real time.
This has consequences for company IT, its budgets
and not least responsibility for it. According to IDC,
the directors of specialist departments are already
directly involved in almost 60 per cent of IT invest-
ments today, in a quarter of these expenditures
they are even the decision-makers.These also in-
clude the chief marketing officer (CMO). “Marketing
is in the process of developing into a data-driven
department within the company,” revealed Rich
Vancil, IDC analyst.
Cloud computing is making life even more difficult
for the IT department: the easy availability of soft-
ware from the cloud, especially software as a ser-
vice (SaaS), makes it simple for every department
head - and as a result also the CMO – to procure
and deploy software without consulting the CIO.
Apart from the free offers, money is also available
for SaaS-solutions subject to charge: according to a
study conducted by Dr Bergmann & Dr Rohde Con-
sulting Group (BRCG), 44 per cent of the budget for
the solution of operating challenges is located with
the specialist departments and only 14 per cent of
projects are paid for directly out of the IT budget.
Bad news for the CIO. He must face up to the fact
that these solutions fit into the existing IT landscape
only to a moderate extent and in some cases not
even at all, and that they endanger data security.
The CIO has to take action on account of this threat
alone. For no matter who gets involved in IT, theCIO
has to bear the responsibility in the end. It is for this
reason that he should look for ways to support the
higher goal: working on the strategic goals of the
company together with the specialist departments
of the company, at the heart of which is customer-
proximity.
Specialist departments intervene in the core
expertise of IT
The specialist departments have to react to the
market’s demands at the speed required.This me-
ans IT has to institute the transformation in the dis-
ruptive key technologies cloud computing, big data,
mobility and collaboration.This is also because they
offer theCIO and the IT department opportunities:
they can reposition themselves - away from their
traditional role as the contractor of marketing, sales
or the personnel department to being the strategic
partner, architect of the IT landscape and driving
force of business.The challenge is to design con-
cepts, programs and methods that make the requi-
rements of marketing possible in the first place, for
example for more information and proximity to the
customer and the market.
Data from the web and databases can be merged
and analyzed via cloud services – in combination
with big data technologies, which can likewise be
procured as a professional service.All of this occurs
dramatically fast – within a few days instead of in
hours or days as before. Consequently, it is essential
in the “age of the user” to cooperate closely with
the specialist departments.The latter expect appli-
cations that are quick to understand, easy to use
and accessible to everyone.They even procure their
cloud applications – for example CRM solutions or
memory space – via the Internet themselves wit-
hout consulting IT colleagues.This hits theCIOs in
the heart of their core expertise.
At the same time, their task is more important than
ever: the knowledge of the ICT experts comes into
its own at the interface between business and more
secure and highly available technology. It makes
customer proximity possible in the first place and
compliance-compatible - i.e. SharePoint instead of
Dropbox orWebEx instead of Skype.The integration
of smartphones and tablets in business processes
makes secure management of these devices and
operating systems (mobile device management) ne-
cessary, also under the aspect of bring-your-own-
device (BYOD).
Only the IT experts in the company have the know-
ledge on how the company applications can be
transferred to the cloud and existing systems can be
expanded with cloud resources. Only the data ana-
lysts are in a position to evaluate and link huge
quantities of new, usually unstructured information
from the social media applications in order to
answer questions like these: what products will our
3. 3
customers demand from us in the future?What
further developments are expected?What services
do we need to provide for this purpose?
How the IT department affects the transformation
in the cloud, how it supports the mobilization of the
business processes and integrates the new channels
of communication will decide whether it can rise to
be the driving force in development or become the
deadweight holding back business.
Approaching each other: focusing on joint goals
How do CIOs and CMOs now evaluate the current
state of customer proximity in the company?A
quantitative analysis by Karmasin Motivforschung
on behalf ofT-SystemsAustria provided interesting
details on the views.
Views differ on how close the IT department already
is to the customers.Among IT bosses about 80 per
cent claim that the IT department is more or much
more oriented to customers. However, according to
the study by Karmasin, only about half of CMOs
tend to think the same.This confirms that the speci-
alist departments are simply closer to their tasks.
But it also shows that dialogue between CIO and
CMO is inadequate. Both still do not know enough
about each other and often do not cooperate on the
strategic objective of customer proximity.
What is the biggest problem in marketing? In the
first place, CIOs often judge the benefits of IT appli-
cations in the specialist departments in a way that is
similar to their colleagues from marketing: accor-
ding to Karmasin, both CIOs as well as CMOs agree
that IT applications help in collecting more informa-
tion about customers and maintaining the customer
dialogue.
CMOs want more precise figures
However, the opinions diverge when CIOs and
CMOs evaluate precision and transparency: many
CIOs are certain that the available applications al-
ready provide more precise figures and assist in
more transparency. However, far fewer marketing
bosses see it that way.This indicates that the IT de-
partment can improve its offering here.This is es-
pecially true of campaigns. Here the marketing di-
rector is always under pressure to document
campaigns’ effects, the return on investment – of-
ten no easy task, as IDC analyst RichVancil says.
What arguments do CIOs and CMOs draw on if they
believe the IT department is not providing enough
customer proximity? If access to customer data is
missing or only possible here to a limited extent,
many marketing directors believe this is due to the
lack of analytical tools. However, only one in four
CIOs is of this opinion. Several CMOs also think that
IT systems are incompatible when there is a lack of
analysis options. No CIO sees things this way. From
their point of view, the specialist departments often
do not specify any requirements or they formulate
them unclearly. Here it is once again evident that
the dialogue is still insufficient.
Out of the comfort zone: there is no alternative
to closer contact
Specialist departments do not have to develop IT
knowledge themselves, but the translation of requi-
rements from the business perspective into de-
mands on the IT department has to work – and this
can only happen via an adequate dialogue and a
common language.
In past years, IT managers have faced criticism
from all sides for juggling with technical expressi-
ons instead of speaking the “language of business.”
A similar appeal can be made today: the CMO has
to make his marketing slang comprehensible for
the IT director, the CIO has to translate his IT strate-
gy for the marketing manager. Hence for Joseph
Pucciarelli, head of IT, financial and company stra-
tegies at IDG, direct contact, the personal relation-
ship between CIO and CMO and their respective
teams, belong on the agenda of both decision-ma-
kers.
To reinforce communication it is also useful to see
what the other occupies himself with and how he
goes about it.This makes it easier to understand
why the other does something just the way he
does.
Cushion cultural shock: develop sensitivity for
differences
Marketing decision-makers want to achieve strate-
gic goals: launch new products, boost sales with
marketing campaigns – and they must increase
their customer knowledge as the basis for this.
Therefore, the CMO has long been accustomed to
handle data from external sources, according to
Pucciarelli. In this respect, the CMO sometimes also
operates in a “nebulous area” where it is not quite
clear who owns what data and who controls them.
4. 4
The fact that the CMO is sitting on top of real trea-
sure and has masses of “primary data” is something
he at most knows. But the idea that it is now possi-
ble to recover this treasure quickly, precisely and af-
fordably with technological assistance is new to al-
most all CMOs.
For CMOs, IT is in this respect a means to an end –
which they deploy pragmatically. That is to say, if
the deployment of all kinds of mobile devices,
perhaps from the private stocks of the employees
– bring-your-own-device – or insecure consumer
tools such as free web storage facilities promise
advantages from the point of view of marketing
managers, they will be used, according to Frank
Heuer, Experton Group analyst. And this without
really going out of their way to seek ITs permissi-
on. Marketing is after all often under time pressu-
re.
The CMOs – like many other employees – are ac-
customed to using tools that are easy to procure
and operate from their private life and conse-
quently would also like to use tools that are as
easy to use professionally. As a result, they simply
procure them as they do in their personal lives as
well.
The CIO retains an overall perspective
Hence from the CIO’s point of view, the marketing
department exposes the company to risks: in its en-
thusiasm for innovative solutions the marketing de-
partment also introduces applications into the cor-
porate network, which the CIO regards as
technically immature and insecure, according to
Pucciarelli.
For the IT manager, this development raises the
question as to how he can still guarantee data pro-
tection and whether the companys operations are
legally secure. “What does it mean from a gover-
nance point of view, if internal data is mixed with
external data and how can an international com-
pany do justice to the different regulations in se-
veral countries?,” Pucciarelli said in explanation of
the potential problem areas. As a result, the CMO
can easily consider the CIO to be a brake on pro-
gress, who insists on rigid rules, as Heuer from the
Experton Group has observed.
Many CMOs also think that IT directors deal prima-
rily with innovations.Yet CIOs still use up most of
their budget to keep IT operations running. But this
operation is increasingly moving outwards thanks
to the advance of cloud technology and also in the
specialist departments, which are increasingly res-
ponsible for IT deployment.
The CIO is needed as IT architect and strategist
Although the influence of the specialist depart-
ments is growing, every company needs a CIO, as
Mike Cooke, business consultant at Booz, sees it.
Cooke cooperated on an analysis by Booz, which
had the characteristic title “The Death ofTraditional
IT.” In future, the task of the CIO will be to develop
company-wide IT guidelines and lay them down for
the specialist departments. As a result, CIOs will as-
sume the role of a business architect and solution
and data architect, according to Cooke. Moreover,
he is the only one who can integrate the new solu-
tions in the existing IT infrastructure and afford the
transformation for example in the cloud.
CIOs can position themselves in this respect as stra-
tegic partner of the specialist departments and is-
sue a new paradigm: information is more important
than processes.Whereas it used to be a question of
standardizing processes and sequences, the new
goal is to be able to analyze and use data quickly
and intelligently.
The analysts at Booz do not assume that all decisi-
on-makers in the specialist departments already
have the IT knowledge they need. Consequently, IT
directors should first check where the specialist de-
partments stand and to what extent they have in-
dependent IT solutions.
Jointly create new customer proximity
The British-Dutch consumer goods group Unilever
has shown what close cooperation between CIO
and CMO can achieve. In order to be able to conti-
nue on its path as a global company, Unilever nee-
ded real-time information.The goal was to be able
to reach well-founded decisions from a worldwide
perspective. One driver here was marketing, which
had to analyze multinational marketing success
quickly, as theT-Systems magazine “11 von uns” re-
ported.
“The fact that the data was filed in local and regio-
nal storage units was a great obstacle in this res-
pect,”Willem Eelman, CIO of Unilever, revealed.
“This is why we decided to store all data in a global
enterprise data warehouse (EDW) and to automate
the data input from our internal core system. In its
