Why Too Many Funky Job Titles Could Be Destroying Your Business

The creation of chief customer officers, chief experience officers and the like is a clear symptom that an organisation has significant structural issues with dealing with digital disruption, according to one of Forrester Research’s top executives.
Carlton Doty, Forrester’s vice president and group director, said at the current Adobe Summit in Salt Lake City the CMOs and CIOs don’t always see eye-to-eye on things.
“Those organisations that have trouble in that executive relationship, tend to be the ones that we start to see the emergence of these, different more contemporary roles; chief data officers, for example, chief digital officers.
“I view those kind of roles as a short-term fix for the dysfunction that lies between these two professions,” he said.
“It’s about the technology agenda of the two sides of the house: there’s business and then there’s IT. We all know what CIOs do in organisations. They have teams that develop applications, enterprise architects, ERP, CRM systems, help desks and so on,” he said.
However Doty said that CMOs have rapidly increasing technology budgets as well. “The biggest mistakes CMOs can make is that they buy a whole bunch of technology and bring it in house and play around with it, and then say, ‘Here you go CIO – support this’ all on top of the 247,000 other priorities you have. I still see too many organisations making that mistake.”
So rather than trying to maintain two separate IT agendas and trying to bring them together after the fact, Doty said these two executives needed to come together and create a shared business agenda.
The CIO still has the traditional IT agenda; CIOs need to keep the lights on. They need that entire back office infrastructure go work, they need to keep the data centre cool. They need to maintain anti-virus software.
“But frankly to work with the CMO and the rest of the business, they need to come together and build a shared agenda,” he said.
Doty said the CMO is wielding a lot more influence in the business today, whether they own the customer experience function or not, is irrelevant. “Let’s say customer service falls under a chief operating officer, my point is the CMO needs to go and influence their pier across the boardroom to make sure they’re on board with this customer obsession story.”
He said that their had to be unity in the boardroom so that everyone is funding the same technology investments for the same reasons. “It’s a cultural shift as much as anything else.”
However he warned that there was no perfect organisational structure for any business. As soon as you re-organise to fix the problem you were focusing on you often create five more.
“Technology, and mobility especially, changes the way that customers behave. It changes the way you reach your customers. It changes the way your customers choose to interact with you and how they choose the products and services they want to purchase. And it also changes what they expect, in terms of heightened expectations,” he said.
So as marketers there are a few things you need to do, advised Doty. “Own the customer moment. Turn data into insight, but don’t stop there, turn that insight into action. Finally, unite brand and experience. Classic marketing and classic brand experience should not be two separate agendas.”
Developing that shared agenda needs to be done around the customer lifecycle of any business said Doty. “Your job as a marketer is to capture that customer moment regardless of where they entered the cycle. And to deliver the value they need at that moment.”
Doty said there were four categories to think about:
- Enterprise marketing solutions
- Sales and fulfillment markets
- Customer service solutions
- Product innovation solutions.
“Develop a shared agenda in each of these categories. These categories touch your customer. This is how we need to approach our technology purchasing decisions,” he said.
Doty also said that just like technology changes consumer behaviour, technology changes marketing and business practices.
“In other words are you just going to do old things in new ways, or are you going to find new processes to replace the old processes using digital technology?”
David Hovenden is in Salt Lake City for the Adobe Digital Marketing Summit.
Does this story make you feel like you’re being disrupted? Come to Daze of Disruption. The first five loyal B&T readers to insert the discount code HOV101 will receive a 25% discount off all ticket prices.
Latest News

Entries now open for Snapchat Young Lions Australia
The annual search for the very best of Australia’s young media, creative, and marketing professionals has begun, with Cannes Lions Festival representative The Misfits announcing entries are now officially open for the 2021 Snapchat Young Lions Competition. The Young Lions Competition, which is proudly supported by Snapchat and The Trade Disk, gives blossoming media talent […]

Pureprofile Snares Former Kantar Director Of Data Solutions & Sourcing Young Ham
Global data and insights business Pureprofile Limited has today announced three new appointments to the Australian team to support its renewed growth strategy. Young Ham [pictured] joins the team in a global role as head of data, innovation and product, Kate Richards will hold the role of interim head of sales, data & insights ANZ […]

PHD Snares Former Hello Social Strategy Director Joshua Tan As Part Of Content Team Expansion
PHD unveils new-look content team which includes (judging by accompanying press photo) an astonishing beard & man bun.

Coca-Cola Loses Logo In ‘Open To Better’ Campaign
Here's some fun new work from Coke. Sure, it still rots your teeth and makes you fat, but fun nonetheless.

“You Can’t Nazi It!”: Amazon Called Out For Fatal Design Flaw In New Logo
New Amazon logo apparently resembles Hilter's moustache. Particularly after Adolf ate one too many blueberry muffins.

Mitsubishi Motors Australia Produces New Creative For International Markets Via Richards Rose
Mitsubishi Australia unveils latest work and wisely decided not to reinstate the truly awful "It's a Mitsi" tagline.

Taboola Lays Out Plans To Go Public
Taboola lays out plans to go public. And by that it apparently means the stock market, not the local park's lavatories.

Selena Gomez Fronts Latest PUMA Campaign
B&T has no idea what Selena Gomez actually does, however, it appears to have made her incredibly rich doing it.

Australian Open Tops YouGov Sport’s UK Australia 2021 Rankings
A list of Australia's most popluar sports are in and once again it's little joy for hotdog eating or the manure toss.

TV Interview Goes Awry After Viewers Spot Menacing Dildo
In this woman's defence, it may just be a scented candle. Admittedly one that bares remarkable similarities to a dildo.

The Three Must-Haves For Your Data Strategy
Here are the three must-haves for your data strategy. A fourth could possibly include the value of legumes in your diet.

Third-Party Data Sales Spike 109% For Lotame In APAC
Lotame has today announced 109 per cent growth in third-party data sales in the APAC region from Q2 2020 to Q3 2020. Across the APAC region, India saw 555 per cent growth, followed by Malaysia at 190 per cent and Taiwan at 178 per cent growth. Subsequently, Australia saw 43 per cent growth and New Zealand […]

28% Of Display Advertising Spend Goes To Ad Tech Services: ACCC Inquiry
Some 28% of display ad spend goes to the ad tech giants. Which explains the excellent sandwiches at their conferences.

Nielsen: Top 10 Media Owners Reach Over Half Of The Australian Population Each Month
Study finds top 10 media owners reach over 50% of the Aussie population. Other 50% looking for car spot at Westfields.

Dr Elaine Stead Wins $280k Damages In Defamation Suit Against The AFR’s Joe Aston
Long-running defamation case comes to an end. Barristers just happy to take those silly wigs off in this stifling heat.

Tim Robards Stars As Tim Tam Genie In New Arnott’s Campaign Via The Neighbourhood
The Tim Tam is undoubtedly Australia's culinary gift to the world alongside the pavlova & the throwdown beer receptacle.

McCann Sydney Snares Lucy Gavan For Senior Strategist Role
McCann Sydney inter-office UNO tournament takes sinister new twist with arrivel of new senior strategist.

VCCP Sydney Adds Tilly Treloar, Nathan Pashley & Heath Sims
B&T's editor does not like press photos of people not wearing socks. He's a stickler for neutralising foot odours.

Dentsu’s Ad Spend Report Forecasts 5.9% Growth In Australia In 2021
2021's starting to look good for ad spends. It's not looking good for overseas travel or people with a fear of needles.

David Pullinger, Former JC Decaux Sales Director, Appointed QMS Media GM
JC Decaux's David Pullinger jumps to rival QMS amid apparent awkward silences at the staff leaving party.

Stan Officially Announces Pricing For Stan Sport
Stan Sport will cost you $10 a month. Which is the same price as three avocados sans the monounsaturated fatty acids.

Facebook Introduces New Measures To Stop The Spread Of Holocaust Misinformation
Facebook looking to block Holocaust deniers. Still seems open to Flat Earthers and Elvis spotting, however.

Busting Six Of The Biggest Ad Tech Myths
Here, six of ad tech's biggest myths get expertly busted. There was a seventh, but it turned out to possibly be true.

Droga5 London Rolls Out New International Visual Identity For CUPRA
Droga5 London is arguably the hottest agency in the world right now. Not that anyone's booking Cannes tickets just yet.

Shutterstock Acquires 3D Marketplace TurboSquid
Shutterstock has acquired 3D marketplace TurboSquid. Read all the news here, admittedly in boring old 2D.

Are Media Appoints Melissa Mason As Digital Editor For ELLE & Marie Claire
Melissa Mason seriously considering putting an accent over the á following Elle & marie claire appointment.

M&C Saatchi’s Timothy Ng: “To Those Who’ve Thought About It”
M&C Saatchi's Timothy Ng muses on his career in advertising. It's a bit Nietschke, with a spot of Goethe thrown in.

WPP Named In Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index For Third Year In A Row
WPP named in gender-equality index for third year running as internal fight erupts over where to hang the certificate.

Australian Road Safety Foundation Utilises Geo-Targeting Technology To Protect Kids In School
The Australian Road Safety Foundation (ARSF) has teamed up with Spotify and some of Queensland’s leading musicians in a national first that will geotarget drivers within school zones. The Slow Down Songs campaign, which is being piloted in Queensland, will work to keep kids safe within school zones by dramatically slowing down songs and serving […]

Florida Financial Officer ‘Offers’ To Host Olympics With “Bonkers” Pitch
Florida says if Tokyo don't want the Games, they'll take it. Hopefully our own Dubbo might make similar overtures.