Research shows companies that embrace the idea of delivering value to all stakeholders are often more successful than others. Increasingly, martech is enabling more companies to shift from shareholder primacy to stakeholder value creation. But to fully capitalize on value creation for all stakeholders—customers, colleagues, communities, and capital markets—an effective partnership must exist between the CMO and CIO. And with the martech revolution, accelerated by AI, this partnership is high on the C-suite’s agenda.
The Future of Growth: Unlocking the CMO-CIO Partnership report highlights that a successful partnership between CMOs and CIOs requires intentional efforts. It leverages the five drivers of Humanized Growth—which creates long-term value for all stakeholders, not just shareholders—to define key interventions for accelerating the convergence of marketing and technology functions.
Most business leaders understand the importance of stakeholder value creation. Many also realize that the traditional growth formula based on shareholder value optimization is not working anymore. According to IRG, 90% of overperformers (companies that perform better than their competitors on topline revenue growth) embrace the strategy of creating value for all stakeholders.
But few marketing leaders actively engage with their technology counterparts.
Yet innovation and delivering exceptional customer experiences are not possible without a close partnership between marketing and technology. The increased adoption of martech solutions, accelerated by AI and the advent of generative AI (GenAI), is currently a top agenda item for the entire C-suite. Many CMOs see AI as an opportunity to do more with less, but there is tension between decreasing budgets and the need for more digital solutions.
The partnership between the CIO and CMO goes beyond digital transformation. When marketing and technology functions converge, they serve as a catalyst of value creation for all stakeholders.
The biggest challenges include:
Companies that outperform competitors on various strategies such as breaking down silos have also proved stronger on top-line revenue growth during the last three years, according to the IRG report.
Overperforming companies also invest twice as much on foresight (predicting the future) as they do on insight (describing the present or the past). And they are better at fostering a culture of innovation, change, and entrepreneurship compared to underperformers.
A shared vision and strong relationship foundation between the CMO and CIO can minimize conflict and accelerate convergence. Although there is no formula for an effective CMO-CIO partnership, the report recommends the following best practices anchored around the five drivers of Humanized Growth.
The report, created in partnership with the Institute for Real Growth (IRG), identifies the barriers standing in the way of successful CMO-CIO partnerships and shares what successful companies are doing right. It highlights key findings from an IRG study conducted between April and June 2024.
Underpinning this report are:
