With digital transformation looming large on the agenda of many companies, research from Dentsu Aegis Network shows that chief marketing officers (CMOs) are in pole position to help their companies make the necessary changes that are required for digital transformation to work.
Now in its second year, the latest Dentsu Aegis Network global survey of 1,000 CMOs and senior-level marketers – including Ireland – highlights a growing challenge for marketing leaders, as they seek to move beyond optimisation and drive business transformation through digital.
Eight out of ten CMOs believe the shift to digital means they must transform, not just optimise the business and that marketing must take more responsibility for innovation in the future. Yet today, ‘transformation and innovation’ are ranked the least important roles for the marketing function, according to the same CMOs, the research found.
Digital transformation: a performance gap emerges
Across a spectrum of marketing capabilities, CMOs were asked what they believe to be important to future success, versus their current ability to execute. The data shows a significant gap emerging between the two (fig 2):
- 85% believe creativity is critical to future business success, 54% believe they are delivering well today.
- 83% identify the importance of seamless customer experience and commerce across channels, yet only 60% believe they are developing this capability well.
- But the divide is most stark in data management and analytics, where 84% identify these capabilities as important to future success, where only 49% are confident in these capabilities today.
The 2019 Dentsu Aegis Network CMO Survey identifies significant gaps emerging between perceived levers of future marketing success and current capabilities – with the challenge most acute in data collection, management and analytics.
“Closing these gaps won’t be easy, but as brands pivot toward the future, combining several capabilities such as creativity and consistency, agility and longevity, openness and control, foresight and insight and purpose and authenticity will be required to turn this challenge into a successful working reality,” the research noted.
