Disrupt Creativity for Sticky Customers, says IBM survey.

(Marketingmagazine.com.my) – An IBM Institute for Business Value study found that , two-thirds of global Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) believe that the single greatest business challenge that they currently face is industry convergence caused by disruptive technologies that break down barriers to entry.

The finding from IBM “Redefining Markets” study has prompted 63 percent of CMOs to prioritize investment around delivering deeper, more relevant customer experiences this year.

“Large scale industry disruption caused by IoT, cloud and mobile technologies is forcing CMOs to reinvent how they interact with customers,” said Harriet Green, General Manager, IBM Commerce. “We are working directly with the world’s leading CMOs to help them seize the opportunities in cognitive commerce so they can rethink every aspect of their strategy, design and operations to enhance their customer experiences.”

The report, based on a worldwide survey of 723 CMOs from 18 different industries, also revealed two distinct subgroups of CMOs: Torchbearers and Market Followers.

Torchbearers are CMOs from enterprises with strong financial track records and equally strong reputations while Market Followers are from businesses that are less successful financially and have lower market profiles.

The differences between these two groups were distinct with 47% of Torchbearers felt they have made far greater progress in managing data explosion versus 27% of Market Followers.

Furthermore, 82% of Torchbearers are more focused on mapping out the customer journey compared to 65% of Market Followers.

The study also identified CMOs top four priorities in 2016 which are creating better customer experiences their top priority.

Three-quarters of leading CMOs are using more event and experiential marketing than market followers. 67% of CMOs are assessing their strategic direction in the light of technology disruption.

CMOs from leading organisations are more likely to embrace the “creative destruction” and build more open and collaborative business models to effectively drive innovation.

Although CMOs have made great strides in data analytics, 60 percent of CMOs prepare to bring in more data driven insights into marketing campaigns in the next 3-5 years. 79% of CMOs plan to hire employees with digital skills to improve their marketing function’s digital literacy.

Most are looking for resources outside their own businesses — three-quarters (74%) plan to either partner with other enterprises to tap into their digital expertise or work with consulting firms.