• Forbes CMO Network, Tuesday, August 25, 2009 10:43 AM

It's time to bridge the gap between marketing and IT, says John Mayo-Smith, EVP and CTO of interactive agency R/GA. After all, he writes, CMOs and CTOs are practically in the same line of work, thanks to the digital revolution.

Mayo-Smith uses a "climate control" metaphor to describe what needs to happen to bridge current discrepancies in budgeting, goal setting and success metrics. He says that climate controls allow organizations to heal themselves "without expensive coping strategies and extra layers of management."

Now that he's got your attention, Mayo-Smith elaborates on four steps toward making it happen. 1. Allow IT to experiment (ThomsonReuters does); 2. Give IT a stake in marketing (Nike does); 3. Let marketers tinker with technology (there are some ideas here but no concrete examples); 4. Mix things up (oil and gas services company Baker Hughes and resort operator Gaylord Entertainment have actually combined the CTO and CMO job).

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