Commentary

The CMO's Role When Choosing Ad, Marketing Tech

CMOs still make the decisions on what type of technology to use when it comes to technology the company uses for search and other advertising media, according to Andrew Bartels, VP and principal analyst at Forrester Research.

The role or influence that IT supports when it comes to spending on marketing technology is relatively small, Bartels wrote in an email to SearchBlog.

In separate research underway at Forrester, analysts estimate that 37% of all new tech project spending will be related to the CMO, including marketing automation software, marketing data analytics, mobile apps, and related consulting and staff spending. About 19% is new spending that begins with the CMO but then involves the CIO, and 20% involves a CMO/CIO partnership. Only about 24% is primarily the IT department.  

Bartels explains in the research -- US Tech Market Outlook For 2017 And 2018: Mostly Sunny, With Clouds And Chance Of Rain -- that tech staff spending will rise by nearly 6% from 2017 to 2018. Software will become the fastest-growing category of U.S. tech spending, at more than 9% in 2017 and 2018. Hardware spending will remain low in 2017, with a growth rate of 1%, but there will be an uptick in 2018 leading to 4% in overall spending.

Cloud platform services will continue to grow between 25% to 30% in 2017 and 2018, but these investments are cannibalizing traditional tech spending, which will only grow at 2% to 3% during the next two years.

It's important for marketing departments to understand where the money will flow when it comes to technology. Following the tech staff to keep the technology running smoothly, systems integration services will become the second-largest investment segment for companies at $164 billion, followed by software business apps at $155 billion.

Cloud applications, which have low first-year subscription costs, per Bartels, will replace spending on traditional licensed software that requires large upfront license fees. It will reduce the amount companies spend in the near term on software products with low levels of cloud adoption.

Marketing automation software -- which is included in CRM -- is primarily cloud or SaaS, so it is not experiencing that cannibalization, Bartels explains. "In fact, marketing automation software is growing quite strongly," he added.

The report also notes that CIOs are looking for additional funds to add staff, de-emphasizing outsourcing except for cloud services. Tech spending on staff will rise nearly 6% in 2017. 

1 comment about "The CMO's Role When Choosing Ad, Marketing Tech".
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  1. John Ellett from nFusion Group, May 16, 2017 at 5:43 p.m.

    While the CMO's budget is funding most of the martech and adtech stack, it is important to understand the role the CMO personally plays in the decision process. I often see martech companies approaching the "CMO's office" as a single entity without understanding the distinct personas that are involved. This leads to oversimplified messages to the wrong target and an ineffecting program to reach marketing decision makers. More on this topic at http://nfusion.com/blog/4-keys-to-marketing-martech/

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