Understanding The Marketing And IT Relationship

March 31st, 2009

Suresh Vittal

Jennifer Joseph McGann

With contributors:

Carlton A. Doty , Emily Murphy

Summary

Forrester surveyed 224 direct marketers to understand how relations with internal and external partners affect technology adoption. Across the board, marketers recognize the need to improve customer information systems and measurement technologies in order to build better online and multichannel customer experiences. Three types of technology support influence how marketers plan to achieve these goals: 1) IT Partners have a dedicated IT support group; 2) Marketing Partners have a marketing services support group; and 3) Independents have neither IT nor marketing services support. IT Partners are consensus-driven buyers looking to quickly expand their technology base to include optimization technology. Marketing Partners have adopted the most technologies but face insight and measurement challenges. Independents have the lowest technology adoption and are less satisfied with all of their technology partners.

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