Predictions 2015: CMOs Boldly Reach For More Influence In The Enterprise

It's the middle of the decade, and chief marketing officers (CMOs) find themselves in the middle of a dilemma. The CMO role has yet to emerge fully from its historical communications, promotion, and lead management functions. But the pressures on organizations to become customer-centric have never been greater, creating an unprecedented need to understand customers much better than before. It's time for the CMO to meet that need: Forrester believes that in 2015, CMOs should step forward and take responsibility for turning the enterprise toward the customer. This means taking on a more significant role on the executive team and collaborating with chief information officers (CIOs) more fully. It also practically begs CMOs to lead innovation processes in the organization and means that the whole company — starting with the CMO — has to identify places where technology can create a more engaged customer relationship. Getting the organization to see the CMO in this light is a big ask, and only CMOs who rethink their approach to marketing operations will pull it off. In this report, Forrester predicts seven things that CMOs will do to lead the enterprise to greater customer obsession and success.