To meet the needs of today’s evolving digital, mobile and social world, marketing and technology executives are finding collaboration across people, processes and technologies is leading to more effective business outcomes.
A study by Oracle, in partnership with Leader Networks and Social Media Today, reveals opportunities and obstacles for senior marketing and technology leaders to more effectively collaborate and to deliver real-world business value.
The results of the survey highlight how marketing and technology teams are working together, when they are working in silos, and the business value of becoming a socially enabled enterprise.
The research finds that, although both marketing and IT organisations cite strong business benefits from collaborating across departments, there is still room for improvement.
Findings indicate that marketing organisations lead the charge in collaborative efforts, and the majority of respondents view corporate culture as the main barrier to collaboration.
Key findings of the survey include:
* Marketing and technology roles are changing: Both marketers and IT leaders report seeing their roles evolve due to a greater emphasis on social business activities. Both groups indicate they now have the ability to collaborate more effectively. They also recognize the need to acquire new skills and hire new skillsets to meet the needs of today’s evolving digital, mobile and social landscape.
* Marketers lead the collaboration charge: Marketing respondents were more likely to report a higher level of collaboration than their IT/technology counterparts.
* Current collaboration leaves room for growth: Only 36% of marketing respondents and 26% of IT/technology respondents report collaborating with each other “frequently” on projects. Slightly more than half of marketing and IT/technology respondents classify their collaboration as “adequate”. Sixteen percent of IT/technology respondents reported that collaboration with marketing is “non-existent”.
* Despite challenges, collaboration is better than before: Very few respondents reported collaborating less than they did a year ago. Moreover, 41% of marketing and 38% of IT/technology leaders indicate improved collaboration from last year.
* Collaboration delivers business value: More than two thirds of both marketing and technology leaders stated that they are “more effective” professionally due to increased collaboration. Reported benefits included stronger and more compelling marketing messages, faster speed-to-market, greater product adoption, project cost reductions, and fewer defects in product and services.
“Collaborating across the organisation is a key step in the journey to becoming a socially enabled enterprise and can deliver powerful results and prove value to both marketing and IT,” says Meg Bear, group vice-president of Oracle Social Cloud.
“The survey findings suggest there is still room for improvement and that organisations are aware of the pressing need for collaboration. At Oracle, we are committed to helping our customers weave social capabilities into the fabric of their business operations so they can improve collaboration, increase efficiency of their operations and deliver real business value across the enterprise.”