Are today’s marketers tomorrow’s data-empowered CEOs? New research from dnx and Circle Research highlights that more marketers being 
considered for the top job.
With a unique skill set among boardroom contenders (customer insight custodian, cross-function project leader, calculated risk-taker), CMOs are increasingly credible CEOs-in-waiting.
dnx and Circle Research partnered to produce comprehensive research exploring exactly what is behind this dramatic change in fortunes for the CMO – which they say is a remarkable turnaround, given that marketing is a function long sidelined in boardroom terms for its inability to link customer insight and marketing activity to business results.
The researchers looked into whether the turnaround is due to the advent of big data – which 83% of enterprise organisations they quizzed now view as a mission-critical business intelligence tool.
They surveyed more than 50 enterprise marketers from both B2B and B2C organisations across the UK and Europe, to get latest insight on the extent of their usage of big data, the dos and don’ts of successful collaboration around big data, what other opportunities and challenges they face in the shifting digital landscape, and what they think the future holds for the marketing role.
Drew Nicholson, CEO at dnx, said: “We think CMOs now have the biggest opportunity they’ve had in 50 years. Big data will give them insights and opportunities they’ve never had before, but if they don’t negotiate the data minefield with the right skills and know-how, they will lose credibility.”
The findings were published this week in a report titled, ‘When will Marketing be promoted to the Boardroom? The reality of big data’s promise’. Download the free report, here.
