The CMO–CIO Organizational Alignment Mandate
Glen Petersen - July 4, 2007

The topic of aligning the information technology (IT) agenda with the business agenda has spawned literally hundreds of articles, and certainly sensitized the IT community regarding this issue. Despite the progress made regarding the alignment question, chief information officer (CIO) reporting relationships continue to be positioned at a distance from the chief executive officer (CEO) and strategy function. A comparable trend appears to be occurring with the marketing function. The chief marketing officer (CMO) position is experiencing this same distancing from strategy. These two functions should be on the leading edge of strategy formation rather than the receiving end. Organizationally, this is a source of dilution few organizations can afford, yet it is unlikely to change unless these two functions can demonstrate a clear contribution to the CEO's agenda. In this regard, the CMO and the CIO may be more effective working together than separately...