| | JUNE 20148CIOReviewopinionin myPlenty of ink has been spilled over the potential conflict between Chief Marketing Officers and Chief Information Officers as companies race to harness new technologies to engage with connected consumers. But this tale of `us' versus `them', though good for grabbing headlines in the business press, misses the real story of collaboration between marketing and IT that's happening at companies that are constantly innovating to move at the speed of the consumer. Other CMOs agree our partnership with the CIO is essential to keeping pace with our customers. This spring at SXSW, I met with several marketing heads from other customer-obsessed companies, including Verizon and Kaiser, and we shared how our roles have evolved with the unprecedented pace and breadth of disruption in IT. New technologies--from social tools and Big Data analytics to the cloud--are shifting how we do business and blurring C-suite roles. In particular, CMOs must employ social and other IT innovations to listen to what consumers want and connect with them in new ways on a global scale. That's why marketing departments, rather than IT personnel, are already buying nearly a third of their companies' marketing-related technology, according to a recent study by Gartner. And the firm anticipates that, by 2017, the CMO will actually be spending more on IT than the CIO.How Data Helps the CMO and CIO CollaborateBy Karen Quintos, SVP & CMO, DellKaren Quintos| | JUNE 20148CIOReview
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