Technology-enabled customer relationships

We believe that IT is suffusing the business, creeping into all functions and activities. Companies are using business intelligence and simulation techniques to create and price new products and services. They are using technology to transform hardware and software into powerful services that can command premium prices. In the most advanced cases, the supplier is both expert and collaborative, delivering unique value in a way that is integrated with the customer’s business.

The new technology-facile customer or consumer now engages with his/her suppliers increasingly through technology and electronic channels. He or she expects to be able to access an ever-wider range of services over a web portal that is increasingly tailored to his/her needs and style. On the best portals, the customer can roam at will through the supplier’s many divisions and product lines without having to understand the organization chart or re-enter his/her password. Both product and business information are presented in usable, tailored formats.

The most advanced suppliers are also embracing customer communities. As the workforce unbundles into smaller and smaller entities, customer and collaboration communities are exploding. The new collaboration spaces, web sites, and video sites are enabling a new generation of customer communities, P2P collaboration networks, and so on.

Marketing transformed by technology

As customer relationships are transformed by the new possibilities so is marketing. Technology is driving an arms race in advanced techniques such as experience co-creation, mass customization, permission marketing, customer communities, and even blogs, to name just a few. Even branding is now electronic. All these techniques seek to augment the offering and reach the ever more sophisticated and demanding customer. To do their jobs, marketing professionals now need a solid understanding of the new channels and services that IT makes possible. They may already be using specialized service firms to support many marketing and communication tasks.

The role of IT

In the light of these trends, a productive relationship between enterprise IT and marketing is becoming increasingly essential. Unfortunately, our research shows that this is rarely in place. Enterprise IT often works more effectively with other parts of the firm – finance, operations, supply chain, and so on – even as many aspects of the marketing profession itself are becoming increasingly web-centric and IT-driven. IT often has difficulty relating to the product and marketing-oriented IT solutions, and vice versa.