Technology is being used more in the marketing functions, as opposed to being used just as a customer service platform, thus based on this, the International Data Corporation (IDC) conducted a study and concluded that By 2018, one-fourth of CMOs and CIOs will share a roadmap for marketing technology. The use of technology and data centricity has become so important to marketers that even tech companies are positioning themselves to target those in marketing roles. The fact that data and software is moving from the ‘back office’ to the ‘front office’ is something that’s been happening for the last couple of years. That’s one of the factors driving companies like IBM, Microsoft, and Cisco to re-focus their sales forces, which have traditionally focused on relationships with the CIO and CTO, to the relationship with the CMO. Read More>>