Accenture: Pharma CMOs and CIOs should advance their collaboration

By
Dusan Belic
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Accenture graph

Chief marketing officers (CMOs) and chief information officers (CIOs) in the pharmaceutical industry are not responding equally on the opportunity to optimize the impact of digital technologies, according to a new Accenture industry report.

More than nine out of 10 large pharmaceutical company CIOs (91%) who participated in the Accenture Interactive 2014 CMO-CIO Alignment survey of senior marketing and IT executives believe that their companies are in need of greater marketing/IT alignment. By contrast, fewer than two out of three pharmaceutical CMOs (58%) agreed with that statement – a discrepancy of 33%. This difference in perspective is greater in the pharmaceutical industry than in all other industries surveyed by Accenture at the same time – where the average discrepancy was only 14%.

Only 17% of pharmaceutical CMOs have spent funds to equip a mobile-enabled sales force, compared to 43% of pharmaceutical CIOs.According to the report, pharmaceutical CIOs view analytics as the top driver of integration (cited by 52% of respondents), but pharmaceutical CMOs rank analytics near the bottom (cited by just 13%). Priorities for technology spend were similarly divided:

  • 54% of pharmaceutical CMOs have spent the most in applying technology on customer experience, while just 14% of CIOs cited customer experience as a priority to further market impact and outcomes.
  • Only 17% of pharmaceutical CMOs have spent funds to equip a mobile-enabled sales force, compared to 43% of pharmaceutical CIOs.
  • Just 13% of pharmaceutical CMOs said they have spent the most to invest in multichannel analytics, compared to 43% of pharmaceutical CIOs.

The survey also pointed to a lack of a common vision for technology and understanding between CIOs and CMOs in the pharmaceutical industry. For example, 67% of the CMO respondents do not view IT as a strategic partner, compared to 50% of CMOs surveyed in all industries. Additionally, while 77% of pharmaceutical CIOs see the need for greater alignment with CMOs, just 44% of pharmaceutical CMOs feel that way.

Additionally information about Accenture’s report is available from here.

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