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.