Report from the Sales & Marketing Forum in January 2012.
John Crane, former CIO of National Australia Bank, and John Suffolk, former UK government CIO, discussed the opportunities available to suppliers when an organisation goes through transformational change.
We also asked our guest speakers to put their marketing hats on and come up with some ideas and suggestions on how suppliers should engage with CIOs.
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Marketing to the CIO in times of transformation
1. The Sales & Marketing Forum
When the earth moves: supplier marketing in
times of transformation
Tuesday 24th January, Soho Hotel, London
What does it mean for marketers when an industry or organisation
goes through a period of profound change? Your target audience is
time poor and under pressure from every angle. But it’s also a time
of great opportunity, enabling you to position yourself as the right
partner to help them through.
As marketers, we spend a lot of time getting our target audience
and messages right. We are at the top of our game when we have
the inside track on how decisions are made, and the people that
make them. So it was enlightening to hear some frank reflections
from two technology leaders with decades of experience at the
top in retail banking and the public sector:
John Crane: long-serving CIO and consultant in retail banking
John Suffolk: UK government CIO until last year, currently Global
Cyber Security Officer, Huawei.
The ingredients for success are outlined in this summary:
The challenges of transformation
A glimpse behind the scenes
Knowing IT’s place
Inside the IT function — it’s not just about the CIO
Who do they trust and what catches their eye?
If CIOs were marketers (1)
If CIOs were marketers (2)
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The challenges of transformation
Across both sectors, the transformational agenda is fully ‘There is no silver
engaged, driven by significant political and economic
pressures. The size of the old technology estate is a major bullet. Suppliers
obstacle to overcome and be made more of a challenge by
the fact that in many cases, modernisation efforts have
that cut down
been short sighted and uneven. the hyperbole
With so many different systems are in use across an organisation, the customer
experience can end up being full of baffling holdups and disjointed activities.
will get further.’
Meanwhile, behind closed doors, new generations of employees struggle to get to
grips with vintage user interfaces and procedures.
But making changes on this scale carries plenty of risk — not least to the personal
and professional reputation of the CIO. This sense of risk is heightened in the
public sector and retail banking, where IT failures can be costly and generate a
huge amount of negative publicity.
It’s almost impossible that any supplier could provide a silver bullet solution
— transformational change is not going to be quick, easy or simple. Suppliers
that recognise this and cut down the hyperbole will get further. Continuity and
contingency are critical too — once the contract’s won, CIOs needs to know they
can count on a stable team and resources.
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A glimpse behind the scenes
Gaining insight into our guest speakers’ working lives was
as valuable as ever. It underlined how tough a CIO’s job
is, and how many actors can be involved in making the big
decisions. We got a picture of their time being split roughly
three ways:
▪▪ Managing a large, varied and ambitious team of technology specialists
▪▪ Meeting the demands of a myriad of internal stakeholders and
business functions
▪▪ Keeping on top of a complex web of suppliers to get the best deals and
service levels possible
We heard how there’s also been a growth in pressure from regulators — especially
in the case of the financial sector. In their workplace interactions, both were highly
business focused. Of course, they have a natural interest in new technology solutions,
but more than ever, it’s the business outcomes that interest them (and their internal
stakeholder audience) most, not the technology itself. Too much supplier messaging
still obscures these benefits with a fog of products and processes.
‘Too much
supplier
messaging
obscures the
business benefits
with a fog of
product and
processes.’
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Knowing IT’s place
IT investment decisions generate plenty of internal ‘In times of
competition and rivalries can surface as different business
functions push their own agenda. With the advent of cloud- transformation,
and service-based solutions, many non-IT players are keen don’t forget that
to build and run their own projects. This may be reinforcing
their view of IT as a business preventer — a function that CIO opinion is
obstructs rather than enables business agility.
still respected
While it’s true that many of the C-level peer group still have a limited understanding
of technology, there is a flip side. With the advent of more complex customer and on the board.’
internal interactions across multiple-channels, IT’s role as a critical business enabler
is higher profile than ever.
Of course, suppliers will talk to other C-level decision makers and for our guest
CIOs, that’s perfectly understandable. But suppliers should never forget that CIO
opinion is still respected on the board and they’ll probably have the power of
veto. Marketing should use these different lines of communication to build trust
and educate, not to play politics.
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Inside the IT function – it’s not just
about the CIO
It’s easy enough to say ‘let’s target the IT function’, but
it’s a complex organisation in its own right. All of these
different components will be dealing with other business
functions and trying to satisfy them — sometimes leading to
conflict within the IT function itself.
There will likely also be a number of trusted lieutenants, who are probably just as
important to target as the CIO. Among these different groups are:
CIO
IT strategy, architecture, planning
different proposals may clash with long-term vision
Applications development
gets pulled in all directions by stakeholders
Governance and risk
Risk averse, likely to find holes in new approaches
Business transformation
often clashes with planning and architecture over priorities
Operations and services
reluctant to change anything, they’re busy enough as it is!
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Who do they trust and what
catches their eye?
In times of transformative change there’s a lot at stake.
Our guest CIOs tend to rely on people they know and trust,
whether that means advisors within the business, peers in
other organisations or partners and suppliers. Where do
they turn for information?
Quadrant-style rankings that promote suppliers and their offerings don’t inspire
much credibility — they’re not seen as being truly unbiased and independent
Marketing thought leadership material is often ignored too — it tends to be out
of date and generic.
Independent consultancy and analyst reports can be a good way of reaching the CIO, ‘Quality, relevant
not least because they can be rehashed and used in their own internal presentations.
Research, quality independent thought leadership and expert opinion can win their
independent
attention and influence their behaviour. On this front, it’s good to get a prospect
CIO involved — perhaps as part of a roundtable contribution, or even a written
thought
article. Perhaps some of this is down to the power of flattery. But it can also help
a CIO state the case for change and communicate with their own organisation
leadership works
more effectively than a standard internal communication.
best. Outcome
When it comes to news sources, brevity and relevance are the key qualities they
look for. A four-line condensed news feed dedicated to a specific area is more based headlines
useful than a generic newsletter. Above all, it’s the outcome-based headlines that
grab their attention. grab the most
attention.’
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If CIOs were marketers (1)
What would it be like if the shoe were on the other foot?
We gave our guest speakers the chance to be marketers for
15 minutes. Here’s what they said:
The vehicle for the message makes a difference. The few examples of direct mail
success come from collateral that really stands out — whether it’s a different size
and shape or it’s a device that delivers the message in a novel way.
And it has to be the right message. Remember what the CIO wants to know and
lead with the business outcome. Messaging that gets bogged down in the process
and technology is a big turn-off.
In times of transformation, the CIO doesn’t want to be a pioneer — pioneers
normally meet a sticky end. So show them case studies or the headline figures
and prove that you’re not a risk.
And if you’ve done it before, let them know that you will use that experience to
CIO snapshot:
make your solution quicker, easier and more cost-effective for them. It’s typical to comments on the
hear suppliers saying that they’ll build a bespoke solution around the customer’s public sector
needs but the CIO will probably say ‘I want the one you built for them, please’.
The UK is one of the most
outsourced public sectors in the
world. CIOs spend a lot of time
managing supplier complexity
Fiefdoms — high degree of internal
competition among sections, pet
projects, ideological drivers
Squeezed budgets and public
interest — heightened sensitivity
around value for money, impact
Influencers are relatively
easily accessible — MPs and
cross-party events can help you
start a conversation
Marketing and hospitality
requires sensitivity
Failures make the news — and
can have political and national
security repercussions. We need
to see that you’ve done it before
and it’s going to work
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If CIOs were marketers (2)
Maybe the CIO shouldn’t be your first target anyway. Why
not talk to some of the specialists in their team? They’re
probably trusted by the CIO and the chances are your
proposition will be more relevant and interesting to them
anyway. And while it’s important to keep IT in the loop,
you should make a big effort to communicate the benefits
to the relevant business functions in the organisation.
Sales and Marketing should take relationship nurture seriously. All too often, an
opportunity is written off after one short meeting. Now may not be the right time,
but remember that existing supplier relationships can always go stale. CIO snapshot:
Keep chipping away and work hard for the new business, so that you have the best comments on
chance to offer an exciting alternative when an opening appears. After all, CIOs will retail banking
only buy from people they can trust. Short-term targets don’t make much sense.
Emphasis on conserving the
Finally, in the sales meeting, never ask ‘what keeps them awake at night’. It still customer base and up-selling
happens far too much. Be upfront about your solution’s benefits and make sure within it
your sales force has the material and preparation they need to give clear examples
of how it can be applied to the target business. Banks want to be able to roll out
a new service quickly and easily
— IT trying to enable agility
Pursuing a transformational
agenda — joining up different
systems and channels
Trying to provide a seamless
experience for customers across
multiple channels
Security issues make change
difficult — IT seen as the business
prevention department
24/7 lights on is critical — failure
of banking systems is costly and
For further information, or to arrange a 121 best practice high profile
workshop, please contact Gemma Davies on Cost reduction, streamlined
01235 833233 or gdavies@themarketingpractice.com. processes and automation is a
priority across business functions
Regulatory pressure from FSA has
increased greatly
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