CMO & CTO - any possible convergence

There are very few instances when there is coordination between the CTO and CMO. Both are busy working from their ivory towers and people below keep fighting for a piece of action. So much so, that they are deeply drawn into their respective fields of study and prefer to live in intellectual isolation. When will we see this as a common trend where both of them share a vision to achieve that common ‘organizational’ goal.

In the past week, I came across a person who is designated as CTO (or Head – IT), but has a much broader role in the organization. Not only does he take care of IT related stuff – integrations, software and application development, loyalty programs (back-end), payment gateways, he also handles marketing alliances, uses technology to achieve numbers or push sales through innovations, also pitches for selling in-house media properties etc.

This combination is rare to find but an organization which believes the efficacy of integrating the two teams will always deliver better results or more so, an organization empowering an individual for something like this. The benefits that accrue to the above organization could be summed up –
* Convergence between technology and business
* Applying technology to enhance value proposition (internal or external)
* Result-oriented practical innovations
* Efficient technology spends
* ‘Technology function’ looked as primary business-driver function
* Greater accountability from technology function (marketing also is no longer a cost centre)