AL Jagannath
Head of Marketing, ThoughtWorks

The evolving role of CMOs 
Customer experience is important for new and existing customers alike. Engaging experiences help bring new customers through the door and give existing customers a reason to come back and buy from you again. By focusing on customer experience, CMOs can carefully monitor how customers feel about their brand, and use that information to design better services and products to delight, engage and retain customers. Making changes to customer experience needs a strong commitment to data-driven decision making, and CMOs are opting for it, to stay in tune with how changes are impacting customers’ perceptions about the brand, and to respond swiftly to correct negative experiences CMOs also identify the potential for new technologies to make the customer experience richer, more empathic and more convenient. They also pave the way for a diverse range of customer interactions and easy integration with external platforms.
One of the most common approaches used to deliver strong customer experience today is personalization. Good customer experience can deliver bottom-line benefits, with many customers willing to pay more for better and personalized experiences.

Contribution towards strategic business discussions
The CMO’s job has evolved to include aligning a company’s strategy and brand with the customer’s actual experience in order to ensure that customer experience is driving customer loyalty. They also need to keep on the pulse of digital innovation and changing consumer behavior, and adapt to new technological innovations to keep pace with rising consumer expectations. It is also important to leverage data to identify the customer. Data, research, analysis and insights are essential tools of marketing today.

Today’s business strategy must align with customer experiences and the CMO can majorly help the C-suite put the customer at every touch point. They also have an impact on how companies organize themselves around their customers' growing needs intended to improve performance along a customer’s journey. Till date, many companies still organize themselves around what was needed yesterday rather than what is needed tomorrow. Hence, a CMO’s knowledge and an in-depth analysis of the customer and technology prepare them well to play a vital role in setting a boosting strategy for the company.

Real-Time Marketing to Drive Sustainable Growth
CMOs’ responsibilities are changing, they are now responsible for contributing to business strategies, growth and data and technology. Real-Time Marketing is not just about responsive campaigns, but about anticipating individual customer needs. Due to the evolving customer needs, marketers need to transform their operations from well-planned campaigns to responsive teams that can efficiently enhance customer engagement. Real time marketing enables CMOs to adapt to the external environment and provide personalized experiences, thereby ensuring a more creative and engaging marketing strategy. With real time marketing, CMOs make small changes, updates, and optimizations regularly, which nurtures scalable growth across multiple segments, thereby enabling holistic growth.