The Two Paths CMOs Must Pursue When Planning Their Technology Roadmap

There is no denying the importance of having one, living breathing technology roadmap. It is not an understatement to say this is paramount for success. And seeing how the CMO is, according to Julie Lyle — former CMO of hh gregg and Prudential Asia and current Chairman of the Board for the Global Retail Marketing Association the “owner” of relationships with third party suppliers, it is eminently important that the CMO play a major role in creating the technology roadmap.

In a new report, Take Two Technology Roads To Digital Experience Success, Road Map: The Digital Experience Delivery Playbook, Forrester analyst Ted Schadler lays out the two paths CMOs not only must pursue when planning their technology roadmap, but do so at the same time. 

Now keep in mind, these paths come only after you have a strategy to prioritize digital interactions and have assessed the business impact of each investment, according to Schadler. 

The two paths he identifies are:

1. Make urgent investments immediately with cloud or software extensions. On this path, you will turn on functionality you aren’t using and extend your existing platform with new software. The cloud is your best way to layer in new functionality without rebuilding your existing platform. Use the cloud to augment your existing platform with new capabilities. These cloud services can pull information from your existing systems, create the new capability, and then embed it back into your web or mobile experience. 


2. Deliver important agility and long-term benefits with a modern digital experience platform. On this parallel path, you will define, select, and implement a modern platform to deliver long-term agility and capabilities. The cloud is also your friend here: it’s the future of digital experience platforms. 

Schadler adds that at the same time as you’re delivering new capabilities with extensions, you have to fund and implement the foundations of your digital customer experience: customers, content, marketing, commerce, service, and insights.  ​

​To read the entire report, download Take Two Technology Roads To Digital Experience Success, Road Map: The Digital Experience Delivery Playbook.