Yes, I know for many marketing folks this seems to be an oxymoron, but the fact is that Marketers – especially those with some understanding of business process and the IT world – can influence the direction of IT and generate genuine customer-centric wins.  This in turn makes all your marketing efforts more productive. 

Web analysts, this is the kind of work you will be supporting with analysis in 5 years…it’s just a much larger version of optimizing a web site, isn’t it?  And in many ways, a lot more fun…

Requires a different mindset?  Sure, it’s not buying media or developing creative or analyzing response.  But these are the kinds of projects Marketing folks (especially data-driven ones) should be championing by providing the customer models for IT to base a plan on and forge ahead.

Here are 3 great examples, case studies from CIO Magazine:

Washington Mutual  – a classic example of cross-functional teams looking at “how we sell” versus “how they buy” barriers; reminds me a lot of the Check Shredding Example.  I wonder how many online Marketing folks at banks have asked “why do we need signature cards?” in the past 5 years – what is the Root Cause?  Ron, make sure you check this one out, especially given your post – what do you think?

Best Buy – the offline retail version of “people who bought this also bought that”.  I’m sure this one will sound simple to many folks - all except those working in offline retail analysis and store logistics, that is.  A tough, messy business to optimize and even small wins are remarkable.

Hilton Hotels – another seeming no brainer, just let people order online.  But not just any people, we’re talking about event / conference planners ordering meeting rooms, food and beverage, A / V etc. not to mention guest rooms for thousands of people.  This is not a small deal on the infrastucture side, with plenty of politics to go around.

Check the cases out here, and let me know what you think.