Borrowing from Established Best Practices

The authors say that once IT identifies a marketing advocate, he or she should apply the following life cycle (borrowed from sound CRM best practices). In short, the plan is to: engage, transact, fulfil, service and report.

CIOs should use multiple interaction channels, including face-to-face meetings, e-mail, brown-bag lunches and feedback sessions to engage the customer. And they should find a way of demonstrating value in every interaction they have with them.

The next step is to transact business with the customer and find a means of demonstrating value in each interaction. "While this might seem obvious, each meeting should have a specific purpose and identified outcomes," the authors say. "One value that IT brings to the table is a keen sense of process, and the customer must be reminded that there is progress to be made from each interaction. The BRM [business relationship manager] is the evangelist for the customer within IT, and to the customer on behalf of IT."

After that comes fulfilment: the stage at which the customer realizes the benefits of IT involvement in helping to meet business requirements. The realization may come via the production of working modules, status reports, milestone meetings, progress reports or other means, but while the precise form of the fulfilment is directly dependent on the customer and the project, the net effect is to complete iterative feedback cycles in which the customer realizes the value of IT's involvement.

Next comes servicing the customer, a frequently overlooked step in the life cycle of CRM, especially if the first three steps have been highly successful. "Investments in the adage, 'If it works, don't fix it', is the start of entropy, which inhibits proactive solicitation of status from the customer ('How are we doing?'), and will backfire in the next iteration of customer interaction," Armstrong and Zoppi advise.

Then comes reporting, the most important mechanism in the campaign for customer loyalty. The authors say the desire to market the IT organization does not free the organization from publishing the bad news. It is not enough to publish only compliance reports. "The good, the bad and the ugly need to be routinely communicated while developing trust in the customer relationship. If there is a belief that reporting is merely a vehicle for spin doctoring, the relationship will never evolve into a true partnership."

We're All in This Together

Armstrong and Zoppi say all department members must be enlisted as part of the marketing force for the above techniques to be effective. One incorrectly applied message can undo all of the goodwill generated through a carefully planned campaign. Reinforce key messages through an appropriate rewards and recognition program.

Because of the serious nature of these changes to IT's company profile, executive sponsorship is essential. If you choose to use an IT advisory board you should apprise board members of the need to market, and encourage them to become advocates in establishing and supporting the appropriate feedback required by their respective organizations. Where such business ties are nonexistent, the CIO needs to ensure key managers' performance plans include that advocacy role, for which they must also be compensated through incentives tied to its fulfilment.

"In every sound marketing campaign, the needs of the consumer are identified through market analysis. The internal campaign can more easily harvest information about the needs of the market through systematic analysis of the business requirements. In the process, additional information can be discovered about the various disconnects between customer perception and those of IT," the authors say.

Once the business requirements have been fully analyzed, key performance indicators (KPIs) should be cooperatively identified by the business and IT groups, which can be iteratively refined to form the foundation of routine communication. And those messages must be clear, easily understood and positive, Zoppi says.