How to Communicate Marketing Technology Needs to IT - Part 2

In Part 1 of this post, I discussed a few common misunderstandings between marketing and IT teams that cause marketing integrations to fail, cause marketers to resort to more SaaS tools to get the job done, and cause IT teams to become even more tweaked when they are forced to integrate these SaaS tools.

The following is a list of additional misunderstandings that can be easily addressed by marketers.

IT people don't see the potential dollars like you do.

Every marketing integration project has some ROI objective to be more relevant, make more sales, and increase revenue. Considering this is what PAYS everyone (including IT), it is logical conclusion that these are important projects and should have IT priority. While there is significant truth (and reality) to this, many IT people don't see it this way, hence why they are not in sales and marketing (and many should never be). If you lead with your "demands" then IT people will immediately lump you in with "yet another person or team asking me for something." IT teams already feel under-appreciated. Any potential for an IT team to understand why your project benefits IT and the company has been completely lost in your first "demanding" sentence.

Action Steps - While the ROI is completely evident to you, it may not be intuitive to an IT team. Before you even talk to IT, come up with a list of 3 ways in which IT will benefit from your project. Lead your conversation with those benefits. I have worked with some companies that actually bonus IT teams based on overall sales goals and numbers, enabling IT to participate in the success of a project they have launched. Dare to think outside the box. That is VERY motivating. Many IT people are on fixed salaries and feel snubbed when they kill themselves to provide a technology and see no rewards from their hard work.

IT teams are not dreamers, they are practical.

Many marketers request integrations that are so impossible and impractical that not only do they run IT off, but it forces IT teams to lose respect for the marketing team. The thought that goes through IT's head is "Does this person have any freaking idea what he or she is asking for?"

There is truth to this. I have heard marketers ask for the technology equivalent to "I need you to figure out a way to put an espresso machine on the top of the Eiffel Tower that uses ethanol as a power source and can only grind direct fair trade beans from Sumantra...in 3 days".  Yeah, that makes no sense, people would think you are nuts and probably lose a certain degree of respect for your ability to reason. Many times, this is how marketers present their technology needs to IT and demand it.

Action Step - Preemptive humility goes along way. Start an IT conversation with "Pardon my ignorance guys and tell me if I am nuts here, how feasible is it to integrate our Facebook fan page data with our backend CRM? Is it a 3 day, 3 week, 3 month, or 3 year project?" By demonstrating your practicality here, your project will at least gain a listening and willing ear from an IT team.

Conclusion

Hopefully, these two blog posts have provided some very practical approaches to engaging IT on your marketing integration, analytics, and segmentation projects. Keep in mind that IT teams are highly innovative and intelligent like you, talk to them in a way they understand and they will make you completely unstoppable in your technology initiatives.