Study: APAC CIOs see CX as priority but lack relationship with CMO

Despite acknowledging the increasing role they play in managing customer experience, only 29% of CIOs in APAC said they work closely with CMOs. According to reports from Adobe, chief Information Officers (CIO) in APAC are now seeing managing of customer experiences as a primary priority of their role.

Surveying 156 CIOs across APAC, Adobe found that 74% of respondents said managing customer experiences is a primary priority now. This contrasts CIOs in US where 57% see it as a secondary priority in its role. In Singapore, however, managing customer experience is likely to be a secondary priority for more than half of the surveyed CIOs.

The methods of how CIOs manage customer experiences include building a seamless experience for customer with a single view of data, making significant investments in interactive voice response, web, and CRM technologies, as well as integrate data information to explore customers' shifting needs and preferences.  On average, 50% of CIOs in APAC said their work focuses on digital citizenship, and more than 80% of CIOs in Singapore and Australia interviewed have a significant role to play in harnessing big data for their organisation. Enabling customer insights has been a particular area of focus while managing customer experience initiatives for CIOs in Singapore. 

Interestingly, almost half of the respondents (44%) said they work most closely to chief technology officers instead.

While Adobe's report found that 90% of CIOs in Singapore now feel that they have more leadership influence, it also revealed that less than 30% of the respondents in APAC said they work closely with CMOs and CEOs. In comparison, 51% of CIOs in US said they work closely with CMOs, while 36% said they work closely with CEOs. 

Aside from gaining more leadership influence, Adobe also found that in Singapore, 80% of CIOs agreed that their role within their organisation has expanded, while 88% agree that not only have their responsibilities increased, but that they are also an agent of change and have the power to improve their organisation’s culture. 

Adobe's report also revealed that at least two in five CIOs in APAC anticipate that their organisation will increase investment in security and privacy, cloud, data management/standardisation, artificial intelligence/machine learning, or infrastructure in 2021.

Security and privacy is much more likely to be invested in by organisations in Singapore (61%) than Australia (20%). Adobe surveyed more than 500 CIOs across the APAC (156), U.S. (200), and EMEA (150) regions, including those in Singapore, India, Australia, US, UK, France, and Germany, for its survey.

The report also found that marketing, sales, and IT support departments are the most demanding of data to drive customer experiences.

Around two in five US CIOs consider marketing and sales the most demanding department, compared to one in five EMEA and APAC CIOs. Meanwhile, one-third of APAC CIOs consider IT support the most demanding, driven mostly by CIOs in India (56%).

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