Marketers doubt IT’s benefits, survey finds

The gulf between marketers and IT departments is widening, a survey by software provider ATG and business website Hoovers.co.uk has found.

Over 30 per cent of the 514 marketers in the survey rate technology as “unimportant” in serving customers better, says the report.

Comments from respondents include: “Technology is often used as a means of relinquishing responsibility for customer care”, and “technology is simply over-rated”.

Over 70 per cent say they regularly talk to their IT department, but many see this as a one-way communication channel. One respondent says: “It seems that when new technology is introduced, no one consults the people who use it.”

Ian Davis, ATG’s product marketing manager, calls for a new generation of “marketing technophiles” and says there is “no room for conflict” in today’s economic climate.

Malcolm McDonald, professor of marketing at Cranfield School of Management, adds: “The future will belong to marketers who embrace new technology.”