Inevitable rise of the chief customer officer

Two-thirds of marketers accept that a chief customer officer delivers value to their organisation and more than half say their company has already appointed one. According to research carried out by Vanson Bourne on behalf of SPSS among 100 marketing professionals, 39 per cent believe the CCO should sit within the marketing function, while a quarter say it should be a board-level position.

Colin Shearer, senior vice-president of strategic analytics at SPSS, says: “By definition, a CCO offers in-depth customer insight to drive customer strategy that feeds the rest of the business. With direct ROI being a key focus point for organisations in today’s challenging economy, it is possible that a CCO may be seen as an unnecessary expense currently. Customer service and retention are vital in delivering return on investment.