The influence of the CMO organization is growing significantly, and over the next three years, marketing leaders will increase spending on their area of ​​responsibility by $100 billion, predicts an Infosys executive.

According to Balaji Sampath, senior vice president and segment head of marketing at Infosys, the areas of organizations where CMOs have responsibility or influence will increase from 59 percent to 75 percent over the next three years.

“That’s about $100 billion in additional spending next year that CMOs will be responsible for. That’s based on analysis from various industry analysts as well as our own research,” he tells Mi3. “The entire market space that we operate in is expected to grow to about $350 billion (in that time), and I think right now it’s over $220 billion.”

One of the biggest drivers of this growth is artificial intelligence (AI). “AI plays a very important role. This also means that partnerships between CMO and CIO are becoming even more important,” says Sampath.

This is a particular strength of Infosys, which has a background in integrating technology systems but is now building its consulting capabilities. Perhaps the closest point of comparison in this market is Accenture Song, with whom Infosys both competes and collaborates.

Expanded scope of tasks

The expansion of CMO responsibilities is not simply a matter of expanding marketing boundaries. Rather, according to Sampath, it is a consequence of CMOs being viewed as equals by other senior managers.

“The days of thinking of a marketing organization as just a brand and creative organization are over. Technology has become a central part of the marketing function,” he continues.

As Mi3 reported earlier this year, Infosys has launched Infosys AsterTM, a suite of AI-powered marketing services, solutions and platforms. The new offering aims to deliver engaging brand experiences, increase marketing efficiency and accelerate business growth.

According to the company’s description, Infosys AsterTM offers an integrated, real-time view of customers, brands, channels and trends, enabling its clients to increase marketing ROI by gaining a comprehensive view of their marketing landscape.

Martech tensions

Sampath also notes tensions in marketing technology decisions as CMOs must choose between feature-rich marketing clouds and more composable approaches, especially as pressure to rationalize market spend remains high.

“In fact, we’re having this discussion at Infosys as well. We see two areas of focus in the martech stack. One is your platform play, whether it’s with Google or Adobe, etc. But we’re actually seeing a good rise in boutique capabilities, (for example) where someone is just focused on delivering the retargeting and so on and so forth,” he explains.

Infosys has recognized this gap as a huge potential opportunity.

“We believe this is an opportunity that no product company can capture. This is probably something that only an SI (systems integrator) like Infosys can provide,” claims Sampath. “Can we create a complete marketing orchestration platform for martech? How can we enable companies to adopt great desktop martech technologies without having to worry about the data and insights? And how can you create this platform layer where your data and insights are always at the center, but you can plug and play the desktop martech technology?”

With the advent and advancement of AI, Sampath expects many new capabilities to become available online. “We should give our customers the opportunity to use desktop technology. And that’s our philosophy and what we’re working on right now.”

“When we look at the marketing stack itself, we need to rationalize and determine which ones are adding value and which ones are not.”

It is important to recognize that it is not necessarily the technology that is to blame when it comes to areas that do not deliver value.

“Maybe it’s because marketing or the organization is not embracing it and learning from it. Marketers need to be passionate about understanding the impact that technology can have in the next three to five years to amplify their marketing capabilities,” Sampath adds. “If they don’t embrace technology holistically, I think they will become a legacy in the marketing space.”