Neustar, Inc. (NYSE: NSR), a trusted neutral provider of real-time information and analytics, today announced the availability of a study conducted by Forrester Consulting on aligning the IT and Marketing departments of organizations. Neustar commissioned the study to determine how IT and Marketing interactions enable or hinder key business initiatives today.

From the reality of a world where consumers across all markets are increasingly connected and demand a high level of online service and experience, the study looks at how well IT and Marketing are working together to create a positive digital customer experience.

In the research, Forrester found a mixed environment where roughly half of companies experienced challenges in expectation-setting and alignment between IT and Marketing groups. The study yielded two key findings:

  • The post-digital world mandates that IT and Marketing reach a new understanding. Digital investments serve as the foundation for strategic marketing initiatives that drive business growth. These investments deliver the rich customer engagements today’s empowered customers demand.
  • Marketing and IT suffer from a problem of differing perspectives. While different priorities are unavoidable, in effective organizations executive support is the primary driver to achieving role alignment and understanding.

“This research provided some great context for what we are seeing in many of our customers’ organizations today,” said Jim Rogers, Vice President, Marketing, Enterprise Services, at Neustar. “Our customers know they need to better align Marketing and IT and we hope that in doing this report we are able to help them apply some of the best practices discovered by organizations that have already focused strongly on Marketing and IT alignment.”

Methodology

In this study, Forrester conducted an online survey of 260 enterprise IT and Marketing decision-makers in the US, Canada, and the UK, along with six follow-up interviews with selected IT and Marketing survey-takers in May 2013. Survey and interview questions evaluated key Marketing and IT initiatives and how the two groups coordinated technology implementation efforts. Survey participants included decision-makers in the Marketing and IT departments. Respondents were offered an incentive as a thank you for time spent on the survey. The study began in May 2013 and was completed in the same month. The interviews took place between May 2013 and June 2013.

For additional insights, see our website for the full report. Connect with Neustar on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

About Neustar

Neustar, Inc. (NYSE:NSR) is the first real-time provider of cloud-based information services and data analytics, enabling marketing and IT security professionals to promote and protect their businesses. With a commitment to privacy and neutrality, Neustar operates complex data registries and uses its expertise to deliver actionable, data-driven insights that help clients make high-value business decisions in real time, one customer interaction at a time. More information is available at www.neustar.biz.