Betting On Big Data: CMO’s Remain Uncertain #IBMPWLC

In her opening keynote from IBM Partner World 2014, Ginni Rometty, IBM CEO said in no uncertain terms, “The future winners and losers in business will be decided on how they use information.” A telling statement as to where the “Big Blue” CEO sees the future of business heading.

Of the 3 major priorities of the business, which Rometty identified as Big Data, Cloud and Engagement, Big Data took up the vast majority of her 30 minute presentation and she pulled no punches about just how strongly a role she thinks information will play for businesses in the coming years.

Later that morning, Jon Iwata, IBM Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communication shared a little known statistic with us that 82% of CMO’s feel unprepared to deal with the data deluge. What was more surprising is that number went up from 71% in 2011 meaning that CMO’s are feeling less prepared now than two years ago to deal with what lies ahead.

While Rometty is spot on and information is the future, there are interesting forces at play begging the question:

What will CMO’s need to become more confident in dealing with all of the current and future big data needs and more importantly their business implications?

In this video I weigh in on the subject.

This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.