Dennis Pannuto, CEO Aha! Insight Technology

DP
That’s correct. Really simple. The technology has to be nimble. And more importantly, the processes of how people work have to be, as well. That’s it.

That is such a bulldozer through so many companies, today.

MM
Could you speak to this notion of a services framework?

DP
I think the services framework is becoming a big reality in our world today. It is the foundation of initiatives we’ve talked about. When you talk about “buy versus build,” today it’s becoming more and more practical in many cases to go out and buy it as opposed to build it.

You’re seeing a big shift in companies there, and it’s very difficult psychologically for companies to get over that. But you’re seeing a lot of momentum there-in regards to “buying” chunks of their software and infrastructure

Some of these frameworks are made up of multiple components. Some of them being bought and some of them being built. Today there is a shift, even in large traditional corporations to buying instead of building. In the Internet world, you talk about white labeling. There are white label solutions out there that are much more cost-effective to buy than they are to build. It saves time and money and a company can ramp up quickly and get exactly what they need within a very fast period. It allows Internet businesses to be born pretty much overnight.
MM
On a concluding note, it’s probably pretty important for the vice-president of marketing operations if not the CMO to define and own that services framework.

DP
They have to own it. There’s no question about the fact that the CMO or his or her designee have got to own this services framework. They have to be partnered with a good IS group that is able to be very close in line with them, to be able to deliver cost-effectively what they need to support the business initiatives.

MM
Not just the IS group, but this new crop of agencies that are emerging-which are essentially digital brand interaction platforms with subject matter expertise, analytics and deep technical capabilities in one or two brand interactions.

DP
Sure. There’s a whole “ecosystem” out there, a digital supply chain. And when it comes to IT, your the traditional IT department needs to be dismantled in the way it thinks and behaves.

Some of us saw this coming in the early ’90s. We knew that IT in the future was about specialists closely aligned with the business and at the senior levels there existing no distinction between IT and non-IT. If you really wanted to climb the ladder over the long-term, it was really about these “specialists” who were business-oriented and brought technical experience and savvy to stand out in front.

That’s kind of full-circle to what you and I talked about earlier on, this merging of a CMO and CIO. That’s exactly what we’re seeing in demand today.

MM
I want to thank you very much, Dennis.