Safeguard and grow brand trust through a strong CMO-CISO partnership

Source: © 123rf 123rf While AI, customer behavioural data, and the Internet of Things (IoT) can personalise customer interactions, they also pose significant security risks

“However, marketing and security can preserve brand reputation, ensure data-driven decision-making, and deliver better customer experiences by collaborating on data security and marketing strategies," says Bret Sanford-Chung, managing director, US Marketing Consulting, KPMG LLP.

79% of CMOs believe the marketing-security partnership is essential to acquire, maintain, and secure customer data for competitive advantage. Yet a third of marketing-security partnerships do not collaborate effectively.

This is a finding from the Chief Marketing Officer Council's (CMO), in partnership with KPMG, new report, Marketing & Data Security: The Unlikely Brand Building Partnership.

Safeguard and grow brand trust

Orson Lucas, principal, cyber security services, KPMG LLP, says, "The research highlights the critical need for collaboration between marketing and security leaders to safeguard and grow brand trust.

"By overcoming hurdles and deepening their partnership, marketers and security professionals can effectively address rising data privacy and security concerns, preserving brand reputation and ensuring competitive advantage."

The report examines the marketing and security relationship and how marketing leaders can preserve brand reputation amid rising data privacy and security concerns.

It says this relationship represents an opportunity for marketers and security pros to deepen their collaboration by overcoming hurdles such as misaligned priorities, inadequate understanding of roles, lack of communication, etc.

Alignment and collaboration

“A strong marketing-security partnership preserves brand reputation in an environment rife with privacy concerns, proving a strong security commitment can also help build the brand,” says Donovan Neale-May, executive director of the CMO Council.

“Conversely, a weak partnership can lead to data disasters which will erode brand reputation as well as customer and employee trust.”

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Key findings

Key findings of the report include:

• 79% of marketing leaders said the marketing-security partnership is extremely (44%) or very (35%) important to acquire, maintain and secure customer data for competitive advantage.
  
• 33% of marketing-security partnerships are not collaborating effectively.
  
• 84% of marketing leaders said AI and machine learning initiatives pose a growing security threat.
  
• 32% of less collaborative marketing-security partnerships communicate only during a crisis.

Strengthening the CMO-CSI partnership

To strengthen the CMO-CISO partnership, CMOs should:

• Understand the widespread impact that the marketing-security partnership has on your business, both internally and externally.
  
• Get granular when determining what efforts to take to ensure data protection.
  
• Prepare to be at the forefront of AI by acutely examining your data collection, storage and usage across functions.
  
• Invest in training and education to improve understanding of roles and responsibilities between marketing and security to make communicating easier and more frequent.

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Sanford-Chung adds," "It is important to invest in training and education to improve understanding and communication between marketing and security.”

Methodology

The report is based on a survey of over 256 marketing leaders across industries and geographies.

Additionally, in-depth interviews with executives from Teradata, The Doctor’s Company, PSEG Long Island, Trustwave, and others were conducted.

Download Marketing & Data Security: The Unlikely Brand Building Partnership here.