Bridging the Marketing and IT Gap with Automation
Written by Tom Ellis , Executive Partner - Growth, Stratfield Consulting
In today’s digitally driven business environment, marketing and IT departments must work together more closely than ever. Marketers rely on data, technology, and seamless customer experiences, while IT teams are responsible for maintaining secure, scalable, and efficient technology infrastructures.
Yet, the collaboration between these departments often feels strained, with gaps in priorities, communication, and technical fluency creating roadblocks. How many times have marketing/IT departments and their inability to coordinate objectives slowed or stopped innovation and advancement within your company?
On the other side, we have worked with companies that have built very streamlined communications, using technology as well as human interaction to drive their companies to greatness. The gap between marketing and technology departments is closing as digital has taken over 70% of marketing budgets going into 2025 – empowered by the IT teams to ensure operational success.
Automation is proving to be a powerful bridge between these two critical functions, fostering collaboration and driving value across the organization. Below are some ways we have seen success in staying aligned across the organization:
1. Centralized Data Management
One of the most common friction points between marketing and IT is data management. Often, marketing teams are using a MarTech stack, storing marketing data and potential customers, while the IT teams are storing current customer data, sales data, etc. Marketing teams need access to customer data to create personalized campaigns, while IT is tasked with ensuring data security and compliance. Automation platforms, such as customer data platforms (CDPs), can centralize and streamline data collection, integration, and analysis. These tools allow marketing teams to access data in real time while maintaining IT’s required security protocols.
Both teams having views into the same data and better understanding the other teams’ objectives and metrics help keep everyone on the same page.
2. Streamlined Campaign Deployment
Marketers frequently rely on IT to implement, manage, and govern tools that enable campaign execution. This dependency can slow down initiatives, especially when IT is stretched thin. Marketing automation platforms like HubSpot, Marketo, or Salesforce Pardot allow marketers to build and deploy campaigns without overloading IT resources.
By creating pre-approved templates, workflows, and API integrations, IT can enable marketers to work independently while ensuring all systems remain secure and properly integrated. Automation reduces repetitive tasks, such as uploading lists or syncing data, which speeds up campaign launches and minimizes errors.
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3. Faster Problem Resolution
When technical issues arise—whether in a website's functionality or a marketing tool's integration—collaboration between marketing and IT can be challenging due to differing terminologies and priorities. Automation tools equipped with AI-powered monitoring and diagnostic capabilities can detect and resolve issues in real time. For example, website performance monitoring tools can alert both IT and marketing when page load times increase, enabling quicker resolution before customer experience is impacted.
4. Enhanced Collaboration Through No-Code Solutions
No-code and low-code platforms are revolutionizing how teams work together. These solutions allow marketing teams to build landing pages, design workflows, or set up analytics dashboards without requiring deep technical expertise. IT teams can provide guardrails and governance while empowering marketing to operate more autonomously, reducing bottlenecks and fostering innovation.
5. Aligning Goals and KPIs – MOST IMPORTANT
The most successful organizations we have seen have total alignment between these teams. Automation facilitates better alignment between marketing and IT by standardizing reporting and analytics. By automating the generation of dashboards that pull data from various tools, both teams can gain a unified view of campaign performance, customer behavior, and system health. This shared visibility helps align efforts and ensures everyone is working toward the same objectives.
IT teams using KPIs other than standard up-times, data security metrics, and compliance standards – but aligning with the marketing teams around overall business growth from a customer generation and retention standpoint can keep everyone on the same page. One client we work with has monthly IT/Marketing objectives meetings - reviewing their combined KPIs together to ensure they are aligned on “why” the work they are doing matters.
At Stratfield Consulting, we understand the critical role that technology plays in bridging departmental gaps. Our team specializes in aligning technology strategies with business goals, ensuring that your marketing and IT teams work in harmony. Whether you’re looking to implement automation tools, improve data management, or foster cross-department collaboration, Stratfield has the expertise to guide your organization to success.
Contact us today to learn how we can help you bridge the gap between marketing and IT, driving efficiency, innovation, and growth through automation.