I recently leased a Jeep 4-door Wrangler. Now some would say, shouldn’t you buy a car that is more economical on gas? Well maybe in a different set of circumstances but I don’t drive that much, I fill my tank twice a month and need an all-terrain vehicle because of where we live. This posting is also not about being “greener”; this post is about an opportunity for innovation in the workplace: an opportunity for Chrysler to bring innovation to its customer experience lifecycle. A dynamic that I know, firsthand, they care about. As the former CIO for BBDO, Chrysler was their largest client during my tenure and we were involved in many aspects of managing the customer experience lifecycle.

Anyway, back to my Jeep experience. I didn’t have a good experience with the dealership. I won’t bore you with the details. I tried to resolve it with the dealership, went as high as I could and basically was told we’re not going to help you. At the same time, I was sent a customer satisfaction survey from Chrysler, online and via postage paid mail, that asked about my dealer experience. I filled out both and sent in a letter detailing the experience. I received a reply back within a reasonable period of time and it basically said we can’t help you because…we can’t. Take a look at the letter…

Chrysler Letter

I decided I would call the gentlemen that signed the letter and see if I could better understand the process at Chrysler because if I had such a poor experience there had to be others as well and I’m sure Chrysler would want to know about it so they could correct the problem, right? I called the number at the bottom of the letter but I was told that there is no way to connect me to him.

Chrysler wants to know about my experience, I guess, I thought…why? I’m not sure, neither are they it appears…

Basically, if you have a bad experience at the dealership during a sale there is no way for your problem to be addressed within Chrysler, outside of trying to resolve it at the dealership. If the dealership conducts its business “inappropriately” they are not held accountable by Chrysler–it doesn’t matter if you’re right or wrong. You have to pursue the matter outside of Chrysler. I’m not sure of the value of the customer satisfaction survey they want you to complete. If you complain, you receive a letter stating they really can’t do anything; you can’t contact the representative that wrote you and they don’t have that representative’s letter on file that they can reference when you call the customer service line.

You know…I’ll just let you hear the recording of the phone call. I was routed to a call center in India, someone tried to help me, put me on hold and then my call was disconnected after 15 minutes–a recording stated my call could not be completed at this time. I called back, was routed to India again and then sent back to the USA. The second call was 47 minutes. In total, I spent over 1 hour on the phone. So you don’t have to listen to all of the muzak, transfers and regurgitations of the incident, I have provided the last 4 minutes of the call below so you can get the substance of the outcome…Here goes, put your seatbelts on…(the unedited calls are available if you want them).

Chrysler Call Edited

Dennis Pannuto is the President & Founder of Aha! Insight Technology. You can reach him at dennis.pannuto@ahainsight.com

…in order for a brand to successfully position itself competitively, to gain market share and exploit evolving market opportunities, it needs to think beyond functional applications. Brands need to successfully implement Global Brand Communications Platforms that are able to effectively engage their customers in conversation, repurpose content in a variety of formats and dynamically deliver that content through multiple channels…

The New Company gets it…

Any initiatives that affect Marketing Communications at a company need to be driven and supported at the highest level; they will otherwise not succeed and will fail due to competing interests within various groups. In addition, it is important that the executive delivering the vision clearly understands that giving the command is less important than leading the charge.

The executive leading the charge will have to effectively support an execution framework to make the vision reality. There is no silver bullet. This isn’t about technology changes; this is changing the culture; change is disruptive; culture is made up of people. The technology has to be nimble but, more importantly, the processes of how people work have to be as well. The executive leading the charge needs a core team who is on board to craft an execution strategy and nurture it to success. There are no shortcuts to change. Otherwise, the execution won’t sustain the vision.

The New Company gets that no matter how long they’ve been in business, it must reinvent itself, oust the status quo and truly engage their customers because their customers are not outside the doors of the office anymore; they’ve made their way inside the building, the manufacturing facilities, the distribution centers and even the board room.

Dennis Pannuto is the President & Founder of Aha! Insight Technology. You can reach him at dennis.pannuto@ahainsight.com

Today’s CMOs are challenged with a rapidly changing social global environment and they have to effectively communicate the company’s brand voice using media channels such as TV, Print, Radio and Online, while the “new” social media web is shifting traditional marketing paradigms socially and technologically. Brands are faced with trying to figure out how traditional media and social media marketing channels should work together and where they should put their resources. The self-directed and community influenced consumer—most of us today—influence brands’ futures like never before. CMOs typically don’t have a clue on how to effectively implement technology, though they often think they do—which probably contributes to why the average lifespan today of the CMO is 18 months, according to some reports. On the flip side, most CIOs and the organizations they oversee don’t have a clue on how to effectively implement these “new” technologies either! And, they think marketing is just another “user” in the company they have to deal with.

Historically, there has been a dissonance between the CIO and the CMO. Marketing and IT departments live at odds with one another. Marketing is trying to find ways to effectively communicate the brand voice though the most viable channel. They have money and they need to use it most effectively. Yet, they can’t get anything done without IT sign-off or the IT police watching their every move. IT on the other hand is always being pushed to support more with less money and people. They have to clean up the messes that Marketing causes when they “covertly” sign bad deals with technology providers that often negatively impact and put at risk, in some instances, the business and technology environment. Marketing is pressed to be innovative and has the money; IT is pressed to do more with less money. Not an environment that will naturally foster a healthy and productive relationship.

Here’s the opportunity. Learn each other’s worlds intimately and instead of constantly being at odds, join forces. CIOs and CMOs need to deliver a business plan to executives that dedicates technologists to Digital Media. The ROI is there. Who should they report to and who gets the dotted line? It depends on the company. Focus less on the org chart and focus more on the business objectives, then your company will be able to determine the best reporting structure. Some companies are heading this way yet the majority of the Fortune 1000s are still in denial they need to change despite feeling the pressure.

There is no better time for the two to walk down the aisle of matrimony: the new CIO really needs to understand marketing and the new CMO really needs to understand technology. Do it together. Never the twain shall meet? Who knows maybe some day they’ll be no distinction. The two will become one flesh. LOL!

Dennis Pannuto is the President & Founder of Aha! Insight Technology. You can reach him at dennis.pannuto@ahainsight.com