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Ian Hughes
This month's online edition
Have your say on the latest issues affecting our industry and the world of business. DMI columnist and ‘Master Debater’ Ian Hughes welcomes your comments on his latest rant.
Today’s topic – ‘The lunatics have taken over the asylum’!
We have moved to a spangly new office building, which is wonderful news for us. Made better by the fact that it’s costing us less than our old building, for more space. Yea for the recession!
The problem with this new building is that it doesn’t exist.
At least not in the opinion of the Post Office Postcode database. This does not seem to stop the post lady delivering the post every day, but it does stop me being able to place orders.
Over the last few weeks, I have not been able to do business with three companies because they can’t find our address on their system. And for the benefit of doubt, they did actually refuse to take my money because of that.
Why is that?
In my opinion it’s because the IT department has put its claws around the throat of the sales and service departments. Unless the PAF file or IT department say my building exists, it doesn’t.
The ‘red weed’ of IT is spreading further, with many companies finding that it is almost impossible to get things like websites built UNLESS they are done by IT. IT, by the way, needs a full spec, a six-month lead-time and a budget that is astronomical to do this. And changes . . . well those are a three-month process. I know of one bank that needs three months just to make a one-word change to their website.
I know of another customer who has been forced to allow IT to run their PPC campaign. After all it does involve computers.
It’s time to say Enough! It’s time to stop the madness. Marketing is not a place with a two-drink minimum that is all about being ‘creative’. Marketing is the process of communicating with prospects and customers. By its very nature, that involves the use of IT.
The fight back has begun, I am pleased to see: I noticed in my newsagent (remember those?) the other day that there is a new magazine, all about blogging, Facebook and Twitter.
Yes, that’s right, a paper-based magazine about blogging, Facebook and Twitter!
It might not last five minutes, but it will irritate the technocrats. And while they are ranting, I suggest you run into the IT department and pull the plugs out! Perhaps then we can get back to real business.
2 responses so far ↓
1 martyshaw // Jan 7, 2010 at 4:53 pm
IT and Marketing may a be one of those right/left brain things where we need someone to help the two hemispheres talk to each other to reach a common goal. When IT departments, often called the “Department of SEO Prevention” in many organizations, need help seeing the way Marketing folks see the world (and vice versa) then a consultant may be of help to bridge the gap. Check out Jill Whalen (HighRankings) brief interview on building better relationships between marketing and IT, from the 2009 Search Engine Strategies show in London (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI6WRZNocLo).
2 sburrell // Jan 7, 2010 at 5:54 pm
Marketers need to steer and run web-based projects and campaigns if they are to succeed and surely one of the great strengths of having a website is the ability to change things on it literally overnight. If in practice this is not being made possible by the IT guys, then many companies are losing this valuable marketing tool and competitive edge.
On the subject of magazines, I read with interest that fashion bloggers are closing in on the catwalk and that a 13-year old blogger was given a front row seat at the fashion shows of Marc Jacobs, Rodarte and others recently. Within a matter of months this apparently adorable little girl was being feted by designers, filming promotions for Target, between being flown to Tokyo for a party with the label Comme des Garçons and writing a review of the collections for no less than Harper’s Bazaar. So it would seem that bloggers are ruffling the feathers among the more traditional fashion elite and are perhaps doing to established fashion magazines what IT companies are doing to marketers.
So how are the magazines fighting back? Well they are trying to change their tone to embrace the online culture and it was reported that Vogue was planning to feature a group of bloggers in its March issue!
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