NEW REPORT FINDS OPPORTUNITY TO CREATE RICHER CX

New CMO Council research finds marketers need to overcome data silos and AI skills hurdles in race to ideal CX

Today, the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council, in collaboration with Deloitte Digital, the experience consultancy, published a new report, –“Data-Driven Decisioning Powers CX Forward.” The new report details the challenges and best practices for defining and progressing toward an ideal customer experience (CX).

The insights are based on two surveys of over 300 marketing leaders across a wide range of industries.

Download the full report at https://cmocouncil.org/thought-leadership/reports/data-driven-decisioning-powers-cx-forward

Data-Driven Decisioning Powers CX Forward” highlights the time horizon to ideal CX and AI, operational and advanced data capabilities, the importance of a customer data platform, and overcoming a skills shortage.

Ideal CX is about tailoring a message to a customer in a way that moves the customer down the funnel and toward a transaction, whether that’s a sales conversion or an information exchange, with as little friction as possible. Further, ideal data science/AI/ML capabilities provide CX with enough data to make informed decisions around what to do next, i.e., the next best action or next best offer.

The report found opportunity for improvement:

* 69% of marketing leaders are still developing or defining their CX strategy

* 40% believe it will take well over a year to deliver ideal CX

* 14% say ideal data science/AI/ML capabilities are more than 18 months away

* 65% agree connecting siloed data/content is the biggest challenge

“Much is on the line, given the transformative powers of using data and AI to create richer CX,” said Donovan Neale-May, Executive Director of the CMO Council. “In order to achieve such a

competitive advantage, our study points to the need for more and better: more data, better data, more technology, and better technology, along with data governance and data analytics.”

The top five challenges for marketers in pursuit of ideal CX include:

  1. Connecting siloed data and content from multiple systems
  2. Creating cross-channel customer experiences
  3. Having the right skill sets in place internally
  4. Having an incomplete view of the customer
  5. Having poor alignment/collaboration across teams

“The days of personalization as a ‘nice to have’ are long gone. Today’s customer expects that the brands they do business with are invested enough to serve them in a way that is efficient, transparent and unique only to them,” commented Michelle McGuire, Principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP and National Market Offering Leader – Experience Management at Deloitte Digital. “Our research found that many brands are still lagging behind in implementing the AI needed to create the immaculate, branded CX their customers demand. Our hope is that this report can help CMOs and organizations still teetering on the edge of embracing this technology see how it can provide them with the tools needed to achieve ideal CX.” 

Earlier this year, the CMO Council and Deloitte Digital collaborated on the report “Humanizing + Analyzing Relationships To Drive Revenue, Retention And Returns.” 

About the CMO Council

The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council is the only global network of executives specifically dedicated to high-level knowledge exchange, thought leadership and personal relationship building among senior corporate marketing leaders and brand decision-makers across a wide range of global industries. The CMO Council’s 16,000-plus members control approximately $1 trillion in aggregated annual marketing expenditures and run complex, distributed marketing and sales operations worldwide. In total, the CMO Council and its strategic interest communities include more than 65,000 global executives in more than 110 countries covering multiple industries, segments and markets. For more information, visit https://www.cmocouncil.org.

About Deloitte

Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of our legal structure.

Author Information

As a detail-oriented researcher, Sherril is expert at discovering, gathering and compiling industry and market data to create clear, actionable market and competitive intelligence. With deep experience in market analysis and segmentation she is a consummate collaborator with strong communication skills adept at supporting and forming relationships with cross-functional teams in all levels of organizations.

Sherril holds a Master of Business Administration in Marketing from University of Colorado, Boulder and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Rutgers University.

Latest Insights:
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear Elite Redefines the AI Wearable Stakes—But Who Wins the Wrist War?
April 22, 2026
Article
Article

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear Elite Redefines the AI Wearable Stakes—But Who Wins the Wrist War?

Qualcomm's Snapdragon Wear Elite marks a turning point in wearable AI, delivering a dedicated neural processing unit for on-device intelligence, privacy, and real-time voice interactions—positioning the company against Apple and Samsung....
VAST Data Valuation Triples. Can a Unified Platform Scale AI Globally?
April 22, 2026
Article
Article

VAST Data Valuation Triples. Can a Unified Platform Scale AI Globally?

Brad Shimmin, Vice President & Practice Lead at Futurum, analyzes VAST Data valuation and its AI operating system strategy, questioning whether unified infrastructure can scale amid persistent market fragmentation....
CadenceLIVE 2026 — Can Agentic AI Finally Crack 3D IC Design Automation?
April 22, 2026
Article
Article

CadenceLIVE 2026 — Can Agentic AI Finally Crack 3D IC Design Automation?

Brendan Burke, Research Director at Futurum, unpacks CadenceLIVE 2026's agentic AI expansion—ViraStack, InnoStack, and a customer-tested Mental Model architecture—and why 3D IC design automation remains the semiconductor industry's hardest unsolved gap....
Cerebras S-1 Teardown: Is the $23B Wafer-Scale IPO the End of GPU Homogeneity?
April 22, 2026
Article
Article

Cerebras S-1 Teardown: Is the $23B Wafer-Scale IPO the End of GPU Homogeneity?

Brendan Burke, Research Director at Futurum, examines Cerebras Systems' S-1 filing and $23B valuation, dissecting the $20B OpenAI deal, 86% UAE revenue concentration, and whether wafer-scale silicon can survive the leap to...
Latest Research:
Data Fitness for AI-Driven Operations
April 20, 2026
Research
Research

Data Fitness for AI-Driven Operations

In our latest market brief, Data Fitness for AI-Driven Operations, completed in partnership with NETSCOUT, Futurum Research explores why observability alone is insufficient as AI moves toward autonomous execution, and...
Unblocking AI Compute: SiFive Intelligence’s Open Solution for Edge to Cloud Scale
April 14, 2026

Unblocking AI Compute: SiFive Intelligence’s Open Solution for Edge to Cloud Scale

In our latest Market Report, Unblocking AI Compute: SiFive Intelligence’s Open Solution for Edge to Cloud Scale, completed in partnership with SiFive, Futurum Research explores how shifting AI workload demands...
Packaging the AI Frontier: Intel Foundry’s Advanced Packaging Alignment with the XPU Industry Roadmap
April 9, 2026
Research
Research

Packaging the AI Frontier: Intel Foundry’s Advanced Packaging Alignment with the XPU Industry Roadmap

In our latest market brief, Packaging the AI Frontier: Intel Foundry’s Advanced Packaging Alignment with the XPU Industry Roadmap, completed in partnership with Intel Foundry, Futurum Research examines why advanced...

Book a Demo

Newsletter Sign-up Form

Get important insights straight to your inbox, receive first looks at eBooks, exclusive event invitations, custom content, and more. We promise not to spam you or sell your name to anyone. You can always unsubscribe at any time.

All fields are required






Thank you, we received your request, a member of our team will be in contact with you.