Bob Gourley, whose blog CTOVision is geared towards CTOs, CIOs, and Federalistas, has shared a great whitepaper draft that I encourage CMOs to read and think about.   In “Cloud Computing and Net Centric Operations,” he sets the tone for where the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration (ASD NII) need to enable the best available technologies for mission critical tasks.  Like the C⁴ISR or Net-Centric warfare planners in the Pentagon, Marketers need to “deliver the power of information, and accelerate “net-centric transformation, using information as a strategic asset,” and ensure “a good return on investment” for their Marketing department and Sales department customers.

Cloud computing is part of this effort and companies like Salesforce.com and VMware are making it possible for both public and private sector.  As a Marketing Executive, you need to know about these trends – don’t assume the CTO or CIO can do this without your input – the data you gather and use is the lifeblood of your enterprise and drives all the other data that is used or created down the line.

Bob is looking for input on this document, and more industry perspective may help.  Once again, you are encouraged to read it.  From a Marketer’s eyes, it may be a bit dry and it may seem like a leap of faith to associate defense with Marketing, but the Marketing Consigliere urges you to remember: while your organizational objectives may not have lives at stake as does the DoD, there are certainly livelihoods at stake – that of your shareholders, employees and partners who depend on you to efficiently and securely move the information they need to make decisions.