Earlier this year, when LogMeIn was going through a merger and reorganization, the company had to determine how the role of its director of marketing technology and operations would fit into the company’s overall leadership structure.
“The topic of conversation came up about where my role and where the team should live — should it live within our IT organization, or should it live within the marketing organization? And how should ownership be set up?” says LogMeIn Director of Marketing Technology and Operations Justin Sharaf.
Before leading LogMeIn’s marketing technology team, Sharaf had served as director of customer and corporate marketing. In his current role, he is now focused on managing the company’s marketing technology.
“I’m responsible for our marketing technology stack and support and enablement — it all lands within my budget,” says Sharaf. “But my team doesn’t actually use a lot of the technology.”
As the director of this company’s martech stack, Sharaf says he has been thinking a lot about how companies manage their marketing technology and who owns the martech budget — which led to the panel he will be part of at this year’s MarTech Conference in Boston: “A CMO, CIO, and CMTO Walk into a Bar: Who Orders, Who Drinks, and Who Pays?”
Sharaf says his job is to make sure LogMeIn’s marketing teams are choosing the right tools — and using them to their full advantage.
“A lot of times, a stakeholder will come to us and say, ‘We have this business problem, and we have a tool in mind.’ We then research that tool to figure out if it is the right tool for the need, and we’ll come up with a recommendation.”
Today, Sharaf shares his thoughts on why marketing technology needs its own department and budget — and why sometimes, it’s not about “ripping and replacing” when it comes designing an effective martech stack, but building on the tools that are already delivering a solid ROI.
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