The ongoing evolution of the Chief Marketing Officer role is a topic that frequently dominates panels at ad industry events. According to a new study, CMOs will likely pay more attention to technology strategies and making their interactions more human in the next year.

In an August 2018 survey of 250 senior-level marketing decision makers worldwide conducted by Forrester Consulting and Accenture Interactive, 26% of respondents said that when it comes to innovation over the next 12 months, one of the key elements of the CMO role will be driving a new technology strategy. This was tied for the most popular response in the survey, indicating how technology is commanding attention from C-suite marketers.

It makes sense for CMOs to think more about technology strategy given that industry-wide investment in marketing technology continues to expand. Warc estimates that global marketing tech investment will reach about $100 billion in 2018.

As CMOs tweak their companies' technology strategies, one obstacle they’ll face is overcoming organizational silos. In a July 2018 survey of 560 marketing professionals worldwide conducted by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, one-third of respondents reported that data silos stifled their ability to implement real-time analytics.