Marketers in large US organisations are under increasing pressure to innovate, personalise, and respond in real time, yet their success hinges on IT infrastructure they don’t own. At recent roundtables, senior marketing leaders revealed an unsettling truth: without targeted IT investment, even the most ambitious marketing strategies stall.

From AI-driven personalisation to agile content operations, it’s clear that the modern marketing function is inseparable from the tech stack behind it. But IT priorities aren’t always aligned with marketing ambition.

Based on candid insights from over 50 marketing executives, this piece identifies where IT leaders are failing to meet marketing needs, and where future investment must focus if organisations want to stay competitive.

Key Findings at a Glance

Priority Area	Urgency Rating (1–5)	% of Marketing Leaders Reporting Gaps	Notes
Internal AI enablement tools	5	82%	Marketing teams feel unsupported by legacy IT systems
Data integration across platforms	4	76%	Silos continue to limit campaign effectiveness
Safeguards for AI content quality	5	68%	Hallucinations and brand risk are rising
AI explainability & audit trails	4	64%	Lack of transparency makes legal sign-off difficult
Real-time campaign deployment agility	5	59%	Delays linked to outdated workflows
CRM data segmentation tools	4	55%	AI only as good as the data provided
Cross-team collaboration systems	3	52%	Content creation and approvals still manual
Inclusive content accessibility tech	3	48%	Marketers want to support neurodiverse audiences
AI hallucination detection	5	46%	Accuracy remains a major compliance risk

1. The AI Paradox: Big Vision, Small Infrastructure

Marketing teams are embracing AI as a force multiplier—but 82% of leaders said their current IT setup limits AI’s potential. Many are building workarounds using personal tools or open platforms, increasing risk.

“Employees are inputting sensitive data into public AI tools because our internal systems can’t keep up.” – US Marketing Director, Healthcare

The disconnect has become critical. Marketers want restricted, RAG-based AI models trained on internal data, yet most rely on unsecured APIs or generic cloud tools due to lack of IT support. Expect a shift in investment requests toward AI-specific infrastructure, including:

• Secure private LLM environments
• Custom knowledge base integration tools
• Tools for prompt engineering and audit logs

2. Data Disarray: Integration is Stalling Personalisation

Despite heavy investment in CRM and martech platforms, 76% of marketers admitted data silos are their number-one roadblock. Without real-time, unified data, personalisation and segmentation suffer.

“We’ve got five systems that technically hold customer data, none of them speak the same language.” – VP, Digital Marketing, Financial Services

This is leading to renewed calls for IT teams to prioritise:

• API-based data connectors between platforms
• Customer data platforms (CDPs) that include governance
• Investment in first-party data enrichment tools

Marketers increasingly see data as a service, and are willing to co-fund IT upgrades that support omnichannel insights.

3. AI Hallucinations and the Need for Human-In-The-Loop Design

While efficiency is up, accuracy is down. Nearly 70% of marketing leaders flagged content hallucination as a recurring risk, especially in regulated industries like finance, pharma, and insurance.

“We had a stock market disclosure AI generate a completely false statement. If it hadn’t been caught, it would have been catastrophic.” – Marketing Leader, Enterprise Tech

The growing reliance on generative AI is prompting calls for IT to deliver:

• AI explainability tools
• Version control for AI outputs
• Content verification workflows that embed legal and compliance steps

Crucially, marketing teams are not asking for fewer AI tools, they’re asking for better, safer ones.

4. Collaboration Friction: Workflow Tools are Breaking Under AI Load

One in two marketing leaders reported that their existing collaboration tools can’t keep pace with AI-enabled production cycles. This is driving a renewed interest in systems that support multi-role workflows, version control, and campaign tracking.

“Our approval process is still set up for quarterly campaigns. AI gives us daily capacity, but we can’t get anything signed off.” – Head of Brand, Retail Sector

Investment areas flagged:

• Integrated marketing ops platforms
• Secure, compliant digital asset management (DAM)
• Systems that allow content collaboration between AI and human stakeholders

5. Real-Time Campaigns Require Real-Time IT Support

59% of participants said they’ve missed reactive campaign windows due to IT delays, especially when integrating new channels like SMS, live video, or geo-personalised promotions.

“By the time IT cleared the integration, the cultural moment had passed.” – CMO, National Media Group

Marketing leaders are urging IT to move toward modular, plug-and-play tech stacks, where teams can test and deploy on demand, without security risk.

Investment priorities here include:

• API-driven campaign execution systems
• Cloud-native approval chains
• Integration with real-time signals, including weather, social sentiment, and location data

6. Accessibility Tech Is the Next Frontier

Nearly half of participants discussed growing pressure to deliver inclusive marketing, especially for neurodivergent audiences. Yet most marketers lack the backend tools to deliver on accessibility promises.

“We’re trying to serve neurodiverse audiences with tech built for the average consumer. It doesn’t work.” – Director of Content Strategy, EdTech

Expect investment requests to emerge for:

• Automated accessibility checkers
• Neurodiverse-friendly content format tools
• AI-driven translation and localisation platforms

While not traditionally an IT priority, this is a fast-emerging area of need tied directly to customer reach and compliance.

7. Metrics Are Evolving, But Systems Haven’t

AI is changing what marketers measure, but existing systems can’t always track the new KPIs. Leaders are looking beyond open rates and CTR to metrics like:

• Time saved per campaign
• AI-versus-human content performance
• Persona reach and micro-segment engagement

“We need dashboards that show us how AI is affecting the bottom line, not just vanity metrics.” – Head of Marketing Insights, Logistics Firm

This requires upgraded analytics systems and more flexible dashboards, not just marketing tools, but IT infrastructure that integrates performance signals across departments.

8. Marketing’s Shadow IT Is Expanding

A growing concern: marketing teams are independently onboarding tools, often without IT’s knowledge. In over a third of companies, marketing is already running:

• Unapproved generative AI platforms
• Shadow CRM segmentation tools
• External data scraping services

This poses serious risks, including data leakage, compliance breaches, and vendor overlap. Marketing leaders say they’d prefer to work with IT, if IT can move faster.

“We don’t want shadow IT. We want responsive IT.” – Brand VP, Consumer Goods

Marketing leaders are not asking IT for miracles, they’re asking for alignment. The emerging picture is one where marketers are rapidly evolving but feel trapped by outdated or misaligned tech stacks. From AI safeguards to real-time delivery and accessibility, their needs are increasingly tied to IT’s capacity to deliver.

For IT decision-makers in large enterprises, this is not a marketing issue. It’s a cross-functional infrastructure challenge, and an opportunity to power the next era of strategic growth.