The rise of the chief customer officer as a key position at brand-oriented organizations is intricately linked with the growth in mobile marketing as marketers recognize that the engagement channel of choice for customers is increasingly becoming smartphones and tablets.

The CCO position was relatively unheard of not too long ago but is quickly growing in importance, as evidenced by the news that Michelle Gass, a former Starbucks? executive has been named by Kohl?s as its chief customer officer. Ms. Gass is credited with creating the Starbucks Rewards loyalty program, which is one of the big success stories in mobile over the past few years.

?The core responsibility for a chief customer officer is to ?walk in the customer?s shoes,? said Dr. Gary Edwards, chief customer officer at Empathica, Mississauga, Canada. ?The emergence of this role parallels the increasingly complex path that a customer?s shoes take.

?One of the biggest contributors to this disruption over the past few years has been the explosive growth of smartphones and customers? use of the Internet on the go,? he said. ?From both a marketing perspective and a customer feedback perspective, brands are now putting more and more focus on this channel, as it is increasingly important to customers.

?Brands that ignore mobile as a critical point of interaction for consumers are taking a huge gamble. This will soon become the key touch point in the customer journey, if it isn?t already.?

Connective tissue
Companies often find it difficult to restructure their businesses around the customer because they have traditionally been structured around products.

Only 56 percent of companies believe their companies clearly understand the customer today, according to a recent study from SAS.

This lack of understanding is one of the reasons why so many companies were slow to adopt mobile even as their customers were quickly embracing it.

But, the mobile revolution is just beginning, meaning companies still have an opportunity to create customer-centric mobile services that bring a value add to customers. And, the chief customer officer is likely to play a key part in making that happen for many companies.

?Between email and the store, retailers who profess to be customer-centric will certainly need to look to mobile as the ?connective tissue? between the physical and digital world, and will need to take it into account when thinking about the end-to-end customer experience,? said Nikki Baird, Denver-based managing partner at RSR Research.

?As much as mobile is a link, it's also a stand-alone opportunity,? she said. ?Right now, for example, Starbucks has a solid mobile experience that is getting better all the time, but while I almost always see someone paying with their phone in a Starbucks, I rarely see someone on the Starbucks Web site while in a Starbucks.

?So while it's clear that mobile is the sticky part of engagement right now, that doesn't mean there isn't more opportunity to be had by thinking broadly digital.?

Empathizing with customers
According to the SAS survey, nearly one-third of chief marketing officers want a CCO to take responsibility and be the champion of the customer within the organization while one quarter would take responsibility themselves.

Whether it is a CCO or a CMO, whomever is expected to understand the customer experience needs to mirror their customers? behaviors as much as possible.

?Part and parcel of understanding this customer experience is using the same media and channels that customers use,? Empathica?s Dr. Edwards said. ?It?s nearly impossible to have a reasonable opinion about anything without a degree of hands-on experience.

?In no area is this truer than when it comes to the customer experience,? he said. ?The CCO should understand and empathize with each step of the customer journey.?

Mobile?s influence
Customers do not think in terms of channels, but are looking for compelling brand experiences no matter what channel they are in.

When experiences fall short, as they still often do in mobile, customers will quickly go elsewhere and find a experience that is better.

Under these circumstances, mobile is not just a nice-to-have feature, but a must-have for many marketers. Increasingly, this means using mobile in a variety of ways across an organization.

Mobile is influencing consumer expectations of brands in numerous ways.

For example, the ability to quickly and easily find and purchase a desired item while sitting in a doctor?s office waiting for an appointment is causing consumers to begin expecting similar conveniences from more brands.

?Mobile plays the key role in maintaining continuous customer engagement as customers move from being online at home to experiencing a retailer in a physical store,? said Rick Chavie, vice president of omnicommerce at hybris software, Boston, MA.

?Mobile is more than a consumer app ? retailers are finding that they have great opportunities for mobile with their sales associates in representing a consistent brand image,? he said. ?By connecting their sales associates, they can enforce common messaging, enable a one-to-one customer view and continuously refresh content.

?In addition, mobile is becoming the standard for ease of use in the user experience ? retailers and other commerce companies are thinking in terms of making all sites as easy to use as mobile.?

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York