- Who should lead the digital agenda
and strategy for the company?
It's an interesting question,
as many leading thinkers believe that this
is a transitory period where this is for example,
digital marketing and traditional marketing,
digital sales and traditional sales,
or digital operations and traditional operations.
As digital business and business
become one in the same to a greater degree,
will companies even need a single leader of the function?
At a recent gathering of 150
Fortune 500 chief information officers,
I asked the audience,
how many of their companies had a chief digital officer?
Amazingly, only about five raised their hands.
Through an instant poll, I was able to determine
that a little more than 50%
of the chief information officers
either owned the digital agenda or co-led that agenda.
This may seem surprising,
but let's dig into how companies should think about
the person who leads the function.
According to a polling my firm has done,
the CIO has surpassed the chief marketing officer
as the executive most responsible
for leading digital transformation.
Many CEOs and leadership teams of companies
think of the true digital opportunity
as one that is revenue-centric.
That is to say, the biggest opportunity
is to sell existing or new products and services
through digital channels,
like the company's website or mobile application.
If this is the case, it may seem logical
to have a former marketing or sales leader
as two of the customer-centric divisions
of the company lead the function.
But what about the operational aspects
that are necessary to make that happen?
In order to advance digital capabilities
it requires organization and change management,
which is the model and management practices in place
to facilitate the speed and flexibility required
in digital growth and development.
Digital processes, which are the means
through which digital capabilities
that the customer interacts with are created.
Functional processes that drive and support
day-to-day operations of the business
and the generation of revenue.
Architecture and tools
which includes the governance infastructure
and applications responsible for the collection
and maintenance of data used in digital initiatives.
Leaders of customer-centric functions
may not have experience or expertise
in the areas necessary to influence each of these.
Likewise, there are many technical changes necessary
in order to transform a company to be digital ready.
The chief information officer or chief technology officer
may seem like the ideal leader to lead the charge.
Unfortunately, many CIOs or CTOs
do not have customer-facing responsibilities.
This puts them at a disadvantage
in suggesting and leading opportunities
that should ultimately benefit the people
responsible for the revenue of the company, the customers.
If however, they're executives who have internal
and external responsibilities,
these are the ideal candidates to lead the charge.
This could include chief information officers
or chief technology officers
who naturally have an internal operational purview,
so long as they have customer-centric responsibilities.
It could be sales or marketing leaders
who have had operational roles
as they progress through the corporate hierarchy.
It could also be former management consultants,
the senior most of whom have sales responsibilities
as well as delivery responsibilities
and often can tie the internal
and external perspectives together.
Lastly, what about the title?
If the leader who takes ownership of digital transformation
is an existing executive,
it may not be necessary to give them the title
of chief digital officer.
Now I should note that some companies
do find it helpful to add this title
to the responsibilities to highlight the importance
of the work to come and the extent to which
this will represent new sets of activities,
it's not a hard and fast rule.
Companies like United Technologies, Bloomin' Brands,
and JetBlue Airways have CIOs
who have a second title of chief digital officer.
As I mentioned, once the first waves of transformation
are effectively introduced, the title may not be necessary,
but having someone ultimately responsible
for the change in the important early stages
can help ensure that the change is managed more effectively.
The digital revolution is upon us
and while it may seem as if the pace of change is fast now,
it will only get faster.
But remember, that the speed translates
into great opportunities
and there's no greater motivator than that.