Chief Digital Officer - The New Superhero in the C-Suite - for International Business Times - September 2013

David Dumeresque of Tyzack Partners

The revolution in computer hardware and architecture that began in the 1980s has, indisputably, made a significant impact on every business discipline. Thirty years on, that revolution has run its course and is now being superseded by the beginnings of a software revolution, which will completely change established paradigms. Furthermore, this revolution is accelerating at a rate that should cause senior corporate executives some sleepless nights.

The business significance of this change is that software is rapidly becoming the driver of the corporate agenda. In the past, the IT department, in conjunction with hardware vendors, has been able to drive and control that agenda. Now as we embrace the digital era, it will be the users who will generate and determine what the software does for them.

This is going to be even more the case given the way in which software applications are now being developed. Previously, developers delayed getting their product to market until they were absolutely sure it worked properly and was bug free. Failure resulted in a severely tarnished image which, in turn, meant almost certain downfall.

Today, the mantra is "good enough is good enough". Developers are prepared to release their software onto the market knowing that it is not fully formed. They are relying on users to tell them what tweaks, improvements and modifications need to be made in order to make it fully formed. Accordingly, software is coming to the market much more quickly and is more adaptable to, and driven by, the needs of users than might historically have been the case.

The importance of this development is that the Chief Information Officer will no longer be the one who is holding all the cards when it comes to decisions about technology and issues relating to digital developments. Indeed, as a business develops it will, according to

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Laura Wade-Gery, Executive Director, Multi-channel E-commerce at Marks & Spencer, the British multinational retailer, get the IT it deserves". The interesting point here is that it is now the enterprise which is becoming the driver of IT rather than IT being the driver of the enterprise.

Furthermore, with management increasingly allowing employees to use their own personal devices in the workplace devices such as smartphones, laptops, tablets etc the IT department is no longer in the driving seat. Does this suggest, then, that IT departments are becoming redundant?

Not at all. Corporate technology is not the same as personal technology, and with developments such as wireless networks, the Cloud and big data, there are important issues to be addressed in relation to security, prevention of data loss, connectivity and geographical location of the relevant hardware. In many cases, these developments are actually resulting in greater complexity, not less. CIOs still need to maintain older legacy applications whilst integrating and managing new and innovative technologies.

The digital environment is bringing to prominence all kinds of new challenges and opportunities, from the importance of creating a sustainable corporate digital footprint to the role of social media in the organisation. Today, delivering an outstanding customer experience has become a strategic imperative.

However, despite the growing necessity for a closer collaboration between IT and leaders of customer-facing areas to improve the customer experience, there remains a lack of confidence and sense of alignment between the IT department and the customer facing areas of the business, leading to frustration and disconnect.

This rise of the digital era has brought about a definite need for change. What we are now starting to see is a changing interface between the IT department and the internal client, whereby the client, who now understands much more about what technology can do, is defining their requirement and telling the IT department what they need it to do for them.

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In many organisations, particularly those in the UK and Europe, responsibility for managing the corporate digital footprint still tends to be an ad hoc issue, often falling into the remit of the Chief Information Officer. However, as corporate digital technology rapidly evolves to encompass marketing, sales, public relations and customers service channels, alongside recruitment, procurement and R&D, a different set of competencies and business-related expertise is now required.

To ensure companies achieve a competitive advantage in the digital evolution, the concept of a Digital Director is gaining in importance as organisations begin to recognise the full impact of a robust, dynamic flow of data, knowledge and information across business interests and through social activity streams. Additionally, with skills that embrace IT but lie outside of the IT arena, the position of Chief Digital Officer is being championed by many executives at the senior level as someone who can bring the whole of an organisations digital footprint under one roof and provide interface between the client and the geek.

Given the massive advances that have been made in digital innovation, what competencies and experience should Chief Executive Officers be looking for when appointing their new Chief Digital Officer?

First and foremost, the CDO needs to be both a highly practical and accomplished businessperson and a visionary. He or she should have general business experience, functional expertise in addition to broad leadership and influencing skills. The CDO must be able not only to drive the business forward but also to enhance the experience of all who come into contact with the organisation. Delivering an outstanding customer (whether that customer be internal or external) experience is going to require someone who has the skills to integrate social, mobile and big data into all business functions throughout the organisation. Since this transcends any individual area within the organisation, the CDO must have a single-minded focus coupled with the personality to work closely with others to make it happen.

Two further key attributes are agility and creativity. The CDO needs to be agile on all fronts, but most importantly needs to understand the content requirements, and how the technology can enable and enhance it. Given that the number of consumer touch-points
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has increased significantly even over the last five years, the increase in connectivity and the advent of smartphones and tablet computers have provided customers with significantly greater control over the discovery, research and purchase processes. Mobile platforms are evolving very quickly and are beginning to play an important role in how companies communicate with their customers and their own people. The new CDO will need to be very adroit at ensuring the business model adapts to this next big thing.

As Marks & Spencers Wade-Gery points out, digital enables you to do something you could not do before. It is straightforward to use digital channels to do what you used to do in an analogue way. However, real sophistication and adoption means you change what you actually do. Consumers can easily identify, and are quickly turned off by, off-the-shelf experiences and automated solutions. The CDO needs to be skilled at delivering real creativity; experiences that will happily surprise end-users and retain them as valuable customers.

Having identified some of the competencies and experience required of CDOs, where are these people to be found?

One of the most significant issues in recruiting a CDO is that demand is outstripping supply in all global markets. Recruiting companies need to be open-minded to hiring candidates who might not, at first sight, seem to be the obvious. Cultural fit and content understanding are more important than technological sophistication. Equally important, they must move very quickly when a potential candidate is identified.

People who are likely candidates will generally be holding a General Manager or VP position with experience of marketing and a significant focus on the "end user". Additionally, since the CDOs remit is customer-focused, they will need to have significant experience of the technological world (front-end, not back-end), but do not themselves need to be an IT specialist. They must certainly to be able to clearly articulate the impact of the digital revolution in the companys business strategy. It is highly likely, therefore, that the new CDO will be found within the marketing or communications departments rather than within the IT department.

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Although the current trend to appoint a CDO tends to be industry-specific (media and higher education for example), this is beginning to change. According to Gartner, the global information technology research and advisory company, 25% of organisations will have a CDO by 2015. Increasing investment in technology, the creation of differentiating strategies, and an increasing customer-centric focus will be critical to corporate success moving forward.

Those CEOs contemplating whether or not they need a Chief Digital Officer will find themselves left out in the cold when the time comes to making the appointment. The issue they need to be addressing today is what they have to do to attract a competent CDO from a limited pool of talent, and how quickly can they act to stay ahead of their competitors.

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