According to Statista 40% of employment in information and communication technology in 2020 were made up of digital transformation roles. This is expected to increase to 52% by 2023.
This supports theories that digital transformation is less about tech and more about people. The premise makes sense when considering the end solution requires synergies between executives, stakeholders and leaders in their cultural approach towards enterprise-wide integration. This notion supports visualising technology as the glue binding the digital elements to deliver value innovation by skilled decision makers.
There are two common characteristics that leaders will be required to have in their aspirations to change how they operate.
- Skills and the ability to perform activities relating to everything digital. A comprehensive knowledge base of why being digital first is so important in today’s business world.
- A digitally enhanced mindset which encompasses the desire and willingness to explore change especially in sectors where old legacy systems still dominate processes.
The end goal isn’t to go all out digital that is the need. Instead, the concept hinges on what becoming digital can do to improve workflow efficiencies, advance the customer experience and increase market share. In other words, the defined ROI a business expects to realise by investing in digital transformation. This must be clearly understood by those making the decisions.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Cultural change starts at the top and hiring the right CEO with a digital vision is key. If the organisation is serious about using digital transformation a bold move may be required. Meaning replacing the current individual with someone who is competent in achieving a digital future.
The buck stops and starts with the CEO in terms of overall decision making. The highest-ranking member of the board who oversees the executive management team. They have the casting vote exercised on information provided from entrusted individuals with specialist skills in digital technologies and integration. The decisions to go ahead are interrelated and aligned against fact-based analysis and verified plans of execution.
Governance is a central function managed by the CEO responsible for the rules, policy changes and general structure of the organisation. This is often considered a political process where squabbles between other executives need to be dispelled.
Introducing digital transformation adds another dimension to the everchanging spectrum of the traditional business model. This must be redesigned to support new technological environments and the composition of decision making amongst departments heads steered by a digitally minded member of the board.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Innovation of any kind requires money and investment which is why buy-in from the CFO is critical. In today’s uncertain economy budgets are understandably closely guarded. COVID-19 has forced businesses to audit wastage and eradicate where needed. Therefore, CFO’s may be cautious and perhaps opposed to allocating funds switching to a digital strategy, especially due to the cost and the time it takes to realise profits.
IT strategies are often complex and multifaceted especially if the company is required to overhaul infrastructure, replace outdated servers and equipment to accommodate the arrival of the latest technology. Business plans should include all elements relating to the make or buy decision with each requiring separate analysis to decide the best possible route. This may be governed by price as to whether to design, develop or purchase new systems and applications. Plus, other factors need to be accounted for such as acquiring asset capabilities to operate the technology.
The CFO is responsible for finding the money to enable innovation, but they are also directly impacted by the inclusion of digital transformation. Their function becomes both a decision maker and a stakeholder ensuring monetary information is secure and accurately integrated into any new system.
Chief Information Officer (CIO)
Next on the list is the Chief Information Officer. A strategist and IT champion employed to ensure the company receives ROI on business plans. Responsible for the overall effective use of technology and the output of information within the company including the hiring of resource capabilities.
This role encompasses a strong-minded person with the ability to persuade, negotiate and communicate the benefits relating to integrations. Seen as a utility provider of IT infrastructure ensuring systems run smoothly without breakdowns so processes and operational activities work without failure.
Their key role is to explore and imagine new and exciting ways to bring technology into the business and to use it as a competitive weapon. They act as a bridge between internal and external functions building meaningful relationships and forming trusted partnerships with the need to co-create value. This can be a huge challenge ensuring that all management department heads understand how and why the change needs to happen and to eradicate the procreation of silos.
Value innovation is their main concern presenting dynamic business models which have the power to change and pivot to fend off attacks from disruptors. As is specifying the needs and design of infrastructure, management of applications and sourcing suppliers. An experienced risk management advocate with the responsibility of mitigating threats that could have a major impact on the financial investment. They are the information steward, educator, negotiator and strategist of one of the companies most valuable assets.
Chief Data Officer (CDO)
One of the least considered positions in today’s digital business is the role of Chief Data Officer. This isn’t surprising as the widespread introduction of digital transformation is still in its infancy, but it seems ridiculous seeing as digital means data. Typically, this role is wrapped within the responsibilities of the CIO but to be effective they should be viewed as two key roles.
Data and information whilst they have distinct logical relationships are separate units. Data is a set of raw unstructured facts, figures and statistics which needs to be processed and analysed to be useful. Whereas information is the structured answering of questions that feeds upon the data to be contextualised seeking causality and meaning.
The extraction of data and information equates to knowledge intelligence which is an essential part of digital transformation and sharing this across business functions via knowledge management systems. A competent data officer will be able to distinguish between false or misleading data in a timely manner and be able to transform this into something humans can understand.
Introducing the role of the CDO doesn’t remove the considerations of data management away from the CIO instead it adds a buffer ensuring value innovation can translate and correlate between the two. Think of the CDO as the data architect and integrator setting data standards to ensure quality and security. Supplying specialist knowledge of how to store, clean and query the varied streams of user generated data in an aggregated form as opposed to traditional sources of enterprise data. Thus, leveraging the data making it useful and insightful to ultimately leading to better decision making. Ploughing ahead without this understanding will result in securing high volumes of messy, uncleaned data with no thoughtful approach.
Conclusion
Digital transformation unleashes the force of IT introducing new foundations and processes into a business. This requires resources, knowledge and money. The goal is to deliver value to customers, acquire greater market share and competitive advantage. These should always remain at the forefront by those required to make the decisions.
The design of the transformation needs to consider speed, flexibility, scalability, robustness, performance and cost. These are complex decisions which can only be undertaken by skilled individuals. Whilst on their own the four key roles will be responsible for certain aspects of the change but together, they need to be synergised to ensure all business functions are aligned. A key component to this is hiring the right digitally skilled resources to manage operational requirements.
Implementing digital strategies requires another layer of competencies on top of the traditional organisation structure. Ensuring that the technology delivers the value by effectively managing and measuring performance of all asset capabilities. This process whilst automated still requires human understanding to assimilate the right information to make informed decisions on how to design appropriate systems.