Hacking Digital 2: How to make the CDO role a success

Checklist

• Have you clearly defined the CDO role in terms of success expectations?
• Does the candidate have the competence and credibility to be successful?
• Is your organization prepared to undergo a real digital transformation and provide the necessary resources and authority for the CDO role?
• Is there sufficient funding in place to allow the CDO to fulfil their function?

Four key actions

• Anchor the role in the leadership team

For a truly company-wide digital transformation, the CDO should be anchored in the top management team, ideally reporting directly to the CEO.

• Provide adequate funding

A CDO without a proper budget has a limited chance of success, requiring them to make a business case for every initiative they want to undertake. You must equip them with a digital ‘war chest’ to ensure buy-in across the firm.

• Clearly define digital’s jurisdiction…

The CDO role needs to be positioned within existing structures and established roles. Digital transformation requires the involvement and buy-in of people across the organization. A successful CDO requires a clear mandate supported by the CEO and accepted by all other executives.

• … then let the CDO get on with it

Your CDO must be given end-to-end responsibility to carry out projects from inception to roll-out, so they can demonstrate their ability to produce results without having to ask everyone else for permission.

Hacker’s insights

• Define clear responsibilities and goals for the role

Ensure that the senior leadership team has formulated clear expectations and goals for the CDO role. What does success look like?

• Learn from others

Take inspiration from successful CDOs in similar companies to understand what helped them to achieve their goals and how their role was defined.

• Get executive consensus

Define common goals and collaboration processes, so that the CDO is embedded in the information flow and functioning of the whole organization and not an outlier – and be open and transparent about shifting responsibilities.

• Give your CDO an appropriately powerful mandate

The more important the digital transformation is for your organization, the higher the CDO role should be anchored within the management hierarchy. Align authority, funding, and decision rights with senior leadership’s expectations so that the CDO truly can do what they should do.