Being a chief digital officer (CDO) is not easy. Unlike other C-suite executives, we have a mandate to drive change and digital transformation. And the only way to make that happen is by collaborating with people at every level across the organization – from the CEO and CFO to the most junior person in the marketing team.
Building such relationships, and persuading the business to embrace change, means we have to act like a smart corporate politician. But in an environment where change is hard to achieve, sometimes we also need to act like cowboys: take bold decisions that drive real progress, and occasionally break the rules. As a CDO, it is sometimes better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission.
At paintings and coatings giant AkzoNobel, for instance, I spent nine months discreetly working with a partner to rebuild the entire technology stack. I committed to and funded this investment out of my own CDO budget. The investment was significant financially, but brought huge strategic benefits because it enabled us to scale our existing and future digital assets to 50 countries in an operationally optimized manner. For example, it enabled us to roll out new websites and apps quickly with the right languages and localized stock-keeping units (SKUs), content, color collections and much more. There simply wasn’t anyone in the business at that time with whom I could have had a strategic and technology-based discussion about it. It was the right thing to do, so I just did it.
As a CDO, knowing when to channel your inner politician or cowboy is just one ingredient for success. In my 10 years as a CDO, in three different global companies, I’ve learned that in order to make real change within any business, you also need to continuously take on six important roles: strategist, change leader, tech builder, number cruncher, marketer and team leader.
1. The strategist: establishing and communicating a clear vision
Digital transformation is never a goal in itself – it is a way to achieve the business’s wider strategy and purpose. As a result, the digital strategy should be fully grounded in the company’s strategy.
It should be communicated in two directions: to the digital team so that they fully understand the importance of their work and feel connected with the wider enterprise, and across the business so that they buy into and support the digital initiatives.
The CDO must lead this. First, they must understand their business’s strategy and the CEO’s key objectives for the next three years. Then, they must determine how digital initiatives can help, and establish a strategic framework. This should provide a structure for everything that the digital team does and communicates. After all, if a digital project doesn’t help the company execute its strategy, is it worthwhile?
At AkzoNobel, for example, I created a digital “strategic house” that structured everything, including targets, team organization, reporting, budgeting, cost-savings measurement and much more. It helped everyone understand what we were doing, why we were doing it and how we were performing.
2. The change leader: pushing for effective transformation
As a CDO, executing successful transformation requires driving change. It means creating and executing a change management plan that covers everything from culture and delivery to training for the marketing team.
In large corporations, change may prove difficult and takes time. In order to sustain momentum, it is critical to follow change management best practices, such as realizing quick wins, and building and sharing success stories and proof points at every opportunity.
The CDO needs support from the entire digital team to successfully execute and sustain this change effort. I’ve had success by assigning everyone in the digital team with a stakeholder, or group of stakeholders, they should engage with in order to push change through.