Altimeter never fails to provide the focus within the chaos of evolving our companies. Check out their State of Digital Transformation report. Our priority? We need better User Experience (UX) by understanding our buyers and delivering what they want in the format they deserve... Since your competitors think they do.
Highlights:
- Innovation tops digital transformation initiatives at companies today. 81% said it was at the top of their agenda, 46% stated their company has launched a formal “innovation center.” Right behind innovation was modernizing IT infrastructure (80%) and improving operational agility (79%).
- 55% of those responsible for digital transformation cite “evolving customer behaviors and preferences” as the primary catalyst for change. Yet, the number one challenge facing executives (71%) is understanding behavior or impact of the new customer.
- Only half (54%) of survey respondents have completely mapped out the customer journey. This means that many companies are changing without true customer-centricity.
CDO Attributes
Here is an excerpt from HBR about industry disruption and what you must look for in your Chief Digital Officer (CDO).
... So what can business leaders be doing to meet the coming changes head-on? There are three levers organizations can pull to keep pace: catalytic roles; culture; and commitment.
Catalytic roles. New employees can act as catalysts, speeding up transformation. They are often brought in to disrupt traditional thinking and business models. Bringing in a Chief Digital Officer (CDO) is often the first step for many organizations.
But there are two inherent challenges with bringing in a catalyst...First, the role must be positioned correctly, at the appropriate level in the organization, with sufficient scope, influence and sponsorship to make change happen. The second challenge is finding the right person.
It was with this in mind that Russell Reynolds profiled executives tasked with digitally transforming long-established firms, who are often chosen to overcome organizational inertia and drive enterprise-wide digital transformation and innovation.
The results are a unique combination of psychometric attributes that broadly fall into five categories. The first two are unsurprising: these leaders are significantly more innovative and disruptive, being 56% more inclined to cut through bureaucracy and 29% higher in their willingness to challenge traditional approaches. These attributes alone are not what make these leaders able to excel in their roles. These executives also score highly in their social adeptness, bold leadership, and determination. Stand-out attributes include being 29% more likely to take initiative and test limits, and 21% more able to adapt to different audiences.
It is this combination that makes them able to drive transformation.
7 Tough Questions
Finally, for now, here are the 7 questions to ask before your next attempt at digital transformation (thanks Barry):
- Is this a digital upgrade or a digital transformation?
- Are you really bought in, and is your team?
- Are you prepared to share value creation with your customers?
- Have you put walls around your digital team?
- Do you know how to measure the value you intend to create?
- Are you ready to make the tough calls about your team?
- Will you be ready to spin off your digital business?
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