The digital opportunity

More than finance, marketing, HR or operations chiefs,   CIOs have a better grasp of how to drive digital transformation because they understand that what goes on in the front office with customer-facing tools and technologies has a ripple effect into the back office. Once CIOs realize that digital leadership is tied to their ability to clearly see the scope of digital transformation, rather than to personality or a particular leadership style, they should feel more confident about driving digital transformation. Not that it will be easy or quick or inexpensive.

“When we talked to CIOs and asked them about the significance of change they’re going through, we realized all of that huge transformation — all of the investment in legacy, in core modernization — was the highest level of investment,” he said. “And the reason for that was that the front-end digital was driving a lot of back-end changes in terms of systems, processes and technologies.”

Indeed, CIOs can’t do it alone. But they can bring the leadership together to talk about digital transformation, a conversation that should begin with coming to a consensus about what digital means to the company. Doing so will ensure employees don’t talk past each other, initiatives don’t overlap and the legacy infrastructure won’t become too complex and hard to manage.

There’s another plus to taking the lead on explaining the roadmap to digital transformation and driving the process. CIOs can use digital transformation as a stage to redefine or expand on their traditional roles as trusted operators or as IT change instigators to become business co-creators. The key is not to be pigeonholed — by themselves or by their business peers. Deloitte’s research found that the most successful CIOs are the ones who can move between the three pattern types depending on the current state of the business.

“A CIO that’s adaptable is much more likely to succeed than a CIO who is fixed in terms of not being able to learn new skill sets or new capabilities,” . “You’ve got to adjust to the changing business needs. And if you do, you’ll succeed.”

As such, CIOs can’t simply focus on operations or solving current problems; they also need to be proactive, according to the report. “As leaders within their organization, CIOs need to drive the business understanding of the latest and greatest technology, influence organizational leadership to use technology to support business needs, and advocate for appropriate technology deployments,” the report reads. “Each CIO should think of himself or herself as a business leader and start setting their course based on an understanding of both present and future business priorities.”