Sudhanshu is a C-suite global transformation leader with proven track record of digital and business transformation. Contact him at Linkedin
CIOs, CTOs and CDOs leading business transformation must prioritize consumer needs and the delivery of tangible results. Leadership at the C-suite level requires substantial dedication, which is earned through years of hard work, trust-building and a consistent history of performance. Effective leaders excel at merging business and IT strategies seamlessly. While 30% of their time is devoted to crafting digital strategies, the bulk—70%—must be dedicated to aligning and executing these strategies to drive business success.
Setting A Digital Strategy
CIOs must possess comprehensive leadership skills, seamlessly transitioning between a high-level strategic perspective and a detailed execution plan to drive outcomes. Effective C-suite leadership requires a deep understanding of commercial requirements to achieve business objectives and a visionary outlook on how digital transformation can propel these goals forward.
It’s crucial for CIOs to have a clear technology roadmap that harmonizes with the overarching business strategy rather than the other way around. Identifying innovative ideas and solutions can be challenging—leveraging their extensive industry knowledge, global connections and strategic partnerships, CIOs navigate this terrain adeptly. By integrating insights into business opportunities with technological advancements, CIOs formulate robust action plans.
Aligning Budgets And Planning For Multi-Year Digital Roadmaps
When collaborating with CEOs and CFOs, CIOs, CTOs and CDOs must adopt a strategic perspective. Digital transformation of business models facilitates alignment with concrete growth and profitability goals, which helps justify digital investments. Addressing long-term strategic requirements often necessitates a focus on specific use cases.
For instance, in a large organization, let’s say a CIO proposed a multi-million-dollar investment to establish data lake capabilities for consolidating enterprise data. Initially, this proposal was rejected. However, by approaching the situation strategically, the investment ultimately yielded positive results, transforming business outcomes, scaling digital strategies and advancing organizational capabilities.
To ensure digital transformations are strategically aligned, it’s crucial to focus on three key imperatives.
1. Establish clear connections between use cases, enterprise strategy, organizational structure and business processes.
2. Use a prototyping approach to develop transformations and evaluate their ROI.
3. Foster co-innovation to ensure that business strategy aligns seamlessly with digital strategy. This alignment can better empower CIOs to pioneer the adoption of new digital business models, accelerate growth, enhance productivity, cultivate organizational skills, inspire innovation, redesign processes, revolutionize consumer and customer experiences and effectively prepare the business for the future.
Asking Questions The Right Way
Time and time again, I see CIOs pursuing funding and resources only to encounter counterquestions like “So what do you think?” In essence, it’s crucial to articulate your ideas and challenges effectively, prioritizing this over presenting solutions outright.
Real-life case studies should replace hypothetical scenarios, demonstrating tangible outcomes. Instead of focusing solely on capabilities, emphasis should be placed on outlining a path toward achieving enhanced and expedited growth, as well as highlighting the impact on both individuals and the business.
The heightened importance of IT and digital leaders in boardroom discussions stems from their strategic vision and extensive expertise in both commercial and technological domains. When discussions revolve around business objectives and profit and loss statements, the convergence of digital and business strategy becomes apparent. The alignment of outcomes becomes so seamless that the focus shifts to the “how” and “when” rather than the “why” or “what.” As one CEO aptly remarked, an effective CIO is a business leader who leverages technology strategy and vision to address business challenges.
Innovating To Scaling: The 10-20-70-100 Framework
One of the most challenging tasks is justifying increasing expenditures amid growing organizational needs. To address this, founders and decision-makers must clearly articulate the business strategy of digitization to the entire organization. Adopting a perspective centered on the potential returns and striking a balance between innovative initiatives and scalable capabilities is essential for unlocking value.
In my experience, a model based on allocating resources as 10-20-70-100 has proven effective. This involves pursuing ambitious ventures (10s) alongside initiatives with significant business impact (100s) and everything in between, thus driving business growth, accelerating the pace of change and maximizing overall impact while appropriately allocating resources between innovation and foundational elements. CIOs can further enhance their credibility by demonstrating agility in responding to emerging business needs and leveraging their expertise in both technology and commercial domains to address them effectively.
Two Types Of Mistakes Leaders Make
Based on my experience, I’ve found there are two common mistakes that leaders often make. Firstly, they focus too much on functional expertise rather than adopting a commercial mindset focused on profit and loss (P&L) leadership. It’s important to remember that CIOs, CTOs and CDOs hold equal importance at the table when engaging with boardrooms and business leadership. They should approach challenges as problem solvers, not just idea generators. Neglecting the commercial aspect of P&L can lead to a loss of support from leadership. A holistic enterprise view must be complemented by a business-centric approach to problem-solving.
The second mistake involves hesitating to embrace new technologies due to concerns about costs and adherence to standard product management frameworks and traditional agile approaches. In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, CIOs must fully embrace new technologies, DevOps practices and agile methodologies. This approach enables the continuous delivery of incremental benefits for the business, ensuring ongoing value realization. It also fosters an organizational culture where issues are addressed swiftly, employees continuously upskill themselves and everyone understands the direct impact of their work on commercial outcomes.
Embracing Customer- And Consumer-Centric Culture
CIOs and CDOs operate at the crossroads of business and technology, leveraging their combined commercial and technical expertise to drive transformation within businesses and organizations. When assessing success, the scorecard should prioritize value and operational outcomes. Maintaining a relentless focus on customer obsession and consumer-centricity is essential for achieving superiority and creating sustained value.
By adopting a holistic perspective that considers the business impact of digital strategy, starting from the real needs of consumers and customers, CIOs and CDOs can consistently deliver value and foster growth. Selecting the right problems to address requires both art and science—and through their specialized expertise, CIOs can effectively navigate this process.
Getting Your Business Future-Ready
Digital leaders have a very important role to play in making their business future-ready. Such a strategic outlook is critical for a lasting impact on the business. A successful digital transformation can take years and multiple technology roadmaps, so strong digital leadership is pivotal for future-ready organizations.
I’ll leave you with a few important reminders that I’ve found to be especially effective for strategic business transformations.
• Not all problems are created equal. Some are too vague and broad to tackle effectively.
• Even when problems seem clear-cut, they may transcend technological solutions and require a holistic approach.
• Certain problem areas don’t necessarily require approval from higher-ups or boards to address.
• Finally, exceptional CIOs, CTOs and CDOs grasp the intricacies of transformational challenges and recognize the scope required for achieving top-tier business outcomes across five key areas: business strategy, organizational structure, processes, data management and digital innovation.
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