Though the majority of chief digital officers sum up their primary role as driving digital monetization, almost as many admit that they spend most of their time evangelizing about digital solutions, rather than actually implementing them, according to a new report from Swiss executive search firm Egon Zehnder.
Here are four key takeaways from the CDO Decoded report, which surveyed 107 CDOs from large companies across industries and around the world.
- When asked to describe their main remit, 56 percent of the CDOs surveyed said they were tasked with driving commercial impact. Another 19 percent said they drive long-term product strategy and innovation, while just 10 percent listed evolving their company's culture as their primary mission.
- In practice, however, more than half of respondents said they spend as much or more of their time evangelizing than actually executing their digital strategy. On top of that, 80 percent said evolving the culture at their organizations has been more or much more difficult than expected.
- In total, 38 percent said their experiences in the role have been fairly or very different from what they were expecting when they accepted the position. This disconnect between what CDOs are typically hired to do and their day-to-day duties is likely linked to the fact that just a quarter of the respondents said their organizations were ready for digital transformation when they were initially hired.
- The key to ensuring a CDO's success amid reluctant company culture, those surveyed said, is direct support from other C-level leadership, and especially the CEO, as well as regular contact with the board of directors, something many said is lacking from their role.
View the full report here.
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