The explosion in innovative technology and advanced digital practices around the world has resulted in relatively new but hugely important positions at multinational companies around the world. One of these is the chief digital officer, who is usually responsible for driving significant digital strategy change and innovation at an organization.
The business world is usually in some form of change, but a global pandemic has now hugely accelerated the speed at which change is happening. There is a strong acceptance within the business and economic community that things are never going back to the way they were. One result of this is many ‘nice to have’ digital business transformation projects have now been prioritized and deemed as urgent.
When the urgency is really high and there is a budget to hire, along with a long-term plan of continued digital transformation, then some organizations hire chief digital officers as part of their ongoing commitment to innovative digital change that will help drive competitive advantage and profitability.
In this article we will look at how this role can drive change at organizations.
Getting a handle on the technology challenge
One of the reasons for the very existence of a chief digital officer is to act as a digital leader and help the wider organization fully understand and get a handle on the technology challenges of today’s digital age. The reality is that while the innovation is positive and often exciting, a lot of the new technology on the market is not easily understood and the wider business stakeholders who may not be from a tech background may need help understanding the role that this new technology will play in their jobs, the business strategy and wider organization.
So, a CDO is often needed to both drive change and communicate the capabilities of the technology, as well as outline the business case reasons why the investment has been made in this technology and how it will help drive change at the organization for years to come.
Innovative technology can be powerful and game changing, but it will always need people to run it, maintain it and to leverage it for maximized productivity. Without a clear understanding of what technology can do and why it exists, the organization can never get to this state of maximum productivity and gain. With the CDO role, it is possible to help with this learning journey of understanding digital capabilities while simultaneously implementing powerful innovative digital change inside the organization.
Implementing new and innovative technology can enhance your entire organizations productivity and workflows, and by also informing the leadership teams and workers within the business about this technology and the benefits it can bring to the company, then it would also be possible to develop a culture of digital innovation within the business. If the chief digital officer can get everyone on board with technological innovation, then it could become a hallmark of the company and help enhance its image as a business that is staying current and up to date with the constantly evolving technological landscape.
Delivery of services in a more tech-enabled way
At multinational companies around the world, both employees and the external clients want an excellent user experience when they interact with technology. One of the challenges is that the pace of change has been so rapid, that new technology can often overwhelm, both the employees and external clients need time to get used to and fully understand the capabilities of new technology. A chief digital officer can lend a helpful guiding hand and leverage their expertise when communicating about this technology.
This is about delivering services within the organization in a more tech enabled way but crucially, only at a pace that suits both the employees and the clients or external customers. You cannot simply purchase a new technology stack or replace a traditional way of doing things with a digitally innovative methodology, and then simply walk away expecting both employees and customers to utilize it and maximize it with ease. We just don't live in a world of this simplicity. Time, patience, and effort are all required for this transition.
Getting the balance right in this leadership role is often a core responsibility of a chief digital officer, who has the tricky task of both moving with speed and agility in terms of innovation and digital projects, but also ensuring that employees and customers are comfortably keeping pace on this new digital journey.
By taking the time to inform the business leaders, employees and customers about this new technology and walking them through the stages of implementation and how this technology affects them, as well as show them how it is beneficial, then this new digital initiative can be carried out successfully and your services can be delivered in a better way.
Changing the way work gets done
Digital transformation is currently one of the most overexposed and overused terms in global business, it means a lot of things to a lot of different people, and to some people it simply means nothing at all!
The core philosophy behind is that it really is changing the way work gets done, sometimes this is about replacing a traditional method that has become outdated, or it could be a case of upgrading a current method that is working but simply making it better. In either case, scaled-up digital technology platforms, processes or tools are leveraged and maximized in a way that changes how work gets done. This way is usually specific and measurable so that there is a key set of metrics that proves the way it is done with the new digital processes is better than the old way.
This may be a little oversimplified, but many chief digital officers ultimately operate to this understanding. There is a great deal more complexity in actually making it happen, but this is the core underlying philosophy, and it is something that makes perfect business sense. A chief digital officer needs to keep coming back to this core mantra in order to convince the skeptics or the people who are not fully clear on why this change is happening.
It is not always either about making things look or feel more digital, this isn't really about branding or positioning, or external market looks. What this is really about is delivering work in more innovative ways that can enhance a variety of metrics: the most important of which are productivity and bottom-line profitability. It is also very much about unlocking the power of the global workforce, leveraging digital technology to maximize their non-technical skills. Chief digital officers can help lead their business growth, improve market positions, and enable the organization to seize future opportunities, stay ahead of the competition, and embed a culture of continuous digital innovation.
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