In a global survey of 500+ business leaders conducted by IIC Partners, three out of four respondents (76 percent) said they didn’t have a Chief Digital Officer (CDO). While a majority of organisations might not have a CDO, it’s becoming critical for businesses of all sizes to consider digital when recruiting any leadership roles.
Digital transformation began long ago in the corporate sector and has an even longer lead in industrial environments – just consider the history of robotics in manufacturing (circa 1955) or computer assisted design and engineering (1970s). Driven by PC, communications and database technologies, digital has successfully worked its way up the chain from IT to the back office, through administration to the front of house, via marketing.
Slade Executive is recruiting senior executives in digital right now, and we’re seeing an international trend in key digital appointments as part of the overall organisational strategy. Charting digital alongside traditional C suite roles, such as finance, operations and human resources, recognises its strategic importance. Along with information and marketing, we’ve seen that digital has the capacity to radically influence the competitiveness of an organisation in the present climate and will no doubt be essential to the survival of many industries in future.
In smaller businesses or those with more modest resources, a cross functional hybrid is the model for CDO. Agile executives who can work across a combination of digital, marketing and information technology are already highly sought after. As industry background becomes less relevant and a diverse CV looks more appealing, digital acumen is now one of the most commonly requested attributes when hiring leaders.
