Digital transformation is big business. Research firm Gartner predicts that digital business will represent an average 36% of a business’s overall revenue by 2020.

Small wonder that the Chief Digital Officer is becoming a key executive role within many large companies.

How does the Chief Digital Officer work with the other CDO (the Chief Data Officer)?

What does digital actually mean?

There is no doubt that “digital” means different things to different people.

Some of the myriad examples;

• A technology/automation problem – replacing inefficient paper-based processes with more efficient electronic processes
• A data integration problem – consolidating key data into a unified view that enables enhanced decision-making and improved operational efficiency
• An agility problem – creating an infrastructure that is adaptable to changing business or technology advances
• A change problem – where companies seek to change the way that they do business to compete with disruptors or to adapt to new consumer behaviours and expectations

While culture and technology investments are key to digital, most successful digital transformations are dependent on data.

Trends in digital transformation

Driven from the top

A key trend in digital is that it is increasingly being driven from the top. The Chief Digital Officer is emerging as a coordinator role directly below the CEO – with in many cases the Chief Data Officer and Chief Information Officer reporting directly to him.

Driven by data

Another key reality – data is the fuel for digital transformation.

Data governance – the discipline driving behaviour around data is a vital enabler for digital. Governance drives the cultural changes needed to take advantage of digital investments and ensures cost-effective compliance with the ever-increasing regulatory requirements.

Why data governance?

Trends that are driving the need for data governance to enable digitalisation include:

• the Cloud
• Artificial intelligence and Machine learning
• the Internet of Things (IoT)
• Data privacy and ethics

Data governance is about creating the collaboration and reporting structures necessary to empower the Chief Digital Officer to work with other business stakeholders, agree on priorities, manage risks and, ultimately, deliver on the digital strategy.