Chief Digital Officer Role Having Powerful Impact on Digital Transformation: Mindtree Survey

WARREN, New Jersey and BANGALORE, India, Dec. 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Mindtree, a global technology services and digital transformation company, today published the results of a survey providing insights about the relevance and staying power of the Chief Digital Officer (CDO) position. Contrary to a widespread belief that the CDO position has a short shelf-life, an overwhelming majority of business and IT professionals participating in Mindtree's survey see their organization's CDO as an effective change agent and champion for achieving digital transformation and delivering a customer benefit.

Unlike other published surveys about the CDO role which have focused on the opinions of C-level executives, Mindtree's survey included data from 323 global business and IT professionals in the U.S. and U.K who work under a CDO. These professionals play a large role in executing on the vision of the CDO and have a valuable perspective about the effectiveness of the CDO as a leader. It found that the CDO has been effective in championing many business-driving digital initiatives, such as giving customers the seamless digital experiences (27%) and creating new business models (20%).

1. The CDO role has a clear purpose and is gaining in relevance
   There is a widespread sense that the CDO is an ambiguous role, whose functions and responsibilities could be distributed among different members of the C-suite. Contrary to these claims, Mindtree's survey found today's business and IT professionals see a clear need for the continuance of the CDO position, with 74% of respondents stating that their organization's CDO has clearly defined responsibilities and 81% agreeing that these responsibilities are differentiated enough that a dedicated CDO position is needed.
   
   Further, business and IT professionals believe that the CDO role is becoming even more relevant compared to when it was first created (76%), demonstrating a clear mandate for the CDO to accomplish his or her digital objectives.
   
2. CDOs tend to have more technology expertise than business
   Business and IT leaders named a deep understanding of technology (61%) and the ability to execute digital strategies (53%) as their CDO's main skills. Almost 70% of respondents said their CDO comes from an IT background, suggesting that while many CDOs possess a good combination of technology understanding and "soft skills," they may have less visibility into or are still acquiring an understanding of how parts of the business function. 84% of respondents in organizations whose CDO came from an IT background said their company had made "significant" digital progress since the CDO role was created, compared to 73% who come from organizations with a CDO having a non-IT, business background, answering the same.
   
3. Despite the progress, CDOs still face obstacles, including siloed initiatives and talent gap
   About a third of respondents (32%) named change-resistant culture as the biggest obstacle CDO's face in making greater progress. Relatedly, 'changing the culture to iterate faster' is the lowest ranked accomplishment by CDOs. When asked what the CDO needs most in order to be successful with digitizing the business, 38% of respondents said it will require more collaboration across business units, combined with an infusion of new talent with skills aligned to in-demand technologies.

"As enterprises make progress with digital transformation and discover new possibilities to reinvent their businesses, leaders across industries are making long-term investments in organization capabilities and leadership. We're not surprised that the CDO role is not seen as a limited duration project or initiative leadership role, but much more of a long-term change agent," said Sreedhar Bhagavatheeswaran, SVP and Head of Digital, Mindtree. "Our conversations with executives show that it's a pivotal role for enterprises to fully embrace the potential of digital technologies. With technology change accelerating, the CDO needs to master technologies like cloud and AI and deeply understand the business to be successful. They also need to understand organizational culture and navigate change management expertly to succeed."

Methodology 

In 2019, Mindtree partnered with Researchscape International on a custom research project. The survey included 323 respondents in the United States and the United Kingdom.

For more information and complete report, please click https://www.mindtree.com/chief-digital-officer-cdo-survey-report 

About Mindtree

Mindtree (NSE: MINDTREE) is a global technology consulting and services company, helping enterprises marry scale with agility to achieve competitive advantage. 'Born digital,' in 1999 and now a Larsen & Toubro Group Company, Mindtree applies its deep domain knowledge to 350+ enterprise client engagements to break down silos, make sense of digital complexity and bring new initiatives to market faster. We enable IT to move at the speed of business, leveraging emerging technologies and the efficiencies of Continuous Delivery to spur business innovation. Operating in 18 countries and over 40 offices across the world, we're consistently regarded as one of the best places to work, embodied every day by our winning culture made up of over 21,000 entrepreneurial, collaborative and dedicated 'Mindtree Minds.'

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For more information, contact:

INDIA
Swetha Ganesan
Mindtree Ltd
+91-9789061981
swetha.ganesan@mindtree.com  

UNITED STATES
Erik Arvidson
Matter
+1-978-518-4542 
mindtree@matternow.com   

EUROPE
Edward Stevenson
Hotwire
+44-783-459-7877
edward.stevenson@hotwireglobal.com

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