EY-CIOs-Born-to-be-digital

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Six distinctivetraits ofdigital-readyCIOs1Digital-ready2Digital-ready3Digital-ready4Digital-ready5Digital-ready6Digital-readyCIOshave a strategic visionof how technologywill transform thebusiness — and knowhow to implement it.CIOsinnovate relentlessly.CIOsfocus closely ondriving growth — andthe relationships theyneed to support this.CIOsensure their vision isunderstood.CIOsmove beyondoperations andinfrastructure.CIOsare courageous risktakers.Six distinctive traits of digital-ready CIOs:1Digital-ready CIOs have a strategicvision of how technology willtransform the business — and knowhow to implement it.By definition, all of these CIOs have a clear vision about the futurestate of the business. They have a powerful sense of how andwhere digital can transform product development or sales andmarketing, and how it can open up new lines of revenue. While theCEO knows where the wider business is headed, the digital-readyCIO can show how technology can enable and support that journey.Close to 9 out of 10 (87%) digital-ready CIOs focus tightly onmaking the case to the executive management team for IT’s role inbusiness transformation. That figure is well ahead of the 72% ofIT-intensive industry CIOs. “It’s very important that a CIO has avision for the company that is directly linked to its business model,”says Nykredit CIO Lars Mathiesen. And as InformationWeek Editorin Chief Rob Preston puts it: “You need to be something of avisionary, an innovator and a big thinker, not just an order taker.”All this implies that the digital-ready CIOs have a closeunderstanding of their companies’ underlying business models, andproducts and services. EY’s Dave Ryerkerk notes that, in the past,businesses would draw up a major initiative — setting out therequired processes and the associated operating model — before“throwing it over the fence to IT to set it up and automate it.”Today, digital technologies shape the design of a firm’s processesand operating models. Indeed, Bob Sydow, Americas IT AdvisoryLeader at EY, notes that one of the core capabilities needed fordigital-ready CIOs is an intimate knowledge of the firm’s businessarchitecture, along with the ability to manage and drive compleximplementation programs. “Our technology team has an openprocess creation approach, rather than simply receiving processesand supporting them. We are able to describe the target processes,and define how to go about transforming them,” explains Zalando’sCIO Philipp Erler.20 | Born to be digital
At the global software company SAP, for example, Americas CIOMichael Golz is clear on how digital has transformed the innerworkings of the business. “When I look at the sales and marketingorganization, the amount of automation and data-driveninformation that they use in their daily business is magnitudesbigger than just a couple of years ago,” he says. Via mobile appsand analytics, IT provides real-time information about the health ofthe business at any given moment. “If we were to take this away, Iwould not know how we’d run this business. It takes out risk. It takesout a lot of the variations. It gives us insight into new opportunitiesto cross-sell or up-sell,” he says.As this implies, the ability to deliver on this vision is just asimportant as the vision itself. “You shouldn’t talk about your visionif you’re not able to execute on it,” says Nykredit’s Mathiesen. Whenasked what attributes are most needed to help them stand out intheir roles, digital-ready CIOs place far more importance on theability to design and execute business strategy. More than 8 out of10 (83%) place a high focus on this, compared with just 67% ofIT-intensive industry CIOs.Digital-ready CIOs are also far more likely to recognize the breadthof skills needed to succeed in the role: they place more importanceon their close understanding of their market or industry (70%compared with 52% of IT-intensive industry CIOs), on their financialskills (67% versus 57%), and on their technological know-how (75%versus 65%). “Just as importantly, this needs to be backed up withruthless execution, which means CIOs need to really get theirdelivery organization in order,” says EY’s Tom Velema.Chart 6Attributes required to perform best in the CIO roleDesigning and executingbusiness strategyTechnological skills andknow-how on IT trendsDeeper insight into the industry or keygeographical markets for your businessFinancial management skillsDigital-ready CIO52%(Percentage of respondents who have chosen 8, 9 or 10 on a scale from 1 = not needed at allto 10 = absolutely needed)57%67%65%70%67%75%83%IT-intensive industry CIO“When I look at the sales andmarketing organization, theamount of automation anddata-driven information thatthey use in their daily businessis magnitudes bigger than justa couple of years ago.”Michael Golz, CIO Americas, SAPBorn to be digital |21
Page 1 and 2: Born to be digitalHow leading CIOs
Page 3: In this reportForeword2Executive su
Page 6 and 7: IT-intensive industries51% 53% 67%
Page 14 and 15: Typically more engaged on strategic
Page 16 and 17: Case studyIBM’s global-localIT tr
Page 18 and 19: Chart 5How IT-intensive industry CI
Page 20 and 21: Section 3A mindset forchange:six tr
Page 24 and 25: “I spend at least 30% of my time
Page 26 and 27: “Now we’re in a world where thi
Page 28 and 29: “I spend little time on back offi
Page 31 and 32: Could emergingmarkets leapfrogon di
Page 34 and 35: Career lessons from digital-ready C
Page 36 and 37: Chart 14Career paths of leading CIO
Page 38 and 39: ConclusionPreparing for adigital bu
Page 40 and 41: DemographicsBoard membership47%NoJo
Page 42 and 43: Endnotes1. “Embracing digital tec
Page 44: EY | Assurance | Tax | Transactions

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