What is the Role of a CDO?

The CDO or Chief Digital Officer is a relatively new role that has steadily grown and expanded since the turn of the century. The rapid change from analog to digital in every aspect of business over the years has created a need for a professional to be solely in charge of exploring the digital side of business and implementing strategy.

Role of CDO or Chief Digital Officer

And that is what the CDO position is meant for. To lead the ever-evolving digital journey into a future that quite possibly might be entirely digital.

Not to be confused with a CIO or Chief Information Officer. While a CIO is in charge of the company’s internal IT infrastructure and a responsibility to maintain and improve operational efficiency, a CDO’s role is more concerned with exploring and implementing digital initiatives to gain a strategic edge among competitors and achieve business transformation. Except in cases where the CIO takes on both roles. In which case they might be called a CDIO or chief digital information officer.

Skills of CDO or Chief Digital Officer

To lead this transformational journey of the business a CDO is required to have these skills;

• A deep understanding of the customer so that they can drive change with the customer and customer behaviour in mind.
• A deep understanding of technology and its constant state of evolution.
• To be a great storyteller in order to leverage the medium of technology to create a great experience.
• A keen understanding of technology in order to adopt and adapt to new technology trends and products.
• A taste for innovation in order to drive digital innovation and business innovation.

Responsibilities of CDO or Chief Digital Officer

In order to facilitate this digital transformation and continuously innovate to capture the attention and loyalty of customers, CDOs have the following responsibilities;

• Formulating and implementing the company’s digital strategy.
• Understanding and working closely with different departments in the organization to drive digital innovation for products and services.
• Develop and grow brand loyalty on social networks and other online platforms.
• Explore ways to leverage the digital space.
• Constantly be on the lookout for new digital revenue streams.
• Keep evolving the company’s digital strategy to keep up with the constantly evolving market innovation.
• Analyze the results and ROI of the digital strategy in order to ensure high performance and true digital transformation.
• Mentoring digital talent in order to retain them.
• Help digitizing different departments of the company in order to expand the digital ecosystem within the company.

Chief Digital Officer (CDO) salary in US and India

According to an update by PayScale in February 2021, the average base CDO salary in the US is $203,473 . While a March 2021 report by Glassdoor mentions the average base CDO salary in India to be ₹7,95,539.

Summary

Since the digital revolution, much like the rest of the world, the business world has been incorporating more and more digital systems. The need for a CDO was imminent. Now whether that role is purely a CDO’s or blended with a CIO’s, further development will enlighten that aspect. But the fact remains that a CDO is a position that will revolutionize the way we all do business.