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.

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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 relevanceThere 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 businessBusiness 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 gapAbout 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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SOURCE Mindtree