OREANDA-NEWS. December 14, 2015. “Asia is fast becoming the center of digital innovation for the world,” writes Manish Bahl. “With the growing economic power of the East over the last decade, Asia Pacific is quickly rolling into a new era of business, technology, and commerce.” Excerpts:

“Conventional business sentiments have been disrupted by the “digital-first” approach and introducing unforeseen challenges in the form of new investments, organizational structures, internal skills, change management, as well as roles and responsibilities within companies.

Organizations need strong digital leadership to helm the growth agenda, and one way to go about doing this is to inject “digital thinking” into an organization’s core. In fact, this should even extend to the social media presence of its leaders. Yet, a recent survey conducted by Cognizant revealed that majority of business leaders in the region lack a digital presence; 40% are not on professional networking platform LinkedIn, while 70% have yet to open a Twitter account.

For a start, the key to understanding the digital consumer’s state of mind and unlocking the true value of digital lies in personal participation in the digital realm. Leaders need to take their ideas and transform them with the power of digital.

Organizations cannot truly think “outside the box” until a clear digital leadership mandate has been established. Effective digital transformation cannot be attained through a part-time responsibility. The rise of the chief digital officer (CDO) has been well-charted and while CMOs and CIO/CTOs will be on the forefront of digital events, the CDO role will lead company-wide digital transformation.

In charting the ascent of the CDO in an organization’s digital transformation agenda, what is truly expected of a CDO must be clearly understood. They are seen as leaders with the ability to connect all stakeholders, break down organization silos, change the company’s culture, set up a digital office, and realign employee incentives, rewards and growth plans. On top of that, they must also harness the capacity to address the challenges that companies are facing or will face, as digital transformation accelerates.

Digital transformation should not be viewed as a “technology-fenced” development, instead companies should first streamline the business complexities associated with digital transformation before identifying and implanting the technology needed to get there.

Winners of the new digital world will challenge conventional thinking with regards to product innovation, customer engagement, organizational structure, and strategy as well as business models.”