Manish Bahl, Senior Director, Center for the Future of Work, Cognizant

OREANDA-NEWS. “Asia is fast becoming the center of digital innovation for the world—the region alone accounts for 48.4% of the 2.9 billion Internet users globally,” writes Manish Bahl. “Digital transformation has intensified the mandate for businesses in Asia Pacific to rise to these challenges and transform them into opportunities; with digital participation being at the heart of this.” Excerpts:

“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. 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.

Organizations cannot truly think “outside the box” until a clear digital leadership mandate has been established. The rise of the 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.

CDOs 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. In spite of these challenges, developing future-ready digital leaders is an attainable goal.

While every organization will embark on a different journey towards digital transformation, consistent fundamental insights can be gained and applied from digital winners. 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.

In their pursuit of digital transformation, leaders should examine additional steps required for a business future filled with both uncertainty and phenomenal opportunities. As the digital revolution unfolds, CDOs/digital heads must be willing to make meaningful organizational transitions that align a strategic digital vision with bold precision in order to meet the greater ambitions of what it means to be truly digital.”