Digital transformation: 3 goals CIOs should prioritize

CIOs are at the forefront of digital transformation, a position that’s not likely to change. Transformations are never static, although I admit that the word makes it sound otherwise. If your goal is to reach some new fixed state that will carry you over for many years to come, you’ve lost the battle. Ultimately, digital transformation should lead to a state that enables continual change and improvement.

Today’s CIO is now more involved in the marketing functions than in the past, and for good reason. Where once the CMO may have outsourced to an agency, the CIO is now more central to external customer experiences, in large part because digital technology is creating connections between external and internal users. And unlike with past internal efforts, the CIO needs to worry about the technology used by people over whom they have no control: end customers.

CIOs also need to figure out the newly emerging internal marketing needs. They’re often brought in to tackle specific tasks but are quickly called upon to solve a host of other challenges within their organizations.

Given this reality, CIOs can’t go it alone. They’ll need to collaborate and innovate with a variety of internal and external stakeholders in order to achieve a sustainable digital transformation.

With that in mind, here are three key goals that CIOs should move to the top of their priority lists.

Although departments within an organization may talk frequently to one another, each one often has its own unique goals and objectives for a digital transformation. In other words, it can appear that there’s no common ground for them to work toward.

This often stems from the fact that different departments rely on different platforms (e.g., ERP vs. commerce vs. marketing automation), each with its own “center of the universe.” The result is an IT organization divided into multiple teams that focus on a specific frontend or backend platform. Software architecture, per Conway’s Law, reflects organizational structure, not the needs of the business or the customer. Because of this, data silos are inevitable, as are issues concerning control of data flows.

As CIO, where should you look for connective tissue? The obvious place to start is to seek allies within the organization – people who can see the bigger picture. If none are immediately available, look for leaders who are knowledgeable about the changes in the market and have a passion for meeting them, as well as people who are digitally savvy and proficient in technology.

Outside resources may also be helpful in that they are (or should be!) platform-agnostic and can therefore see the bigger picture, helping to create a messaging platform that emphasizes common ground that the rest of the organization can grasp.