Start Date
11-12-2016 12:00 AM
Description
The CIO role often embodies both strategic as well as operational elements. However, the penetration of digital technologies into nearly every aspect of business has led many firms to create the role of a Chief Digital Officer (CDO) to oversee the establishment of digital capabilities in the company. This development has the potential for considerable redundancy between CIO and CDO roles and brings the CIO role to an inflection point. Through multiple interviews with executives of 19 firms, seven of which have a CDO, this paper explores the reasoning behind the CDO role, the need for which is often driven by digitization pressure, demand for organizational orchestration, aspects of the CIO role profile, and the digitization focus areas of the company. Moreover, this paper identifies four distinct CDO role-types (Evangelist, Coordinator, Innovator, and Advocate) and assesses the implications for the CIO role in the context of digital transformation.
Recommended Citation
Haffke, Ingmar; Kalgovas, Bradley James; and Benlian, Alexander, "The Role of the CIO and the CDO in an Organization’s Digital Transformation" (2016). ICIS 2016 Proceedings. 3.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2016/ISStrategy/Presentations/3
The Role of the CIO and the CDO in an Organization’s Digital Transformation
The CIO role often embodies both strategic as well as operational elements. However, the penetration of digital technologies into nearly every aspect of business has led many firms to create the role of a Chief Digital Officer (CDO) to oversee the establishment of digital capabilities in the company. This development has the potential for considerable redundancy between CIO and CDO roles and brings the CIO role to an inflection point. Through multiple interviews with executives of 19 firms, seven of which have a CDO, this paper explores the reasoning behind the CDO role, the need for which is often driven by digitization pressure, demand for organizational orchestration, aspects of the CIO role profile, and the digitization focus areas of the company. Moreover, this paper identifies four distinct CDO role-types (Evangelist, Coordinator, Innovator, and Advocate) and assesses the implications for the CIO role in the context of digital transformation.