The Role of the CMO in Digital Transformation Services

Elevating the role of the CMO as a key driver of digital transformation

The role of the CMO is changing. Not only are you tasked with cultivating consumer demand, but you're also being called upon to help integrate advanced data analytics and provide digital transformation consulting services across the company. While this role used to belong to the CIO, many CMOs have leadership qualities that make them uniquely qualified to drive transformational change.

Why? Because you deeply understand what makes customers tick and how to create digital experiences that drive engagement—an essential competency for any company that wants to thrive in the digital era.

With that in mind, let's examine how CMOs are pivotal in spurring a company's digital transformation, from strategy-building to prototype development.

As a CMO, what are digital transformation services?

Digital transformation is often seen as a complicated process, whether that be a new IT infrastructure, the introduction of a new revenue stream or a wholly revamped value proposition.

91% of organisations have taken on digital transformation services in recent years. However, McKinsey data shows that 70% of companies fail to meet their objectives due to a lack of alignment between C-suite, business, and technical teams.

To overcome these obstacles, organisations should view transformation as an incremental evolution. This means involving gradual acceptance of change among all stakeholders rather than a means of overhauling the technical foundations of a business. This slow and steady approach allows companies to solve problems one issue at a time, learn valuable lessons, and apply their knowledge to broader transformation initiatives, increasing the odds of success and stakeholder buy-in.

CMOs are ideally suited to lead digital transformation consulting services through dynamic test-and-learn sprints. As those closest to customers, you can bridge the gap between a company's digitisation objectives and their customer needs. Plus, your talent for securing buy-in from CSuite executives ensures you can develop a clear strategic vision that draws in all stakeholders to shape the company's ongoing digital future.

In essence, the CMO role is elevated due to their skills in nurturing human-centred concepts that drive amazing results. As findings from EY suggest,

"Putting humans at the centre of digital transformation can improve the odds of project success by 2.6 times."

5 Stages of CMO-led digital transformation services

01 - Discover

The crucial data-driven discovery phase will inform the overarching vision of your digital transformation services and ensure that they align with the company's broader objectives and customer–centric vision.

Dive deep into your customers' needs and values, and how they can be addressed with the right technologies. Look for uncharted digital territories and untapped purchasing drivers that can set your brand apart from competitors. Equally, make sure to evolve your brand when the time is right. Otherwise, you risk changing too much within your organisation while it’s unstable.

Similarly, remember that the changing digital landscape and evolving regulatory safeguards, such as consumer data privacy, may impact your digital customer value exchange. Ensure that issues like cookie depreciation and new iOS and Android privacy features don't scupper your plans.

02 - Define

Create a clear digital transformation roadmap that resonates across every touch point in the value chain. It should clarify the digital experience you want to deliver and provide an overview of the people and technologies needed to make it happen.

Next, share this roadmap with all stakeholders and encourage open discussion and debate. Not only will this answer the inevitable question as to ‘what are digital transformation services,’ it will arm you with feedback from the wider team to help establish KPIs to track performance.

From estimated revenue growth to customer satisfaction metrics, compile a digital transformation playbook that ensures brand messaging is consistent at every stage of the prototype development process. This will ensure that everyone involved in the project stays on the same page.

03 - Create

Whether you're creating a new customer-centric digital platform or improving an existing system, share the proof of concept with digital transformation services teams and begin prototyping UX designs and ready-to-launch products.

The prototype development stage is where your CMO skills as a chief dot connector come to the fore. Utilise your communication talents to unite cross-functional and often cross-geographical teams for effective collaboration.

71% of employees agree that for digital transformation projects to be successful, company leaders must clearly communicate why change is needed, not just what they need to do.

Create a change management plan that helps your organisation and customers adapt to your digitisation project. Complete it with training and engagement activities to ensure everyone overcomes execution challenges during the build stage.

04 - Validate

Testing and validation stage is part-and-parcel with a CMO’s natural talent for learning new things and always putting the customer first - and this is where you can add digital transformation consulting services to the mix. Share your knowledge with prototype development teams to create user-friendly products that meet your customers and organisations' exact requirements.

Use data from A/B tests to identify usage patterns and behaviours, and tailor your offering to suit all user segments. Testing and optimising should be continuous, so create clear communication channels so all digital transformation services teams can come forward with their ideas for further experimentation and prototype development.