Draft:Chief Digital Transformation Officer

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Chief Digital Transformation Officer (CDTO) is a term for a person who leads the Digital Transformation of a company or a government body.

Definition and Description

The CDTO is usually responsible for shifting the tide and making the company or government body modern in the digital domain.

"Perhaps the most logical of titles CIOs can assume is that of chief transformation officer, or chief digital transformation officer, given the leadership role CIOs took on to digitally transform their organizations during the pandemic"

For example, the IT Product Architect reports to the CDTO, and assists in modernization projects of the CDTO or their office. In installations such as as the San Fransisco Airport: "Under the administrative direction of the Chief Digital Transformation Officer (CDTO), the Information Technology and Telecommunications (ITT) Operations Director plans, directs and coordinates the administration and operations of technology and systems projects [...]" In public institutions Digital Officers can foster digital literacy and other digital skills for cyber threat intelligence and cyber threat defense, organize or contribute to other state-driven programs.

At United Kingdom’s Health Research Authority it is an Chief Executive who "supports the Chief Executive to drive through the organisational strategy and business plan[s] [and] lead [...] current digital infrastructure and play a leadership role in [...] digital and business transformation - the Research Systems Programme."

In other cases the CDTO is a Chief Digital Officer (CDO). As Digital Transformation, the CDTO term and the cyber domain are relatively new, the term is not precisely defined, except for the CDO who’s "helping an enterprise [to] use digital information and advanced technologies, such as the cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, automation, IoT, mobile and social media, to create business value." However, the terms are distinct to the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) who oversights all technical processes and requirements in a company or governmental body.

History of the CDTO

Formerly the term’s abbreviation was CDxO, appearing around 2018, with "responsibility to conduct a business analysis, taking into account the market opportunities both current and new, and propose a strategic plan that will add significant value on top of the CEO’s original strategy [... and ...] great influencing skills, business acumen and a proficiency in conflict resolution. Tools such as the cloud, big data analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, orchestration/automation, and the IoT combined with edge or fog computing, can all aid the CDxO in realising the vision laid down to transform a business".

Another description of July 2018 brings it more into context of the Digital Transformation: "[...] chief digital transformation officer [...] make[s] sure [... that the company ...] builds the capabilities needed to be at the forefront of our technology-driven transformation. [... Covering...] everything from understanding how technology is impacting the company’s culture, to encouraging a start-up mindset across the business to be more experimental [...] job didn’t exist before [...] some flexibility in defining what the role entails. In some cases, chief transformation officers form a permanent part of a company’s C-suite, tracking how a company is performing following change [...] survey carried out by McKinsey, only 37 per cent of respondents believed that their business transformations had been successful, and there’s a clear consensus that long-term monitoring of change is essential for success".

Allianz Trade, a sister company of a German insurance company, mentions the term within their digital capacity build up of their first Digital Transformation Team in 2018.

Companies or Governmental Bodies having CDTO’s:

• Infineon
• U.S. Air Force & BRAVO AI Battle Labs
• University of Chicago Medicine
• Ukraine’s State Service of Special Communication and Information Protection
• University of Sussex

2024 Top 10 of the America’s Chief Transformation officers:

• Bruce Laco Chief Transformation Officer at EY Canada
• Roel Louwhoff, Chief Transformation, Technology & Operations Officer at Standard Chartered
• Christopher Paquette, Chief Digital Transformation Officer at Allstate
• Stuart Wagner, Chief Digital Transformation Officer at Air Force and Space Force
• Xenia Walters, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer at Capita
• Patrick O’Connell, Chief Digital Transformation Officer at US Navy
• Francois van Praagh, Chief Transformation Officer at Orange
• Dharti Tripathi, Chief Digital Transformation Officer at GE HealthCare
• Laureen Knudsen, Chief Transformation Officer at Broadcom
• John Powers, Global Chief Transformation Officer at Deloitte

Special role in other Countries such as Germany

The term is appearing increasingly around companies in Germany due to Germany’s lacking digital development. Germans summarize this under the Merkel "Neuland" quote. "Neuland" describes if something is new and yet unknown. In aspects of technology "Neuland" describes the lacking digital development of the German state, public institutions or companies, especially with regard to public services. The lacking digitization often causes confusion and anger among Germans. As Germany invests significantly less than other countries in Digitization and German companies above 500 employees believe that they are leading edge in Industry 4.0 and other cutting edge digital transformations. A Chief Digital Transformation Officer should close the gap for companies and governmental bodies in digital transformation.