Who should control digital in your business?

Photo credit: dada 2014

Do a Google search on the above question and you’ll likely be bombarded by huge amounts of opinion pieces and research papers that extol the rise of the CIO as the true controller of the digital agenda, or the CMO who has been custodian of the first customer touchpoint and heralded as the key to unlocking the mysteries of social or even the Customer Services Director, the one who understands the customer best because they know how to really listen.  But then again, we are also told it’s the CTO - as surely digital and technology are synonymous with each other and therefore this is the most obvious answer – Digital is all about tech right?! 

You would be forgiven for feeling pretty confused at this point.  There are vast amounts of research studies being undertaken on the subject of Digital Transformation, even more articles and scholarly theorems trying to shed light on one thing whilst throwing into chaos something else.  So what do you do if you are a leader or a leadership team starting to talk about this ‘thing called digital’ and discussing ‘what we do about it then?’  Or maybe you are an impassioned manager or leader (any one of the titles above) totally frustrated by the lack of urgency and understanding of those around you, feeling like you are in an alternative universe – you can see that you are heading straight towards disaster without introducing urgent change but everyone else is high fiving the last quarterly results and celebrating growth or savings - with no change seen as a key indicator for business success. 

Digital Transformation is no longer about a single project, identified as an urgent seismic (usually technology) shift required to ‘stay alive’ – from legacy to cloud, from silo to integration, or from static to responsive.  Digital Transformation has been around now formally for about 5 years and has matured to mean something that touches every single aspect of your business and your people.  It’s about culture as much as technology, it’s about constant change, which means becoming adaptive in every way, shape and form, in the way you do business today.

So, back to the question – who should control digital?  Well the cop out answer you might think is everyone.  But seriously, we do need to realise as businesses, business leaders, business owners that digital is a catalyst for a more democratic business model – so this answer isn’t that lame all of a sudden.  And let’s face it, the traditional business model doesn’t really reflect a democracy when you consider decision-making, policy and organisational structure etc. etc. does it? 

If everyone is in control of it, how do you ensure ‘it’ happens and who leads?

Digital requires management and control, monitoring and measurement like all things – it’s no different.  And, as with any business is also requires leadership, supported by processes, policies and governance, not inhibited by them.

It would also be easy to think that leadership of Digital can be boxed into the role of a Digital Leader or the increasingly popular CDO – but for everything digital stands for; openness, transparency, immediacy and knowledge, do we really want to start to create new silos?  I think not.  Digital Leaders, CDO’s are the invaluable component that should drive the engine of digital but there is much leadership required in addition, to ensure Digital really becomes pervasive, the new norm, simply ‘the way we do things around here’, not to mention the collective leadership and advocacy required to drive change. 

No one should think they own digital.  That’s a recipe for disaster.  That’s why a new mindset and new approaches to governance are required.  If you really look at the leadership roles of a business, control and ownership is naturally eroding due to digital too – but not in a negative way, in a way that heralds openness, transparency, immediacy and knowledge...  The CMO or Marketing Director no longer controls brand, or owns content – the audience does, the CTO no longer owns or controls technology in all it’s guises - the business does. 

So all leadership needs to change?  Yes.  All leadership needs to adapt to the digital world we live in. Read one of my prior blog posts for more on this.

It’s a tough one but possibly the answer is everyone and no one is in control of digital, everyone and no one owns digital.  But where does that statement leave us in terms of tangible ‘to do’ lists for the next management meeting or board report?  Before you go down the route of ownership and control, assigning digital as a special project or even agreeing the title for a new recruitment, here are just a few guiding thoughts and ideas for you to think about: 

1) Create a sense of urgency

2015 is apparently the year of personalisation and relevancy when it comes to marketing and communications.  2015 is the year of Wearables and the Internet of Things if you think pure Tech. 

Looking at these two points alone, if you haven’t grasped digital as a business wide imperative and still think it’s all about technology or all about delivery within a siloed functional area of your business, how on earth are you going to cope?  For Personalisation you need data, for access to data you need cloud and integration, for use of data you need visibility, for exploitation of Wearables and the Internet of Things you need data, cloud and integration…do you have these?  And, do you have the skills to create, develop, deliver, test and improve these?  Do you have a culture that can cope with these things that change how we do business, or who we do it for? We could even be faced with the question of what we do?

If you can’t say yes to all this stuff, your need to wake up to digital is urgent – maybe fast becoming business critical.  You need the foundation blocks in place before you start to get smart.

2) Don’t bypass hierarchy, support it

Find subtle ways to support the learning and increased understanding of the positive aspects of digital amongst the general leadership.  Some senior leaders still think digital is about Twitter, or it’s for the youngsters.  There is no blame or fault here, just a reality that requires action. Organise some general workshops with digital themes to help them understand where it is relevant to them, or show them the art of the possible.  We often carry out an exercise that asks people to think about what their workplace and business will look like in 5 years time.  At the end of the exercise we list everything on the board and run through the list quickly to show what already exists and give examples.  More often than not in excess of 90% is already in existence.  We must have a focus on sharing and showing what’s available and what’s happening beyond the obvious line of vision to help bring leaders along the journey. 

3) The three C’s of Communication 

Whether you are a CIO, CTO, CEO, CFO you must now understand the business value and true importance of communication.  I remember a manager of mine very early on in my professional career saying to me that there are three C’s in communication:  Communication, Communication, and Communication.  So, tell people, show people and share with people what you are doing and what the possibilities of digital are.  Encourage people to respond and engage. Repeat your message in as many ways as possible and send it out as far and wide as possible.  Lack of communication is often a significant contributor to failed projects.  It’s not the job of the Communications team or the marketing team, it’s your job!

These are just three things you should be thinking about.  There are plenty more that make up the recipe for successfully becoming adaptive across technology and people.  Once you realise that there is an element of control in regard to digital that exists with everyone, and that the leadership required is more about custodian and facilitator you will be on the right track.  Many people talk to me about culture being something that is going to be the hardest thing to tackle about becoming a digital business.  My response is, look inward.  If you evaluate the demographics of your employees and suppliers you will already see a growing number of individuals frustrated with the way your company is run – and they are not totally wrong, not should they be dismissed because they will soon be the majority within your business.

We can no longer try and solve a 21st century business problem using 20th century processes, methods, ideas or structures.  We must resist the temptation to think of Digital Leadership as a role of control or ownership and think of it more as a facilitator, a custodian, advisor and person able to show you the art of the possible.  We really need to let go in order to see where control is really needed in this new and exciting digital world.

Six Steps to Becoming a Socially Adaptive Business

We’re now a decade into the social media revolution. And for the past five years or so, many early adopters such as youth brands, artists and the FMCG sector have been using sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube successfully to engage with their audiences.

Yet stubbornly, most organisations have been very slow in waking up to the fact that these audiences have changed. We now have four separate generations of people – Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y and the Millenials, all of who consume the media in entirely different ways. And even within these demographics their habits are constantly changing. For example, over half of over 65s are now on social media (Pew Research Center).

Most marketing and communications strategies are based around a business model dating back to the early days of the internet – or even earlier in some industries! It’s still very much about push marketing, assumptions about audience behaviours not changing and an over-reliance on traditional communications channels.

As a result, social media is often seen as something almost frivolous, which is the preserve of the marketing department, PR consultancy or advertising agency. At a recent Econsultancy round table session which I chaired, it became evident that even well paid community managers of leading UK brands got very little buy-in or support from managers within their organisation.

However, social media not only affects obvious areas such as sales, marketing and IT but it also has large implications for internal communications, human resources, PR, recruitment, corporate governance, supply chain management, customer relations, R&D and even product development. So it is vital that the C-suite and Boards understand the implications of social media.

There is a six-step programme to achieving the desired aim of creating a socially-adaptive business. It isn’t a straightforward process and it won’t necessarily happen overnight, but it could ensure that your business is still here in 5-10 years. Or at the very least, that you can remain ahead of the competition.

The diagram below shows the six steps, starting with an overriding strategy which encompasses any aspects of your business that could in some way be affected by social media. The creation of this strategy can often be painful as it requires a common vision for the business, agreement about where the organisation is heading and unity of approach in reaching out to customers, stakeholders or any other audiences. Now how often do you see that?

Getting the strategy right is vital but so too is having a corporate culture which can support social media. From the management team down to the people in the post room, everyone needs to understand how social media can benefit the business. Already CEOs are being chosen on the basis of how social they are while large organisations are hiring staff who are increasingly ‘customer facing’ not only in the real world but also online. Why? Because people are now permanently connected to the internet and the customer experience can be enhanced or ruined by bad service, whether it is face to face or on a social network. Plus of course, we’re now in an age where everyone is a publisher, including our customers, competitors and staff. So the more people prepared to embrace social, the better.

Next on our corporate shopping list is content. This nebulous concept which is rapidly becoming the most important part of the marketing mix. Even in B2B, senior marketers are now saying they expect to spend a quarter of their budgets on content creation (Content Marketing Institute) while in B2C this percentage is much higher (Marketingland survey October 2014).

With so many channels to manage - in the case of B2C this can be 24/7 - and such a need for quality content, many companies are struggling to meet the demand. Outsourcing to advertising/advertising/creative agencies can be a solution, as can creating internal ‘newsrooms’ to provide a steady source of ideas.

Then there is the question about which channels to use. With so many social networks and social messaging sites now in existence and so many different ‘micro’ audiences, balancing scarce resources with being visible on multiple channels is a constant challenge. The key is to have a strategy which identifies which network is most likely to yield results then monitor the results on a regular basis. This process should then be able to accommodate any ‘new kids on the block’ – Instagram, Pinterest, Ello etc.

One thing is certain though, video content is becoming more and more important, not just for visibility on Google but on Facebook and Twitter too. Cisco estimates that by end of 2015, 86% of all content viewed online globally will be video based.

Creating the content is one thing but managing it is another. Most companies focus solely on pushing out material to audiences. It may sound common sense but social media is about being ‘social’. This means that brands need to listen, respond and engage on social networks and this is very difficult to outsource completely.

As a result, a large number of companies now employ full time community managers to oversee activity on the corporate social media sites. Because they are increasingly being used as networking, business development and customer services channels, you can now see why there needs to be a unified approach to social! PR agencies are great at creating content but they aren’t call centres. Also, creative agencies may come up with wonderfully engaging artwork but their job isn’t to listen out for what your competitors may be doing.

One of the key developments in 2014 has been the inexorable rise in social advertising – particularly on Facebook. Every one of the key social networks now offers some form of paid-for promotions for both large organisations and SMEs. Therefore any company that wants to achieve tangible results on social needs to allocate some form of budget, whether this is spent on creating more accessible content or funding ad campaigns.

Again, many larger organisations may need to outsource this to advertising, media buying or specialist agencies that have the expertise and experience to run multi-faceted campaigns.

The key to social advertising, as with any form of marketing, is to understand exactly who your audience are and what they want. To do so in 2014 requires using Big Data - the final part of the socially adaptive business equation.

With hundreds of millions of conversations taking place every day around the world on dozens of different social networks, it can be daunting for companies to make sense of what is going on around them. Factor in the issue that few businesses actually listen on social and you have yourself a potential problem.

Fortunately there is a wide array of software tools available. These range from free tools such as Hootsuite, Tweetdeck or the analytics embedded within the social networks, all the way up to incredibly sophisticated social monitoring tools such as Sysomos or Attensity.

The information that can be mined from analysing sentiment, conversations and trends on social can be critical in determining content, product development, ad budgets and ultimately, future strategy. Which brings us neatly back to where we started.

The question you need to ask yourself is: “How close are you to becoming a fully digitally-adaptive business?” Whatever your answer, we can help you reach your business goals.

The Digital Skills Gap - How it can harm business and how to make sure it doesn't harm yours

Finding the right digital skills to deliver business results is becoming more difficult – Fact.  Training establishments are finding it harder and harder to keep up to date with client needs. The discussion around who should lead the digital agenda within the business is fuelling huge debate and there is a recognised but fundamental gap on the educational side to enable existing and new employees to deliver on this digital promise.

Let’s look at where the digital gaps are within business:

• Right at the top. There is the skill at the top – it’s more to do with understanding but it’s still as important as any other area. Digital Leadership is needed within every business.

• Digital Management. Then there is digital skill at a management level…those who require an on-going understanding of what is going on, what is working, what success looks like and the drive to experiment…the person who is able to know what data matters and how to make it matter.

• Then there are the specialist digital skills areas – those individuals who have specific skills in a particular digital discipline. With the speed at which our digital lives are changing and our demands as consumers are changing, it’s becoming harder and harder for businesses to seek out the talent they need.

The real challenge ahead

There is a real challenge here.  A challenge, which is impacted by the changing digital landscape demanding different needs around every corner.  And, with the maturity of digital channels like social media, the skills gap further increases as you realise it’s no longer just about a social media manager, you need specialist data analysts, sentiment and outreach specialists, content creators, curators and commenters…integration managers. New skills are needed to understand and recognise how digital channels mature and usage changes. Skills to deal with new technologies that allow us to better understand the business value of these channels.  And finally broader skills and understanding to recognise and address the mass migration of digital channels out of marketing and into the business as a whole.

The solution, though not an easy one, can be split into two key areas: Skills and Understanding.  First and foremost a solid understanding of the digital landscape and its value to the business is needed at the very top of the business.  As important as access to the skills required is the knowledge and understanding of what skills are required, and this has to come from the very top.

The challenge from a business perspective:

1) Right at the top:  How do you bring a senior team up to speed on the real impact of digital? Not just in terms of it’s value, but the reality of the time, resource and financial commitment required to reap the benefits of it.  Often a lack of understanding at a leadership, even a board level breeds misconceptions to how digital works.  That it is pretty easy so key investment is at the lower end of the scale, or that agile means doing things quicker and cheaper to achieve instant results requires less headcount.  Well, digital skills don’t come cheap anymore; it’s not about placing a 20-year-old graduate in front of a computer and calling them the social media manager.  Yes, it’s about bringing young talent who are digital natives on board but not so that they drown, they need a sound digital strategy and direction to follow.  And an agile methodology is best described as one which can ebb and flow with change but remain true to the end goal…this is brilliant for Digital – an area which most certainly changes like the tide with new ways of doing old things and old ways re-engineered.  Digital today most certainly cannot be contained within the silo of one department.  It requires the integrated efforts and teamwork of marketing, technology, operations etc. to succeed and that takes senior digital leadership to achieve.  So remember to start right at the top when addressing your digital skills gaps.

And, a good thing or not, as we mature more into this digital age we live in, we will realise there are so many areas which require dedicated skills and effort to achieve results – data is a case in point – with the dawn of Big Data going mainstream and becoming relevant even to small businesses, access to skills and understanding here become real business needs.

2) Digital Management.  How does a digital leader or a digital manager maintain a level of digital knowledge and understanding which means they can direct, they can manage, they know what they are looking for and what success looks like for their business.  This is a difficult one – it’s arguably the role which should be responsible for the digital business, they should be adept enough to manage up and prove the case for digital.  Then they need to be able to translate this into exactly what resource and technology is needed to achieve results.

The role of a Digital Manager is one, which often get’s left behind at the expense of Digital Leadership roles.  Digital Leadership is the ultimate business champion for the digital agenda across the business.  A Digital Manager has the solid knowledge in terms of delivery and execution to make it happen.

3) The Digital Specialist.  Finally how does the Digital Specialist today know when they become a generalist of tomorrow?  Something quite unique to the digital world is how fast a generalist role needs to be split into specialist areas.  To stick with the example of social media, when it was a fad for some or early adopted by others, the world of social media was owned and managed by the PR or Marketing team.  Very soon after we saw people being employed as social media managers, directors etc, that was about 7 years ago give or take.  This is where many companies still are, but those who have understood the science of social and it’s value to so many different areas of the business have done one of three things – or a combo thereof:  segment out the skills in social media into separate headcount, include the social management for the business within a senior headcount or invest and or employ the services of sophisticated software or skilled agencies.

As each digital area becomes segmented through ease of access, more sophisticated access and data access, there comes the need to have someone capable of harnessing these to gain business advantage.  What’s missing is the recognition of this cycle of change. Training and skills organisations need to be able to deal with this cycle.  There is hope.  We are seeing more and more bite sized training models being adopted by organisations making it easier for courseware to be created – we are also seeing a digital revolution happen in the world of training and development with an increasing amount of individuals seeking to self learn and adopt virtual learning methods.

Back to the question at large.  Knowing the digital age is only set to diversify and segment even further with time, how are we as businesses going to be able to see what’s coming?  Can we plan for it?  Do we simply wait and see?  Well it doesn’t have to be all about wait and see – because if we are unable to grasp the opportunity of digital as and when it arises we are missing something fundamental.

What’s needed is a change.  A big change.  There is talk of social business and how that will change the established business model borne of the industrial revolution forever.  Well, it’s time to also rethink learning and development.  Technology, Marketing, Sales, Customer Service, Management, HR, Finance, Supply Chain, it’s difficult to think of an area of business not affected by the digital revolution.  And each one in it’s own right is demanding access to changing digital skills and changing digitally skilled talent.

What can you do?

Here are our 5 key points to keep you ahead.

1) Make sure your business gets real.  If the commitment and understanding is not there at the top in terms of digital then rethink your strategy.  First and foremost you have to get a level of understanding amongst the most senior members of the organisation.  Digital is a boardroom agenda point.  Make it so.  One very important point to mention here is to ensure that any digital agenda discussed and adopted by your organisation must not start and finish with IT.  It has to include all areas of the business.

2) Get digital metrics or some basic digital KPIs into management reporting – whether it’s customer service, automation, online leads and sales…get the language and the reporting as high up the ladder as possible.

3) Don’t play what we call Recruitment Mousetrap…employing people and skills you ‘think’ you need but don’t really know you need – what will happen is that person will be set for failure unless they are extraordinary individuals.  Recruit when you absolutely know you need that skill and need it on a permanent basis.  Be clear about the level of skill.  A way to dodge the Recruitment Mousetrap game and benefit from accessing the skills you need is to employ people on a project basis, on an interim basis.  Employing temporary staff in a new discipline mitigates the risk of finding out 6 – 12 months down the track you need someone totally different.

A word of caution on recruitment:  When seeking out the a new headcount it has never been more important to define the role to the last detail for specific skills as there is a growing lack of consistency across the talent pool when you measure against roles.  What I am saying is we can’t compare apples with apples anymore.  People’s job titles, skills and experience are increasingly personal to them so you have to invest time to flesh out the job description.

4) Encourage and commit to on-going learning and development.  This is the only way you can keep abreast of what’s going on in digital.  Putting a staff member onto an expensive digital marketing course has its benefits but there is no substitute for on-going development and access to learning materials as and when they are required.  If you employ the services of an agency, investigate what resources they have available to you and your team.  Work with your HR department to rethink the training requirements for your teams to include a mixture of learning methods to suit individual needs as well as access to up to date training.

5) Keep abreast of digital trends.  Things are always changing in digital, as in life, that’s the only constant.  Find ways of staying on top of digital trends.  A simple way to do this is to use one of the content aggregator tools available out there.  They are mostly free:  Swayy, Google Currents, Push, Zite – you can put in the subject areas you want to keep up to date with and they will deliver to your mobile device every time you login.

This isn’t the definitive list of do’s and don’ts to address the digital skills gap – but it’s a start and I hope it helps you by provoking thought if nothing more.

The key is to remember that digital skills apply to three areas of the business.  That what exists today will not be the blueprint for success tomorrow.  Accepting change as a constant and addressing that within your business model will draw far greater success than waiting until it’s too late and your competitor got there before you.

Mel Ross