The Future of IT and Digital Transformation Leadership

Already, 91% of businesses are undergoing some type of digital initiative. According to Gartner research 87% of senior business leaders say digitization is a top priority. Digital transformation leadership is essential to guide these efforts for success — especially when you consider that spending on digital transformation strategies already exceeds $2.15 trillion globally.

Transforming your business is complex and there is a risk involved. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) research shows that 70% of transformations fail to meet their objectives. Strong leadership in the digital era is crucial to improving your odds. This requires IT innovation management, a strong IT and business alignment, and a digital transformation leader who can drive the process effectively.

There is a difference between digital optimization and digital transformation, yet many businesses confuse the two. Optimization is an effort to improve efficiency and automation. Digital transformation is a rethinking of the way you do business and develop new revenue streams. This requires strong business skills and emotional intelligence that go beyond simply understanding technology.

Emerging IT Leadership Trends and Roles


Digital transformation leadership roles are evolving as well. Companies are hiring people with titles such as:

  • Chief Digital Officer (CDO) 
  • Chief Transformation Officer (CTO)
  • Vice President of Digital Transformation 


You will notice that digital has replaced IT in these job titles. While leadership in the digital era requires technical expertise, effective transformation leaders are not all coming from the IT world.

Digital transformation for leaders also requires a significant commitment from the CEO and Board to be effective. There is often a shift in power dynamics within the organization because digital transformation leaders work across departments and functions. Other executives may feel threatened by a lack of control or diminished influence, so digital and IT leadership must be able to intelligently navigate through these situations to be effective.

Essential Skills for Future IT Leaders


IT innovation management demands significantly more than what has been asked of IT leadership in the past. It requires a blend of technical skills and soft skills.

Technical Skills 

Technology is constantly evolving, so digital transformation leadership must be well-versed in the latest trends to avoid falling behind. Today’s list of technical skills includes:

  • Cloud computing
  • Cloud infrastructure
  • Cybersecurity
  • Data analytics
  • AI and machine learning
  • IoT


Yet, evolution is happening rapidly, especially with AI. Digital transformation strategies must include a focus on continuous learning to stay on top of tomorrow’s needs.

Soft Skills 

With such profound potential for change, soft skills will be increasingly important. Digital transformation leadership skills will need to include:

  • Strategic thinking: Aligning technology with business goals
  • Communication: Explaining the reasons for the change and the impact of failing to adapt
  • Adaptability: Flexibility to change even in uncertain economic conditions
  • Leadership: Ability to guide teams through transformation


These soft skills have a significant impact on success. Many digital transformation strategies fail because leaders overlook or ignore the human component involved. Digital and IT innovation management must include a focus on change management to help team members adapt and adopt new technology and processes.

Digital Transformation Strategies and Frameworks 


Several popular digital transformation frameworks can be used as guides, including:

MIT Sloan's Digital Transformation Framework

MIT focuses on transforming customer experience, operational processes, and business models with the true transformation occurring at their intersection.

Gartner's Digital Business Technology Platform

Gartner emphasizes modernizing information systems, enhancing customer experience, leveraging IoT, building digital ecosystems, and utilizing intelligence for insights and automation.

McKinsey's 4D's

McKinsey focuses on what it calls the 4D’s of digital reinvention: Discover opportunities, Design strategies, Deliver initiatives, and De-risk the transformation process.

Cognizant's Digital Transformation Framework

Cognizant concentrates on digitizing customer experience, products and services, operations, and the ecosystem to create value.

Six Stages of Digital Transformation

This framework emphasizes a digital maturity model, progressing from "Business as Usual" to "Innovative and Adaptive" to guide organizations through incremental improvements.

The framework you choose is likely less important than the digital transformation leadership you need to drive the process. It takes an experienced professional with a broad set of skills to be effective.

Aligning IT with Business Goals


In the race to change, many companies forget a key foundational component: Digital and IT leadership success demand alignment with business goals. Systems and solutions must track back to your goals and objectives.

There must be clear communication and collaboration with various stakeholders within the organization, starting with the C-suite and the Board to understand strategic priorities. Your transformation roadmap needs to include pathways and milestones to goal achievement, connecting your technological changes to your goals.

Digital transformation strategies also require developing KPIs to measure success and evaluation points to ensure changes are delivering the results you need.

Leadership in the Digital Era


Digital transformation leadership must be agile and innovative.

Agile Leadership

McKinsey & Company reports that highly agile transformations deliver 30% gains in efficiency, employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and operational performance. Agile leaders excel at:

  • Embracing iterative processes and rapid prototyping
  • Empowering teams to make decisions and take ownership
  • Continuously reassessing and adjusting strategies based on results and feedback


Innovation Management 

Digital transformation is not always a straight line. Digital transformation leadership should encourage innovation within teams, allocating resources for experimentation and learning from failures. Discovering stumbling blocks early in the process can mitigate bigger problems as your transformation occurs.

Often, the best ideas come from a cross-functional collaboration. Cross-functional teams bring different viewpoints and expertise to the process, helping you find creative solutions and accommodate different perspectives that might otherwise be overlooked.

Finding the Right Digital Transformation Leadership


As organizations continue to evolve, the demand for skilled digital transformation leadership will only increase. You need a leader who can balance technical knowledge, business acumen, and leadership skills to transform your business.

Find the digital transformation leadership you need. Contact the experts at PIXCELL, your trusted executive search partner.

Business Insights

Innovation and Collaboration: Highlights from CFR Global Executive Search Conference in Montreal 2024

CFR Global Executive Search is an alliance of independent executive search companies that combine to create one of the world’s most robust recruiting networks — helping members serve clients globally.

Executive woman working in manufacturing and egineering

Overcoming Challenges in Manufacturing & Engineering Executive Recruitment

The manufacturing and engineering sectors are facing unprecedented hurdles in securing top-tier talent, creating significant executive management recruitment challenges.

business executives discussing about hiring HR manager.

The Evolving Role of HR Executives: How Executive Search is Adapting

How has the role of HR management changed and evolved? There has been a significant evolution of HR management roles in the past few years.