BE THE GRYPHON

HOW TO CHANGE YOUR ORGANISATIONS

TRAJECTORY THROUGH DIGITAL BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION

THE NEED FOR LEADERS

NOW IS TO CONSIDER
HOW THEY GO ABOUT
TRANSFORMING THEIR
ENTIRE ORGANISATION
FOR A DIGITAL WORLD

BE THE GRYPHON

FOREWORD

WHAT POINT HAVE

ORGANISATIONS
REACHED ON THEIR
DIGITAL BUSINESS
TRANSFORMATION
JOURNEYS, AND WHAT
IS POSSIBLE?
There is an urgency and momentum building behind digital business transformation, as organisations
reimagine, reshape and retool for an era in which traditional boundaries are being broken. The
accelerated progression of technology and its rapid uptake by consumers has pushed the topic of digital
business transformation to the top of the agenda in boardrooms globally. The opportunity, or existential
threat, that these seismic changes represent are focusing the minds of business leaders on the future
of their organisations and industries as never before.

BE THE GRYPHON

We are fascinated to see what happens next; to identify

the point that organisations have reached on their
digital business transformation journeys and to explore
both what is possible and where the pitfalls may lie.
Ovum, supported by SapientNitro, set out to interview
50 CEOs (or equivalent) from large organisations in
Europe who have recently activated a digital business
transformation initiative. Our aims are to understand
and share the stage of maturity of digital business
transformation initiatives in Europe, and to define the
leadership strategies and issues as well as projected
timescales and budget considerations.
This white paper sets out both analysis of the
research results and prescription for senior executives
to progress towards successful digital business
transformation outcomes.

Email: infowebsite@sapient.com
Phone: +44 0 207 786 4500
Web: www.sapientnitro.com
Twitter: @sapientnitro
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SapientNitro
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sapientnitro

NIGEL VAZ

GERRY BROWN

SVP and European

Managing Director

Senior Analyst,
Customer Engagement,
Digital Technology

SapientNitro

Ovum

BE THE GRYPHON

WHY THIS PAPER?

WHY NOW?

CONSUMERS' RAPID
UPTAKE AND USE
OF TECHNOLOGY HAS
REVEALED A DIGITAL LAG
WITHIN MANY COMPANIES
We use the term digital business transformation for a reason. The need for leaders now is to consider
how they go about transforming their entire business for a digital world, rather than digitising a piece
of it or adding limited digital revenues as an adjunct. While the two-word term digital transformation
has meant different degrees of change to different organisations, digital business transformation
represents a commercial imperative of an entirely higher order. It compels business leaders to radically
rethink the ways in which their entire organisation will meet consumers whose adoption and use
of technology are, in many instances, significantly more advanced.

BE THE GRYPHON

A fundamental challenge for many companies is that

increasingly they lag behind their customers expectations
and requirements. New standards of service and experience
are being set by the likes of Apple, Amazon and Google
among others. Legacy businesses with analogue systems
and processes are judged by these new standards and find
themselves obsolete or antiquated by comparison.

EUROPES
67BN DIGITAL
BUSINESS
TRANSFORMATION
MARKET

Digital business transformation is the means by which

companies effect organisational change, and close the
gap between customers expectations and the service
and experience they receive. For an airline this means
reimagining what travel in a digital world looks like, rather
than merely digitising the travel process for a physical world.
In automotive, it means acknowledging that the modern carbuyer is focused more on the digital services that a car and its
network environment may offer than what is under the hood.

In support of Ovums research among CEOs of large

organisations in Europe, SapientNitro carried out research
to identify the size of the European digital business
transformation market. With a market scope that combines
software and digital services, digital advertising expenditure,
agency and production fees, we have identified a digital
business transformation market size of 67bn ($74.6bn)
for Europe.

One does not have to look far for evidence of this shift in
power. Juan Olaizola, Chief Operating Officer of Santander
UK, in a recent Financial Times article on digital banking,
was quoted as saying that massive growth in smartphones
means the bank has to respond at a speed that we dont
control a speed previously unknown to banks.

Digital business transformation, then, is about challenging

and changing ingrained perceptions about what a company is,
does and says in order to increase relevance to customers.

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BE THE GRYPHON

DIGITAL BUSINESS
TRANSFORMATION AND
THE GRYPHON ZONE

GRYPHONS DISRUPT OUR

UNDERSTANDING OF THE
WORLD; THEY COMBINE
THE BEST TECHNOLOGIES,
SERVICES AND EXPERIENCE
The primary drivers for digital business transformation are either significant opportunity or existential
threat. The opportunity to reimagine the service and experience your organisation offers, to increase
relevance and revenue, will often feel like something that it can get to later. The case for digital
business transformation in the face of existential threat is one that is far easier to make.
Many business leaders have been stung into action by the realisation that the need to actively defend
their position has taken on a new dimension the threat of being superseded by an unseen, aggressive
and digitally oriented predator that comes from outside the historical competitive set.
The predator metaphor is a useful one through which to understand the digital business transformation
imperative. In any ecosystem, its living things interact and evolve together; behaviours and hierarchy
develop in a form that promotes equilibrium. In a business context, large and successful organisations
have established themselves as a set of traditional apex predators an ascent based on their decades,
or even centuries, of expertise, evolution and depth of capability within a defined industry sector.
When a new predator arrives suddenly in this ecosystem, which looks and behaves differently from
anything seen before, it causes traditional predators to struggle because its sudden incursion stretches
the limit of their comprehension and ability to react. Where the Gryphon of legend was half lion, half
eagle and consequently dominant among all creatures, the business Gryphon is equipped with powerful
hybrid capabilities, an original approach and the ability to move freely across the Gryphon Zone,
where traditional territorial demarcation is obsolete.
Gryphons are born every day. They disrupt our understanding of the world as it exists today, and
instinctively break previously assumed boundaries to combine the best of technologies, services and
experiences. AeroMobil, a flying car that will soon go to market, is both a near-literal physical example

13

BE THE GRYPHON

Figure 1:

of the hybrid Gryphon and an example of Gryphon business

characteristics defying conventions, crossing industry sectors
and harnessing mixed technologies. Gryphon-like attributes
can be seen in the rapid advances of businesses such as Uber
in transportation, airbnb in home rentals, Spotify in music
(notably, streaming has already disrupted the emergent
download market) and Buzzfeed in media.
It would be incorrect to assume, however, that the speed,
agility and technological power that digital startups display
mean the Gryphon Zone can be accessed by them alone.
Googles entrance into the driverless car market has galvanized
innovation in the automotive industry. Amazon has had a
similar effect on the outsourced computer services business
with its launch of AWS (Amazon Web Services).
To be a Gryphon organisation is not about age or size,
but about state of mind. Apple is an example of a large
organisation that continually reinvents itself by creating
product lines like Apple Watch and iPhone that supplant
previously successful lines such as the iPod itself a byproduct
of Apples conquest of the music industry. Netflix, similarly,
had a pure movies-by-mail business that successfully rivalled
its entrenched, larger competitor Blockbuster yet it was
only when Netflix disrupted itself and embraced the emerging
technology of video streaming that it became a true giantkiller. It took another leap forward when it reimagined a future
in which it was not merely an entertainment pipe, and began
to create its own original programming.
It is here that the idea of the Gryphon has important parallels
with the digital business transformation imperative. The
leaders of companies exploring, or embarking upon, digital
business transformation initiatives are effectively on a quest
to transmute from traditional predator to Gryphon and to
access the Gryphon Zone the space and time that will allow
them to defend and expand; to repel territorial incursions,
certainly, but also to re-imagine and re-engineer their
businesses for future success.

14

CHARACTERISTICS OF A GRYPHON ORGANISATION

TO BE A GRYPHON
ORGANISATION IS NOT
ABOUT AGE OR SIZE, BUT
ABOUT STATE OF MIND

COLLABORATIVE STRUCTURE
Organisational culture and/or defined processes
by which key executive stakeholders and functions
unite behind digital business transformation

ALL-EMBRACING APPROACH
A holistic, company-wide commitment
to reshape and retool for a digital future

DIGITAL CORE
Digital as a core competence
not a bolt-on

ONGOING COMMITMENT TO CHANGE

CUSTOMER-CENTRIC

Recognise that change is iterative

and permanent

Business is built around the

belief that consumers and rapid
uptake of technology are the
drivers of change

DISRUPTIVE CULTURE

AGILITY AND SPEED

A willingness to challenge norms and

disrupt itself in order to enter new
markets and categories

VISIONARY LEADERSHIP
A CEO and leadership team that leads digital
business transformation within the organisation
and drives ongoing change and improvements

The ability to pivot and the notion

of speed itself being a competitive
advantage

HYBRID SKILLS
Marketing and technology skills
and roles are increasingly hybrid

BE THE GRYPHON

Figure 2:

WHAT IS YOUR DIGITAL BUSINESS

TRANSFORMATION AGENDA?
A FORMAL BUSINESS DOCUMENT

22%

A STRATEGIC INTENT

44%

THE EFFECTIVENESS
OF DIGITAL BUSINESS
TRANSFORMATION
STRATEGIES WILL BECOME
AN UNDERLYING SURVIVAL
AND SUCCESS FACTOR
Digital business transformation means transforming an entire business for a digital world, rather than
digitising piecemeal. For would-be Gryphon organisations, digital business transformation is a wholecompany issue an all-embracing, top-to-bottom approach to adding digital technologies and digital
competencies that will positively disrupt their business and grow their market opportunity.

A BOARDROOM DISCUSSION

34%
N=50
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Ovum on behalf of SapientNitro

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BE THE GRYPHON

At present, however, some organisations take a more

piecemeal approach to digital business transformation,
focusing on digitising processes or isolated business units or
functions. Often digital business transformation is confined to
individual digital programmes or projects that may pertain to
just a small number of departments or even just one, such
as marketing. Such pockets of digital transformation will
have to be connected if they are to have genuine, sustainable
impact on business performance.
Ovums research identified three main stages in digital
business transformation concept development: creating
a strategic intent; having a boardroom discussion and
strategy debate; and creating a tangible and formal business
document that articulates the scope of the challenge and the
resources and timescales required to execute.
We found that 44% of CEOs planning a digital business
transformation project have a strategic intent. This is the
lowest form of commitment to action, and reflects an ideation
phase. For 34% of CEOs, digital business transformation is a
boardroom discussion, which reflects an initiation phase for
gaining buy-in from functional department heads. Twentytwo percent have created a formal business document, which
reflects imminent digital project activation.

18

THE IMPACT OF NEW

DIGITALLY EMPOWERED
PLAYERS IS CREATING NEW
EXPECTATIONS OF SERVICE
AND EXPERIENCE ACROSS
CATEGORIES

BE THE GRYPHON

FINDING
Most organisations are still in their early stages of planning
digital business transformation. In reality, few are advanced
and most are assessing their strategies and evaluating how
to progress from legacy enterprise systems, departmental
systems and point solutions towards an integrated wholecompany digital capability.

RECOMMENDATION
Large organisations need urgently to begin a board-level
discussion to create a digital business transformation
strategy and intent. The effectiveness of digital business
transformation strategies will become a key underlying
survival and success factor for large organisations to 2020
and beyond. Such transformations are essential if businesses
are to deliver customer-centricity. The impact of new digitally
empowered players is creating new expectations of service
and experience across every category.

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BE THE GRYPHON

Figure 3:

EXECUTIVES NOMINATED TO DRIVE THE DIGITAL

BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION AGENDA

NO

32%

TRUE DIGITAL BUSINESS

TRANSFORMATION DOES
NOT DEVELOP IN ONE
AREA OF A BUSINESS,
BUT IS DRIVEN FROM THE
TOP AND PERMEATES THE
ENTIRE ORGANISATION
All 50 CEOs considered themselves to be the primary strategic driver of digital business transformation.
This is key to the realisation of the Gryphon Zone opportunity, where a strategic organisational
understanding of opportunity, purpose and capabilities is crucial. True digital business transformation
does not develop in one area of a business, but is driven from the top and permeates the entire
organisation.
Only four CEOs replied that all department heads should be responsible for digital business
transformation. This is an enlightened view common to organisations that understand the Gryphon
ideal of power and skill sets working in balance. Digital should not be perceived as the domain of a
single department, as digital should touch all functions of an organisation. Primary digital stakeholders
include IT, marketing, sales, service, finance and the operational supply chain.

YES

68%

N=50 / N = 34
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Ovum on behalf of SapientNitro

CMO

26%

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BE THE GRYPHON

However, more than two-thirds of CEOs (68%) had nominated

another single executive to drive the operational digital
business transformation programme. Of the 34 CEOs who
had nominated an executive to drive the digital business
transformation agenda, nearly half (47%) nominated the
CIO (chief information officer) or CTO (chief technology
officer). This is nearly twice as many as those that nominated
the CMO (26%). The key stakeholders in digital business
transformation projects are therefore the CEO, the CIO and
the CMO in that order.
The approach may reflect an operational pragmatism, rather
than any intent to isolate the digital business transformation
programme within the organisation. It is worth exploring the
reasons for the prioritisation of CIO/CTO over CMO in order to
understand the challenges for organisations as they seek to
develop Gryphon-like strength in balance.
In a separate 2014 Ovum research study of c. 5,000 ICT
executive respondents globally, Ovum asked how influential
various organisational roles are when making IT selection and
purchasing decisions. Eighty-three per cent rated the CIO / IT
department as highly influential or influential; CEOs were
rated second with 69%, while the CMO / marketing director
was rated eighth with 56% (behind CFOs, sales directors,
business units heads, and external analysts / consultants).

DIGITAL SHOULD NOT BE

PERCEIVED AS THE DOMAIN
OF A SINGLE DEPARTMENT,
AS DIGITAL SHOULD TOUCH
ALL FUNCTIONS OF
AN ORGANISATION

BE THE GRYPHON

FINDINGS
Such is the importance of digital business transformation
that all 50 CEOs interviewed considered themselves to be
the leader of their companys digital business transformation
agenda. Digital business transformation is perceived as
one initiative that cannot be delegated down into the
management ranks.
Over two-thirds of CEOs nominated a lieutenant to lead the
digital business transformation charge. In nearly half (47%)
of these instances, the CIO or CTO was nominated, followed
by the CMO with 26% of responses.

RECOMMENDATION
Digital business transformation is much wider and larger
than singularly a marketing or IT issue. The CEO, the
CIO / CTO and the CMO should be the key leaders jointly
responsible for the overall success by combining the best
of their constituent parts. While the CIO / CTO is closer to
process and technology and can drive organisational change,
the CMO must provide a significant contribution towards the
business and customer requirements gathering process.

CEOs recognise their leadership role in digital business

transformation, whereas in other IT projects the CIO takes
the lead. For Gryphon-level gains, understanding that digital
business transformation requires a collaborative approach in
which the CMO, as well as other key stakeholders, participate
is crucial.

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BE THE GRYPHON

Figure 4:

FORCES AFFECTING THE ADOPTION OF DIGITAL

BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION
IT-RELATED CHALLENGES

BUSINESS-RELATED CHALLENGES
SPEED OF
IMPLEMENTATION

IT ARCHITECTURE

BUSINESS KNOWLEDGE

DIGITAL EXPERTISE

DIGITAL
TRANSFORMATION

BUSINESS CASES
AND ROI

SHADOW IT

DIFFERENCES IN
EXPERTISE AND
CULTURE BETWEEN
MARKETING AND IT CAN
BE HARNESSED TO A
MORE POWERFUL END
Organisations that fully embark on digital business transformation journeys understand that the
experience of the customer is the most reliable measure of brand performance. Separation between
the way that a brand communicates with customers and their experience of the brand is now an
anachronism; experience is forcing the brand promise, technology and operational capability within the
business to come together.
This creates some tensions between the juxtaposed functions of marketing and IT; one is the promise
of the business, the other is the delivery of that promise which touch at the point of experience.
Many CMOs understand the issues a business needs to go through owing to their proximity to
customers, but it is rarely they who are entrusted with transformation. The CIO/CTO is typically
someone who can facilitate internal change, as they are closer to process and technology.
IT and marketing co-existence is important as marketing departments and operations rarely have
the capabilities, capacity and appetite to devise a strategic IT vision and build an architectural IT
platform. However, digital business transformation requires in-depth knowledge of business functions
and business processes, which IT seldom possesses. IT departments can therefore only effectively
implement digital business transformation by collaborating with end-user departments. Internal
collaboration is improving, especially in regards to developing joint digital business transformation
business cases.

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BE THE GRYPHON

The most important IT decision-making criterion (stated

by 36% of ICT executives) is ROI a calculation that the IT
department knows well but marketers notoriously struggle
with in an IT purchasing context. Multi-year strategic digital
business transformation programmes require large and
phased capital budget management and ongoing supplier
liaison that are best suited to the skill sets of IT departments
with experience in managing such technical deployments.
Although marketing (the CMO) and IT (the CIO) are
increasingly recognising their co-dependency in building and
developing digital capabilities, cultural differences still exist.
Marketing is traditionally very right brain (emotional) in how
it thinks and works. Marketers decipher customers needs
and wants into products, services and value propositions that
engage and excite the customer. Conversely, IT is often very
left brain (logical) in how it thinks and works. IT departments
engineer and service technical products and services that
enable the efficient and effective functioning of organisations.
Hence ITs systematic logic acts as a counterbalance to the
creativity of marketing to create a dynamic tension.
The most important element from a marketer's perspective
is the ability to execute immediately. Marketers are typically
required to be highly market responsive and opportunistic
in their behaviour as windows of opportunity open and close
quickly in todays hyper-competitive real-time environment.
This has encouraged marketing managers to fund SaaS
marketing solutions (shadow IT) from operational marketing
budgets to speed things up.
From an IT governance perspective, digital platform provision
is key. IT departments are keen to avoid the proliferation of
point digital solution tools, which have led to integration,
scalability and servicing issues and can run contrary to the
digital business transformation agenda. IT wishes to own
the technical architecture and the platform that defines the
context and scope for marketers and other departments to
choose their own digital tools.

26

THE EXPERIENCE OF THE

CUSTOMER IS FORCING BRAND
PROMISE, TECHNOLOGY AND
OPERATIONAL CAPABILITY
WITHIN THE BUSINESS
TO COME TOGETHER

BE THE GRYPHON

The Gryphon ideal of distinct skills coming together to create

something more powerful than the sum of its parts is apposite
here. The Gryphon is the imagined combination of two very
different but powerful beasts; the differences in culture and
priority between marketing and IT create a tension that can
be harnessed to a more powerful end than would have been
the case were they to remain isolated from one another.
CIOs and CMOs clearly need to be more communicative,
collaborative and demonstrate mutual understanding.

FINDINGS
Fundamental tensions between the differing cultures and goals
of IT and marketing remain. However, at the organisational
level there is improved understanding of the need for the CIO
and the CMO to collaborate in order to succeed with digital
business transformation.
CIOs and CTOs are equipped to deliver the technical solutions,
while CMOs understand their customers needs. Hence
CIOs lead digital business transformation projects, whereas
CMOs mostly act as influencers and recommenders. CEOs
underwrite and hold overall governance for digital business
transformation.

RECOMMENDATION
Collaboration and communication between the CIO and
the CMO are important to achieve Gryphon-like power
in balance. Organisations should endeavour to build and
maintain a culture in which collaboration between these
two key executive roles is natural and frictionless. A more
formal approach is to develop a joint performance charter that
commits both parties to budget and resource investments in
the form of a joint service level agreement (SLA). SLAs need
to be visible to the management team and should define
digital business transformation roles, responsibilities, and
performance and KPI commitments.
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BE THE GRYPHON

Figure 5:

NEW HYBRID JOB TITLES ARE EMERGING TO TAKE

THE IT / MARKETING MANTLE

MARKETING

CHIEF MARKETING
TECHNOLOGY OFFICER
HEAD OF DIGITAL
CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER
CHIEF CUSTOMER OFFICER

IT

THROUGH NEW BLENDED

ROLES AND JOB TITLES OR
THROUGH STRUCTURED
INTERDEPARTMENTAL
CO-OPERATION, A HYBRID
APPROACH REPRESENTS
THE GRYPHON IDEAL
The emergence of new roles and jobs titles within organisations reflects an implicit understanding
that traditional structures and siloes run contrary to the digital business transformation imperative.
We see both overarching, organisation-wide digital roles and blended marketing roles being created.
Enlightened organisations recognise that the hybrid, or Gryphon approach, can be as powerful on an
executive or departmental level as it is on an organisational level indeed they are all key to effecting
the organisational change that digital business transformation must drive.
The notion of a chief marketing technology officer (CMTO) is a reflection of organisations
understanding that it is through such roles and titles that marketing will be properly connected
to technology. Other titles we observe are head of digital, chief digital officer (CDO) and chief
customer officer (CCO). Lack of knowledge with regard to digital within executive teams can hamper
development; often these digital specialists reverse mentor executives to bring them up to speed
with the latest digital technology developments.

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BE THE GRYPHON

Marketing roles are in similar flux in response to digital

developments. Consider these job titles used by global brands:
VP digital, loyalty and marketing; ecommerce and marketing
director; director of customer data and relationships, director
of CRM, consumer data and privacy; chief innovation
officer and VP product marketing; and manager of web and
multichannel development; head of omnichannel; and head
of customer experience.
These blended job titles reflect different strains of digital
and marketing marriage, with each job title customised to
reflect the different operating characteristics and priorities
of brands. Digital marketing is not yet a generic, universally
common discipline and these active, focused job titles provide
commercial accountability for a clear operational end goal.
A big part of digital business transformation is bringing the
customer into the organisation as a source of innovation.
Ovums 2014 study into customer communications
revealed that 20% of UK executives were concerned that
no one in their (large) organisations had overall customer
communications responsibilities across marketing, sales,
services and operations. As a result, companies such as
Barclays and Shop Direct have recently appointed
customer directors.
Shop Directs motivation for appointing a customer director
was to become customer-focused and customer-led and to
bring the customer into the business. The customer director
is tasked with customer retention and loyalty, aligning
customer needs to strategic business initiatives and executing
a customer engagement roadmap in support of strategic
business objectives.
The establishment of customer directors highlights a risk to
marketing of being confined to a customer acquisition role,
with less influence over customer-driven innovation and
retention. It remains to be seen whether customer director
becomes the Gryphon role into which the most capable
marketers develop or to which they subordinate.

30

ONLY THOSE CMOs WITH

A BOARD-LEVEL VOICE
WILL SIGNIFICANTLY
INFLUENCE DIGITAL BUSINESS
TRANSFORMATION STRATEGY

BE THE GRYPHON

The status of marketing within the organisation also affects

its role in digital business transformation. Those marketing
departments that focus on sales support or short term
marketing promotional programmes will have little influence
on digital business transformation. Only those CMOs with a
board-level voice will significantly influence digital business
transformation strategy. The main concern of CMOs should
be to ensure the brand narrative is upheld and delivered
coherently across all online and offline channels so that
customer experience is optimal and differentiated.

FINDING
A minority (9%) of organisations nominated an executive to
drive the digital business transformation agenda whose title
or remit was non-traditional neither marketing nor IT, nor
specific to the transformation agenda. The emergence of a
host of hybrid roles and job titles reflects an understanding
that marketing and technology must be properly connected
at an executive, as well as at an organisational, level
and that traditional structures and siloes run contrary to
successful digital business transformation.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Customer experience, as a paramount indicator of brand
performance, is forcing brand promise and technology
together. At an organisational level it is crucial to develop
and embrace hybrid skill sets. Whether through new roles
such as CMTO or through structured co-operation between
marketing and IT, this hybrid approach represents the
Gryphon ideal.
CMOs need more aggressively to step up to the plate and
provide tangible digital business transformation project
scoping contributions. A key business outcome that CMOs
should own is to empower all customer touchpoints to deliver
the brand narrative and ensure that customer experience is
universally excellent and differentiated.
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BE THE GRYPHON

Figure 6:

IS THE DIGITAL BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION

EXECUTIVE AN EXISTING TEAM MEMBER?

THE DIGITAL BUSINESS

TRANSFORMATION
CZAR FROM INSIDE
OR OUTSIDE THE
ORGANISATION?

NEW

6%

The vast majority of CEOs (94%) consider the appointment of an existing experienced manager as the
digital business transformation czar to be the correct approach. The internal recruitment approach
enables the utilisation of existing knowledge of the business, its processes and its leaders and will
help to ensure a harmonious fit of digital products and services to meet the organisations needs. If, in
combination with the CEOs strategic leadership of the digital business transformation programme, an
organisation can create the culture and conditions for positive disruption of their business, then this
internal recruitment approach can be powerful. However, the risk is that an internal appointment will
always stay within the guard rail and will not naturally be inclined, or pushed, to step forward and ask
the bigger existential questions about the future of the business. In this instance, existing processes are
digitized and the benefits to be gained from re-engineering business processes as part of a true top-tobottom digital business transformation will be lost.

EXISTING

94%
N = 34
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Ovum on behalf of SapientNitro

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BE THE GRYPHON

In our research, only two CEOs were recruiting externally

for an executive to lead their digital business transformation
initiatives. Interestingly, these two CEOs were two of the
four mentioned previously that nominated all departments
to drive digital business transformation. An external
appointment should circumvent any potential conflict
and departmental biases that might surface from the
appointment of an internal candidate. This may be an
emergent trend as businesses get to grips with the challenge
and scale of whole-company digital transformation.
In making external appointments, whether for a leader of
digital business transformation or other key roles within
the business, established organisations must resist any
tendency to actively hire people with a profile that is biased
toward being analytical and risk averse. These traits are the
opposite of what is required to build a transformational or
Gryphon mentality within the organisation. Organisations
setting themselves on a successful track to digital business
transformation recognise this deficit and are actively
augmenting their employees skill sets.
Food and drink conglomerate Mondelez International has
been vocal about an ambition to become one of the largest
technology companies in the world, and to compete with
tech giants for the top talent. Bonin Bough, Mondelez Vice
President of Global Media and Consumer Engagement, has
spoken of the need for organisations such as his to create
value by breaking things and breaking careers to compete in
the digital age.

ORGANISATIONS
SETTING THEMSELVES ON
A SUCCESSFUL TRACK
TO DIGITAL BUSINESS
TRANSFORMATION ARE
ACTIVELY AUGMENTING THEIR
EMPLOYEES SKILL SETS

BE THE GRYPHON

development and its marketing. Equally, at Telefnica, every

employee is measured on their contribution to disruption,
thereby ensuring the transformation or Gryphon mindset
is embedded as a cultural behaviour and business norm.
Telefnica, too, has a startup accelerator, Wayra, which funds
and supports entrepreneurs as a means to drive innovation
through the organisation.

FINDING
Most CEOs prefer internal executives rather than to
recruit external specialists to run their digital business
transformation programmes. While an internal executive
appointment will know the business and should be able
to leverage their credibility and contacts within the
organisation, this approach may limit the scope and
effectiveness of the digital transformation agenda.

RECOMMENDATION
A defined and active recruitment and learning development
process, aimed at counterbalancing any bias towards risk
aversion among the employee base, will equip organisations
with a talent profile better geared towards an entrepreneurial
mentality and the capability to do things differently, faster
and more disruptively.

Unilever has created The Foundry, a central ideas and

innovation hub where entrepreneurs, inventors and creatives
can connect, collaborate and co-create with brands on ideas,
fund pilot projects and secure VC funding for their inventions.
In fact, Unilever has a stated intent that by 2020 it wants
to increase its crowd-sourced co-creation 10-fold, radically
changing the way it approaches both brand and product

34

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BE THE GRYPHON

Figure 7:

TIMESCALES FOR DIGITAL

BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION
NOT KNOWN

THIS YEAR

20%

64%

5 YEARS

2%

ORGANISATIONS THAT
ARE IN PURSUIT OF THE
GRYPHON ZONE AND ITS
REWARDS UNDERSTAND
THAT THEY ARE ALWAYS IN
PURSUIT OF A NEW GOAL
Digital business transformation is akin to permanent disruption a self-imposed regimen that
recognises it not as a one-off activity but as an ongoing commitment to adapt in line with changing
customer needs and expectations. A good example of a strategic digital business transformation
programme is the UKs Nationwide Building Society, whose 1bn investment in digital business
transformation has now been running for more than five years. Insurance company Avivas digital
business transformation programme has also been active well in excess of this timeframe. This
is the kind of customer commitment required to truly enact organisation-wide digital business
transformations, which should include digital platform procurement, customer experience and journeys
management, cross-channel marketing capabilities and integrated customer data management.

2 YEARS

14%
N = 50
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Ovum on behalf of SapientNitro

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Set against these examples, the responses to Ovums question

about timescales and budgets were unconvincing: few
appeared to have a clear view of the necessary time and cost
requirements. Almost two-thirds of respondents replied this
year, which implies an urgent intent to do something, but
not the strategic perspective implied by an all-embracing
organisation-wide digital business transformation. The
respondents were given as prompts this year, two years,
three years and five years. Only one respondent replied
five years. Possibly respondents were under-estimating
the task ahead, or were considering a tactical programme,
but more likely they were unable to envision the strategic
roadmap. Indeed, for 20% of our sample the timescale answer
was not known.
Organisations that are in pursuit of the Gryphon Zone and
the rewards that come with it will need to understand that
they are always in pursuit of a new goal. Few, if any, products
and services are so perfectly evolved that they cannot be
superseded by a more useful, engaging, valuable, sustainable
or efficient offering. Equally, the way in which products and
services are sourced, manufactured, packaged, distributed,
retailed, serviced and, most importantly, experienced can
and should be challenged as part of the status quo. On a
daily basis this will mean small steps in evolving the brand
promise, customer experience and the way in which the
organisation does business. This mindset will equip and
enable organisations to make key evolutionary leaps that
disrupt and redefine categories and achieve long-term
sustainable growth. The reality of being in business today
is that the impact of digital technologies means that nothing
stands still for a day.

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SUCCESSFUL DIGITAL
TRANSFORMATION IS NOT
A ONE-OFF ACTIVITY BUT
AN ONGOING COMMITMENT
TO ADAPT IN LINE WITH
CHANGING CUSTOMER NEEDS
AND EXPECTATIONS

BE THE GRYPHON

In support of Ovums research among CEOs of large

organisations in Europe, SapientNitro carried out research
to identify the size of the European digital business
transformation market. With a market scope that combines
total expenditure on software and digital services, digital
advertising expenditure, agency and production fees, we
have identified a digital business transformation market
size of 67bn ($74.6bn) for Europe. The scale and scope
of investment across Europe suggests that organisations
recently embarking on digital business transformation have
yet to realise the timescales and costs required.

FINDING
Timescales for digital business transformation are as yet
poorly defined. When asked about timescales, nearly twothirds of CEOs (64%) answered this year. This reflects CEOs
urgency to get things moving, more than an understanding
of the time and budgets required for an iterative organisationwide digital business transformation.

RECOMMENDATION
Digital business transformation is no short-term fix. Leaders
need to commit significant resource levels over a five- to
10-year period and seek to elicit cultural change. However,
quick wins will be forthcoming and incremental benefits will
materialise as the programme progresses. An early stepchange in efficiency and effectiveness is not uncommon.

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BE THE GRYPHON

RECOMMENDATIONS

Large organisations need urgently to

begin a board-level discussion to create
a digital business transformation
strategy and intent. The effectiveness
of digital business transformation
strategies will become a key
underlying survival and success factor
for large organisations to 2020 and
beyond. Such transformations are
essential if businesses are to deliver
customer-centricity. The impact of
new digitally empowered players is
creating new expectations of service
and experience across every category.

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BE THE GRYPHON

Digital business transformation

is much wider and larger than
singularly a marketing or IT issue.
The CEO, the CIO / CTO and the CMO
should be the key leaders jointly
responsible for the overall success
by combining the best of their
constituent parts.

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BE THE GRYPHON

While the CIO / CTO is closer to

process and technology and can drive
organisational change, the CMO must
provide a significant contribution
towards the business and customer
requirements gathering process.

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BE THE GRYPHON

Collaboration and communication

between the CIO and the CMO
are important to achieve a Gryphonlike power in balance. Organisations
should endeavour to build and
maintain a culture in which
collaboration between these two
key executive roles is natural
and frictionless. A more formal
approach is to develop a joint
performance charter that commits
both parties to budget and resource
investments in the form of a joint
service level agreement (SLA).
SLAs need to be visible to the
management team and should define
digital business transformation roles,
responsibilities, and performance and
KPI commitments.
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BE THE GRYPHON

Customer experience, as a paramount

indicator of brand performance, is
forcing brand promise and technology
together. At an organisational level,
it is crucial to develop and embrace
hybrid skill sets. Whether through
new roles such as CMTO or through
structured co-operation between
marketing and IT, this hybrid approach
represents the Gryphon ideal.

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BE THE GRYPHON

CMOs need more aggressively to step

up to the plate and provide tangible
digital business transformation project
scoping contributions. A key business
outcome that CMOs should own is to
empower all customer touchpoints to
deliver the brand narrative and ensure
that customer experience is universally
excellent and differentiated.

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BE THE GRYPHON

A defined and active recruitment and

learning development process, aimed
at counterbalancing any bias toward
risk aversion among the employee
base, will equip organisations with a
talent profile better geared towards
an entrepreneurial mentality and the
capability to do things differently,
faster and more disruptively.

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APPENDIX

BE THE GRYPHON

BE THE GRYPHON

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

DISCLAIMER

The goal of this research project was to gain a better

understanding of the drivers of digital business
transformation initiatives within large organisations. Ovum
(on behalf of SapientNitro) conducted 50 telephone research
interviews with chief executive officers (or equivalent) in
companies with 500+ employees operating in Europe that
were considering or actioning digital business transformation
projects. Around 250 organisations were approached, so
around 1 in 5 (20%) of organisations were in the market.
Principal countries where these interviews took place were
France, Germany, Russia, the UK and Sweden.

All rights reserved.

Telephone interviews were time-sensitive and structured,

and were conducted in financial services, manufacturing,
media and entertainment, pharmaceuticals and healthcare,
professional services, public sector, telecommunications, and
transportation and logistics industries.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval

system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the
prior permission of the publishers, Ovum (an Informa business) or
SapientNitroSM (part of Publicis.Sapient).
The facts of this report are believed to be correct at the time of
publication but cannot be guaranteed. Please note that the findings,
conclusions and recommendations that Ovum and SapientNitro
deliver will be based on information gathered in good faith from both
primary and secondary sources, whose accuracy we are not always in
a position to guarantee. As such we can accept no liability whatever
for actions taken based on any information that may subsequently
prove to be incorrect.

FURTHER READING
ICT Enterprise Insights 2014/15 Global: IT Strategy
(August 2014), PT0040-000001

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