Even before the onset of COVID-19, customer expectations had been on the rise. Success requires delivering a distinctive customer experience at scale, and technology plays a central role in that delivery. With social distancing and economic upheaval likely driving durable changes to customer behavior, we expect these trends to accelerate. In this environment, the role of the CIO is becoming ever-more important in creating experiences that drive long-term market success.

Given these pressures, there are key technology programs that CIOs should spearhead, and key investments leading firms are making in their teams. Responding to novel customer demands and capturing revenue in a turbulent commercial environment requires delivering leading digital capabilities in an adaptive way, and CIOs should continue to elevate their teams and ways of working to succeed. By taking these steps, winning organizations can emerge from the crisis in better near-term financial health and on a better long-term footing than those that don’t.

The move to experiential sales and critical technology programs

The preferences, behaviors, and expectations of enterprise technology customers are changing. Many buyers are shifting from being product and solution-focused to seeking value-laden experiences from start to finish -- from identifying a problem, learning about solutions, to choosing a configuration and vendor, making the purchase, and finally using the product and realizing its value. In addition, they want sales interactions personalized to their needs and made easier through digital channels.

To outpace competitors, CIOs should consider the following investments:

Requirements for successful execution

Success is not guaranteed by these investments alone. Many technology firms have made significant financial investments, only to see their efforts stymied by a lack of alignment across the executive team and engagement between IT and business professionals.

To help avoid the pitfalls of historical transformation efforts, CIOs should advance these strategies by embedding them at all levels of the organization throughout the execution. We believe winning firms will do the following:

Embracing nimble execution

CIOs can support their IT strategy by leveraging a test, learn, and refine approach to enable rapid change. This encompasses the following three steps:

Leading an organization through this level of transformation will likely be impossible for the CIO without the right relationships in all departments of the organization. The CIO should continually adapt to support the wider business objectives through technology strategy. The correct investments in digital technology paired with successful execution is critical for success and necessary for survival, now more than ever. Last, the present crisis can make successful development of new digital capabilities all the more important for capturing opportunities and realizing business growth in the months to come.

Harry H. Datwani, principal at Deloitte Consulting LLP, brings 17 years of sales and sales transformation consulting experience to his clients, who represent a range of industries including technology, media, financial services and business services. He focuses on aligning sales strategy, process, operations and digital technology to drive growth and optimize returns on sales investments. He has a depth of experience in sales process design, sales compensation, customer experience and digital enablement tools.