Many CIOs at leading companies have evolved their job descriptions to become change agents who champion business model innovation. But this change has not been the case for all CIOs, or to the same degree. Our study finds that leaders outside the IT organization have often, purposely or necessarily, become the digital leaders for their business.

1. Digital Leadership for
Business Transformation
The TCS 2020 Chief Information Officer Study
Roles & Responsibilities in Digital Business
TCS Business 4.0™ Institute

2. TCS 2020 CIO Study | Roles & Responsibilities
• How are CIOs navigating a complex and rapidly
evolving digital landscape?
• Where are their companies focusing their
digital initiatives?
• What kind of data is strategic?
• Where do they expect to find new
opportunities? And which competitive threats
do they face?
TCS surveyed more than 1,000 CIOs,
seeking answers to such questions as:
The TCS 2020 CIO Study

3. TCS 2020 CIO Study | Roles & Responsibilities
What Do Leaders Do Differently?
220
out of 1,010
Digital Leader companies have
• Enterprise-wide digitization initiatives
• Strong leadership in place
• Digitally enabled operating models
• Digital products and services
• High success with digital business
219
out of 1,010
Digital Follower companies have
• Digital initiatives still in pilot phase
• Only limited digitization
• Low success with digital business

4. TCS 2020 CIO Study | Roles & Responsibilities
Collaboration & Leadership
Who participates in digital transformation ideation and strategy?
3%
4%
9%
10%
12%
12%
13%
14%
15%
25%
26%
28%
40%
53%
75%
Distribution function
Sales function
Other functions
CFO office
Board of directors
CMO office
Procurement function
Legal function
Line-of-business heads
Strategy office
Human resource function
CEO
R&D/product development function
Production/manufacturing function
CIO office
Read More

5. TCS 2020 CIO Study | Roles & Responsibilities
Collaboration & Leadership
Who participates in digital transformation ideation and strategy?
76% 76%CIO
19% 14%Line-of-business heads
14% 9%Board of directors
Read More
Digital Leaders vs Digital Followers

6. TCS 2020 CIO Study | Roles & Responsibilities
Collaboration & Leadership
Who brings what to the transformation table?
CIO CIO CIO Strategy CEO
75% 61% 54% 51% 35%
Ideation
and Strategy
Governance Project
management
Alliances and
partnerships
Budget
Read More

7. TCS 2020 CIO Study | Roles & Responsibilities
Collaboration & Leadership
Who puts the CIO in charge of digital transformation?
73%
Digital Leader
Companies
50%
Digital Follower
Companies
54%
Other
Companies
Read More

8. TCS 2020 CIO Study | Roles & Responsibilities
Collaboration & Leadership
13%
14%
12%
LOB/division
heads
8%
8%
5%
CEO
10%
11%
5%
Chief strategy
officer
2%
1%
4%
Board of
directors
3%
6%
0%
Distribution head
5%
5%
0%
Production/
manufacturing head
Digital Leader Companies Other Companies Digital Follower Companies
Who else has been in charge of digital transformation?
2%
1%
1%
R&D head
Read More

9. TCS 2020 CIO Study | Roles & Responsibilities
Collaboration & Leadership
86% vs 75%
Board
86% vs 65%
CEO
86% vs 68%
C-suite
92% vs 73%
LOB heads
in percentage of time
Read More
How often does the CIO’s vision align with others’?
Digital Leaders vs Digital Followers

10. TCS 2020 CIO Study | Roles & Responsibilities
Job Descriptions & To Do Lists
What do CIOs spend their time doing?
Pursuing business
model innovation
Managing existing
IT infrastructure
Digital Leaders vs Digital Followers
63% vs 43%
37% vs 57%
Read More

11. TCS 2020 CIO Study | Roles & Responsibilities
Which activities do CIOs oversee?
Job Descriptions & To Do Lists
57%
60%
51%
47%
Existing IT infrastructure and
legacy information systems
Internet-of-Things-related systems
Development of new systems
to support existing business processes
Research on emerging technologies
Read More

12. TCS 2020 CIO Study | Roles & Responsibilities
What aspects of IT do CIOs manage?
Job Descriptions & To Do Lists
Digital Leader Companies Other Companies Digital Follower Companies
56%
47%
72%
Embedded/
IoT technologies
Researching
emerging tech
65%
45%
34%
Data
security
58%
29%
22%
Digital data
and analytics
56%
34%
25%
Improving
existing processes
51%
50%
51%
End-user
tech support
26%
27%
24%
Read More
58%
68%
55%
Existing/legacy IT

13. TCS 2020 CIO Study | Roles & Responsibilities
Percent of total answers; multiple answers permitted
Job Descriptions & To Do Lists
Where does innovation happen?
Read More
32%
30%
26%
12%
In a separate business
unit that reports to the
head of our company or
a division
In the IT
function
In business functions,
e.g., marketing, sales,
R&D, etc.
Elsewhere

14. TCS 2020 CIO Study | Roles & Responsibilities
In the IT function
Ahead of the curve: Digital Leader companies are 2X more likely
to have digital business developed by the IT department2X
Job Descriptions & To Do Lists
Where are companies most likely to conduct digital business
development?
53% 51% 45%
Consumer
packaged goods
Industrial
manufacturing
Retail
57% 57%
Insurance
firms
Media and
Entertainment companies
In a separate
business unit
Read More

15. TCS 2020 CIO Study | Roles & Responsibilities
How We Conducted the Study
1,010 CIOs
60% North America
40% Europe
11 industries
$1+ bn
revenues
$50+ mn
IT budget
75%
72%
Objective
To learn how CIOs in North America and Europe are navigating a complex and rapidly
evolving digital landscape, where their companies are focused, and how much traction
they’ve gained this past decade from those efforts.
Read More

16. Copyright © 2019 Tata Consultancy Services Limited
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TCS Business 4.0™ Institute
Copyright © 2019 Tata Consultancy Services Limited
Digital Leadership for
Business Transformation
The TCS 2020 Chief Information Officer Study