Interim and fractional CDO in short
An interim or fractional CDO leads the digital and omnicommerce seat: digital channels, online revenue and the organisation that carries them into use. The interim connects product and channel choices to delivery and to the measures the business is run on, until a permanent CDO holds the seat and the digital business runs without the interim.
Connect digital channels to the business behind them.
Digital growth needs more than a roadmap for a website or app. Channels, online revenue, adoption and operating practices have to move together.
The interim CDO leads digital priorities and the organisation that carries them into use. The role connects product and channel choices to delivery and the measures used to manage the digital business.
When to bring in an interim CDO
- Online revenue has stopped growing, and nobody can say whether the cause is the offer, the channels, the platform or the organisation.
- An omnichannel replatforming is planned or under way, and stores, sites and apps must move to it without losing customers on the way.
- The business is in a turnaround and the digital seat is vacant at the moment its decisions weigh on the recovery.
When it is the wrong answer
- The digital direction is decided and held internally, and what is missing is a capability such as product, design or engineering. An Expertise brings it without taking the seat.
- The online business works, and the gap is in the systems behind it: platforms, suppliers, run cost. That is the CIO seat.
- Channels and the systems estate both lack a leader and depend on each other. The CDIO seat combines them.
- The online business has an owner, and what lacks one is acquisition, CRM and loyalty. The CMO seat holds marketing direction.
What the CDO holds
- The digital roadmap: which channels, features and customer journeys come first, and what is stopped.
- Online revenue and the measures the digital business is run on, reported to the executive committee.
- The omnichannel journey: how stores, sites, apps and customer service hand customers to each other.
- The digital organisation: product, e-commerce, content and data teams, in house or with agencies.
- Commerce platform choices, taken with the systems owner so the estate can carry them.
The first 90 days
Days 1 to 30
- Confirm the terms fixed at entry: the channels and revenue the seat answers for, the results that define success and the forum the CDO reports to.
- Read the digital business channel by channel: traffic, conversion, basket and repeat purchase, as far as the data allows.
Days 31 to 60
- Set the digital priorities, and stop the work that does not serve them.
- Sequence the replatforming, where there is one, so customers and stores move without a break in service.
Days 61 to 90
- Install a regular review of online revenue and the measures behind it, chaired by the seat.
- Name the leads of product, commerce and content, and hand each of them the decisions they will keep.
What you keep
- A digital roadmap with priorities, owners, and the work deliberately stopped.
- A set of measures for the digital business, read the same way by digital, stores and finance.
- An omnichannel journey mapped across stores, sites and apps, with an owner for each handover.
- A digital organisation with named leads and a clear split between in-house teams and agencies.
- A replatforming plan, where one is needed, sequenced with the systems owner.
We leave when the function can run without us: an identified permanent owner, a roadmap they hold, and a team that no longer routes through the interim.
Questions
- What does an interim CDO do?
- An interim CDO leads digital channels, online revenue and the organisation that carries them, while the seat is vacant or the digital business has stalled. The interim sets digital priorities, connects product and channel choices to delivery, takes platform decisions with the systems owner and reports the digital business to the executive committee.
- When is an interim CDO the wrong answer?
- When only a capability is missing, an Expertise brings product, design or engineering without a seat. When the gap is in the systems, the CIO seat fits; when channels and systems both lack a leader, the CDIO seat holds them; and when the gap is acquisition, CRM and loyalty, the CMO seat fits.
- What does the CDO hand over at the end?
- A digital roadmap with owners and the work deliberately stopped, a set of measures that digital, stores and finance read the same way, an omnichannel journey with an owner for each handover, a digital organisation with named leads and, where needed, a replatforming plan sequenced with the systems owner.
- What does the interim CDO lead?
- Digital priorities and the organisation that carries them into use. The interim CDO connects product and channel choices to delivery and to the measures used to manage the digital business, so that online revenue, adoption and operating practices move together instead of being decided in separate places.
- How does the CDO differ from the CIO and the CDIO?
- The CDO leads digital channels and the online business: what customers see, buy and use. The CIO leads the information-systems estate that the business runs on. A CDIO combines both functions in one seat, when the digital roadmap and the systems behind it cannot be led separately during a transition.