02 Digital leaders set strategy CEOs may set the tone and vision for digital, but those responsible for operationalizing digital, often the CIO or CDO, are instrumental in setting high-level business strategy. This is especially true in companies where digital leaders are responsible for a significant share of the business. For some organizations, one effective way to foster co-development of strategy is through new organizational structures. A global healthcare company, for example, created a digital council that brings together the company’s dozen CIOs and CMOs. Instead of tackling issues in their respective business units, they work together on both digital strategy and execution. To truly be effective such a council must be collaborative and cross-functional, made up of those in both IT and business roles. 03 Executive team engaged Beyond the CDO and CIO, the rest of the C-suite must also weigh in on—then buy-in to—the strategy. Being on the proverbial same-page means there’s greater likelihood to maximize investments, enabling the organization to identify areas of overlap and bring to light any resource gaps that could derail efforts. As we’ve seen in the last several years of our study, productive relationships among the executive team are essential to maximizing value from investments. This collaboration is especially vital when it comes to the CIO and CMO. Companies may have their work cut out for achieving a productive partnership: This relationship is the weakest one of the nine relationship pairs we track, with 54% rating it as strong; in comparison, a strong CIO-CEO relationship comes in at 70%. ® 2015 Global Digital IQ Survey 13