Daybreak - Chief digital officers eat chief information officers for breakfast

Episode Date: May 22, 2025

Back in 2016, the Internet and Mobile Association of India set up an all new club for what was then a very small cohort of digital leaders in corporate India. It was called the all-India Chief Digital Officer club. Back then, there were only about five-six CDOs that were members. The point of the initiative was to give legitimacy to this new, emerging role. But soon enough, the initiative fizzled out. Not because the role didn’t take off or anything. Actually, the opposite. The initiative became redundant because the role became even more popular than they had anticipated. So it started with 5-6 members, but within the next four years its membership rose to 50 and then doubled the next year. You see, digital transformation has become THE buzzword for corporate India. And in the process, the CDO has become part of the companies top leadership. But the question is — where does that leave the CIO? Tune in. *This episode was originally published on 18 December, 2024 P.S The Ken’s podcast team is hiring! Here’s what we’re looking for.Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.Listen to the latest episode of Two by Two here

Hi, this is Rohan Dharma Kumar. If you've heard any of the Ken's podcasts, you've probably heard me, my interruptions, my analogies, and my contrarian takes on most topics. And you might rightly be wondering why am I interrupting this episode too. It's for a special announcement. For the last few months, I and Sita Raman Ganeshan, my colleague and the Ken's deputy editor, have been working on an ambitious new podcast. It's called Intermission.

We want to tell the secret sauce stories of India's greatest companies. Stories of how they were born, how they fought to survive, how they build their organizations and culture, how they manage to innovate and thrive over decades, and most importantly, how they're poised today. To do that, Sita and I have been reading books, poring over reports, going through financial statements, digging up archives, and talking to dozens of people. And if that wasn't enough, we also decided to throw in video into the mix. Yes, you heard that right. Intermission has also had to find its footing in the world of multi-camera shoots in professional studios, laborious editing, and extensive post-production.

Sita and I are still reeling from the intensity of our first studio recording. Intermission launches on March 23rd. To get alert, as soon as we release our first video. episode, please follow intermission on Spotify and Apple Podcasts or subscribe to the Ken's YouTube channel. You can find all of the links at the ken.com slash I am. With that, back to your episode. Back in 2016, the Internet and Mobile Association of India set up an all-new club for what was then a very small cohort of digital leaders in corporate India. It was called the All India Chief Digital Officer Club.

And back then, there were only about five or six CDOs that were members. The point of the initiative was to actually give legitimacy to this new emerging role. But soon enough, the initiative fizzled out. Not because the role didn't take off or anything. Actually, the opposite happened. The initiative became redundant eventually, because the role became even more popular than they had anticipated. So it started with five or six members,

but within the next four years, its membership, rose to 50. And then the next year, it doubled. You see, digital transformation has become the buzzword for corporate India. And in the process, the CDO has become part of the company's top leadership. But you're probably wondering what a CDO even does? Well, to put it simply, they act as translators between management and tech. That also means that they are constantly stepping on the toes of a traditional chief information officer. who would otherwise take care of all the tech needs of the company. Now, for a long time, they enjoyed all the control in that specific space.

The CIO's job was to manage the IT infrastructure, the servers, the networks. Basically, they had to literally keep the lights on. But the thing is, today, for companies to launch new products, enhance user experience with the help of tech, they need more than just a traditional CIO. The ask is no longer about what tech can do, but the innovative ways it can be used to transform a business. And the general consensus is that the CDO is the person for the job.

The Ken reporter Debanjali Biswa spoke to several CDOs to understand why there is such a growing demand for this particular role. So I spoke to Jignage Vora, who is the CDO at Mutudhut finance. He describes the CDO as a guy who's a business person at heart, essentially someone who understands the customer and then uses technology to drive business growth by capitalizing on these customers, right? So for instance, Mootut finance partnered with Google Pay recently in October of this year for gold loans, which means that users can now directly avail loans from the Google Pay app.

Vora explained that this partnership, and also a similar one they did with phone pay in August, would help make loans more accessible to people and also help them build scale as a company. Since these apps have millions of users, they are banking on attracting new customers for Mootuth through these partnerships. See, that's something that the traditional CIO just can't pull off. They were always facilitators. So they would do what was asked of them. But now, that just won't cut it anymore. Which is why the CIO is very quickly disappearing and is being replaced by an incredibly well-paid business-savvy CDO. Welcome to Daybreak, a business podcast from the Ken.

I'm your host, Rahil Filippos, and I'll be joining my colleagues Nika Sharma every day of the week to bring you one business story that is worth understanding and worth your time. Today, the CDO typically reports directly to the CEO in most companies, just like the CTO. The CIO, meanwhile, is still one rung below. And that's mainly because a big part of the CDO's role

is managing multiple teams. To understand how a CDO does that, let's go back to that Mutthut Finance example the Banjali gave us a little while ago. So earlier this year, Muthood Finance decided to digitize the personal loan business under the leadership of its CDO, Jignesh Vora.

The goal was to grow into a full-scale non-bank. Now, because Voda was coordinating with so many different teams and each team had ownership of specific tasks, what would have otherwise taken several days was pulled off in just a day. The analytics team took ownership of digitizing customer profiles and data. The product team had to figure out the details of the digital loan, their target audience fees, EMI.

The risk team then worked on automating credit policies, deciding who should be given these loans. Now, the CDO, at the top of it all, harmonized their work under a common agenda. It's like they say, teamwork makes the dream work. The funny thing is, even though the CDO typically has to find tech solutions to complex problems, it isn't necessary for them to have a tech background.

That's what Rajneesh Khaere, former CDO at Union Bank and former head of digital transformation at HDFC said. He said that all a CDO really needs is a sound understanding of tech trends. They must know the limitations of tech infrastructure and they must also know how to make good investments. Now, most CDOs come from extremely diverse backgrounds like consulting, sales, marketing, management. They should be able to understand the company's long-term strategy and pinpoint where digital solutions can trigger growth. And that's true across sectors. But at the core of the role is understanding what the customer needs. More on that in the next segment.

Back in 2017, when Kharie was still heading HDFC's Digital Transformation Department, he was tasked with a very important project. He had to build an omni-channel experience for the bank. So whether a customer was logging in from their phone or a computer, the look and feel of the website had to be the same. It had to be seamless. Now, this aligned perfectly with Kare's personal goals as a CDO. He wanted to build convenience for customers,

provide them with an unforgettable user experience, and also enable online growth. Now, HDFC, of course, has gotten a bit of flak over the years for not being particularly digitally savvy. But credit where it's due, they have had people leading their digitalization efforts for more than a decade, way before CDOs became a thing. But of course, it was still no easy task being early to the game, because it came with roadblocks during execution of several initiatives. Regardless of the ups and downs, Khare's primary role was to innovate with technology.

The Omnichannel Experience also includes tasks like auto-updating forms, and that actually ended up playing a big role in retaining customers. Then when he eventually became CDO at Union Bank, it was a whole other ballgame. You see, digitalization efforts were new to the bank, and that meant there was far more scope for experimentation, because there were more transformation opportunities. Kare said one of his brainwaves was bringing in microservice-based architect. With it, he was able to build separate apps for small and medium enterprises, retail customers, and even corporates.

It offered a faster and more personalized banking experience. And it worked. His bet paid off. The digital transformations he led resulted in a near 500% increase in customers onboarded digitally, a 7x rise in digital loan dispersals, and about a 70% reduction in back office costs. Now, the reason I'm telling you about Kare's still, as CDO is because at the core of the role is being consumer-centric, finding the right solutions for your consumer and in the process creating demand. Now, that's how you rake in the revenue.

And that's also what makes a CDO's job different from that of a CIO's. Stay tuned. A CDO worth their salt today can command a salary of up to six to seven crore rupees, or at least double the 1.2 crore-rupy salary they were drawing in 2020. That's what multiple CDOs told De Banjali. CIOs, meanwhile, are paid significantly less, often by almost 50%. Now, here's the thing. CIOs are fighting hard to survive redundancy.

And the only way to do it now is to upskill, to keep up with the times. Take Havels India, a five-decade-old electrical equipment stalwart, where, until recently, chief information officers weren't exactly in the spotlight, or even in the boardroom. CIOs weren't part of the leadership team at all. And then in came Pramod Mundra, Hevel's executive VP and CIO, who decided to ask himself, what value will I add? Well, in June, he launched Havel's direct-to-consumer platform

that sells everything from fans and lights to even bigger items like air conditioners, washing machines and refrigerators. Higher profits were, of course, a given, but the larger aim was to connect with consumers. Havels now also has data on what products are popularly searched for, which ones are compared and which features are not selling, among other things. This helps the company fine-tune its products, features and prices, and also develop new ideas. Basically, Munra fundamentally changed the role of the CIO. He wasn't just producing tech for someone else's solutions. He was also finding the solutions, coordinating with the e-commerce teams, the works.

As a result, the company's tech budget. also grew exponentially over the next few years. So it almost seems like for a CIO to stay relevant, they have to go beyond just keeping the lights on. It's almost like they have to take on the CDO role themselves. But for now, the CEDEO's role remains the same. They have to juggle talent management, retention, growth, and of course, be consumer-focused.

These roles will keep evolving. But now it's time for CIOs to step up and evolve. because really that's how you turn technology into growth. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of the Ken India's first subscriber-focused business news platform. What you're listening to is just a small sample of our subscriber-only offerings. A full subscription unlocks daily long-form feature stories,

newsletters and podcast extras. Head to the Ken.com and click on the red subscribe button on the top of the website. Today's episode was hosted by Rahil Filippo's and edited by Rajiv Sien.