6. The IBM global C-suite Study draws
on a decade of research with over
20,000 interviews
CEOs
CIOs
CMOs
6,300
7,000
2,200 600
IBM Institute for Business Value
CSCOs
CFOs
CHROs
4,500
1,500
7. This study covers 4,183 face-to-face
conversations with CxOs in 70 countries
North America
Western Europe
Central and Eastern Europe
605
1,349
304
631
Japan
637
475
South America
IBM Institute for Business Value
182
Middle East and Africa
Asia Pacific
8. Our respondents represent a wide
range of public and private-sector
organizations, covering more
than 20 industries
13%
13%
Communications
Sector
Distribution Sector
23%
Financial Services
Sector
4,183
interviews
29%
Industrial Sector
Public Sector
22%
IBM Institute for Business Value
9. We compared outperformer and underperformer
responses and have highlighted key differences
Three performance categories
Outperformers
High revenue growth
and high profitability
Underperformers
Low revenue growth
and low profitability
8%
25%
2013
67%
Peer Performers
All other performance
combinations
Particular attention on Outperformers
â In this study we focus on common
performance factors, while we
highlight the most significant
differences between out- and
underperformers
â Relative performance is defined
by self-assessment of revenue
growth and profitability compared
to industry peers
10. Much has changed since 2004: digitization
has given customers far more clout and
transformed their expectations
2004
Focus on on cost reduction
Focus cost reduction
to deal with increasingly
to deal with increasingly
global competition
global competition
2008
Business models evolve to
Business models evolve
enable external partnerships
to enable external
and collaboration
partnerships and
collaboration
IBM Institute for Business Value
2014
The digitally active
customer moves to the
top of the C-suite agenda
11. CEOs consider
technology the single
most important external
force shaping their
organizationâs future
CEO Studies 2004â2013
2006
2008
2010
2012
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
Market factors
3
3
3
3
3
3
Macro-economic
factors
4
4
4
4
4
4
People skills
5
5
5
5
5
5
Regulatory
concerns
6
6
6
6
6
6
Socio-economic
factors
7
7
7
7
7
7
Globalization
8
8
8
8
8
8
Environmental
issues
9
IBM Institute for Business Value
2004
2013
9
9
9
9
9
Geopolitical
factors
Technology
factors
12. In the most recent
Interbrand study of most
valuable brands 6 were
based on information
technology
IBM Institute for Business Value
10 most valuable brands in the world
13. In the most recent
Interbrand study of most
valuable brands 6 were
based on information
technology
IBM Institute for Business Value
10 most valuable brands in the world
14. Good to see already 5 out
of the top10 brands being
involved in the Marketing
Transformation Forum
IBM Institute for Business Value
10 most valuable brands in the world
15. All CxOs think
technology is one of the
top three forces
External forces impacting the enterprise (3â5 years)
CEO
CFO
CHRO
CIO
CMO
CSCO
Market factors
2
2
2
2
2
2
Macro-economic factors
3
3
3
3
3
3
People skills
4
4
4
4
4
4
Regulatory concerns
5
5
5
5
5
5
Socio-economic factors
6
6
6
6
6
6
Globalization
7
7
7
7
7
7
Environmental issues
8
8
8
8
8
8
Geopolitical factors
9
9
9
9
9
9
Technology factors
IBM Institute for Business Value
16. CxOs expect to reframe
their approach, shifting
to more collaboration
and open business
models with customer
and partners
Business landscape changes
20%
Smaller partner
11%
base
Face-to-face
20%
interaction
Partnering to
25%
increase efficiency
Focus on customers
%
as segments 33
Operational control
73% Bigger partner network
68%
61%
54%
28%
20%
IBM Institute for Business Value
52%
Neutral
20%
40%
60%
Social/digital interaction
Partnering to increase
value
Focus on customers
as individuals
Organizational
openness
17. CxOs arenât just
listening to customers;
they are compelled to
act and change course,
in response to the direct
influence of the
customer
Customer influence on the enterprise
10%
54%
36%
Large extent
IBM Institute for Business Value
Influenced to
a large extent
Some extent
54%
Limited extent
18. CEOs say customers come second only to
the C-suite in terms of the strategic influence
they wield
Key influencers of enterprise strategy
20%
78%
C-Suite
55%
Customers
53%
Board of Directors
44%
Corporate strategy function
Non-executive senior leadership
26%
Key external business partners
25%
Parent company
23%
0%
IBM Institute for Business Value
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
19. CEOs stand ready to
involve customers in
what is typically
considered their
domain: developing
business strategy
Customer inclusion in business strategy development
43%
%
40more
Today
60%
43%
60%
IBM Institute for Business Value
3â5 Years
20. CEOs share control with customers â and
expect their influence on business strategy to
grow the most
Areas of the business where CEOs want to include customers
82%
New product and service definition
71%
Product/service testing
20%
Customer policies and procedures
development
59%
Environmental and social policies
development
56%
50%
33%
45%
36%
Product/service sourcing
Privacy and security policy
validation
33%
0%
20%
Today
IBM Institute for Business Value
60%
48%
Pricing structure development
75%
72%
43%
Business strategy development
90%
44%
40%
60%
3â5 Years
80%
100%
21. Deep and trusted
relationships with
customers pay off: more
outperforming
organizations
collaborate extensively
with customers
Greater collaboration with customers translates into
greater financial success
39%
more
54%
Underperformers
60%
Outperformers
IBM Institute for Business Value
22. Deep collaboration is
a universal ambition:
nine out of ten CxOs
foresee doing so in the
near future
CxOs plan to collaborate much more extensively
with customers
90%
46%
%
96more
Today
90%
3â5 Years
46%
IBM Institute for Business Value
23. Recognizing the change in customersâ
expectations, CxOs are rebalancing their priorities
Areas of personal involvement
20%
Customer experience
management
+8%
eCommerce
+7%
+5%
Talent management
Supplier, vendor and partner
management
-5%
Risk and security
-5%
IT systems and operations
IBM Institute for Business Value
-6%
24. CxOs intend to interact digitally with customers
to a much greater extent in the future
Customer interaction channels
52%
Digital
88%
20%
]
69%
more
80%
Face-to-face
70%
57%
Call centers
48%
45%
Traditional media
24%
0%
20%
Today
IBM Institute for Business Value
40%
60%
3â5 Years
80%
100%
25. As competitors cross
industries, the
intersection between
the digital and physical
becomes the leading
edge of innovation
Types of digital strategy
33%
36%
36%
have an integrated
digital-physical
strategy
31%
Integrated digitalphysical strategy
IBM Institute for Business Value
Limited digital
strategy
No digital strategy
26. CMOs plan to put the
components of a broad
digital strategy in place
throughout the
organization
Digital ambitions â CMOs
87%
16%
Integration of cross-channel
touchpoints
13%
83%
Analytics to capture customer
insights
20%
78%
Social networks to foster
collaboration
13%
73%
Workforce aligned to opportunities
11%
69%
Digitally enabled supply chain
Today
IBM Institute for Business Value
3-5 Years
27. In line with CMOs,
four-fifths of CIOs aim
to digitize their front
office to sync with
customers more
effectively
IT focus area â digitizing the front office
5%
12%
%
83
will focus on front
office digitization
83%
Large extent
IBM Institute for Business Value
Some extent
Limited extent
28. Most CxOs recognize
that they donât
understand their
customers well today,
yet anticipate greatly
improving going forward
High level of customer understanding
35%
76%
%
117more
Today
35%
IBM Institute for Business Value
76%
3â5 Years
29. The more deeply an
enterprise understands
its customers, the more
likely it is to flourish
High level of customer understanding
29%
%
62more
Underperformers
47%
Outperformers
IBM Institute for Business Value
30. CxOs in outperforming
enterprises are focusing
more heavily on
improving the customer
experience
Focus on improving the customer experience
42%
more
29%
Underperformers
54%
Outperformers
IBM Institute for Business Value
31. â
â
IBM Institute for Business Value
Itâs a race to the finish line. The
companies that best understand
all aspects of the value chain and
get a 360-degree view for the
customer experience will win.
Hubertus (Huub) Devroye
Director of Global Marketing and Demand Generation
The Dow Chemical Company, Switzerland
The right partner for a changing world: At IBM, we collaborate with our clients, bringing together business insight, advanced research and technology to give them a distinct advantage in todayâs rapidly changing environment.The IBM Institute for Business Value, part of IBM Global Business Services, develops fact-based strategic insights for senior business executives around critical public and private sector issues.
This report is IBMâs first study of the entire C-suite â and the 17th in the ongoing series of CxO studies developed by the IBM Institute for Business Value.We now have data from more than 23,000 interviews stretching back to 2003.Our latest study draws on input from:Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) 884Chief Finance Officers (CFOs) 576Chief Human Resources Officers (CHROs) 342Chief Information Officers (CIOs) 1,656Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) 524Chief Supply Chain Officers (CSCOs) 201
As with our prior studies, this one is based on in-depth, in-person conversations. We sat down with 4,183 leaders in 70 countries. What we discovered underlines how rapidly change is sweeping across business and society.
We spoke in person with 4,183 top executives covering more than 20 industries in 70 countries. Our respondents represent a wide range of public and private sector organizations.
Outperforming enterprises surpass their industry peers in terms of revenue growth and profitability, while underperforming enterprises do worse on both counts, in the opinion of the CxO concerned. Some 8 percent of the organizations in our sample are outperformers, and 25 percent are underperformers.
This study explores how C-suite leaders are working together to address the attendant challenges and opportunities, which were barely discernible a decade ago.
We asked which external forces CxOs think will most affect their enterprise in the next three to five years, and compared the results with our findings from earlier studies.One of the most notable trends has been the steady rise in the importance attributed to technology. CEOs put it first, as they did in 2012.For them, technology is not just part of the infrastructure needed to execute a business strategy. Itâs what makes entirely new strategies possible.
Interbrand, one of the larger brand analysts, published its âMost valuable brands 2013â report in October 13. Upon evaluation 6 brands were IT related. In comparison, only 3 were IT related in 2003 when we started our research.
Interbrand, one of the larger brand analysts, published its âMost valuable brands 2013â report in October 13. Upon evaluation 6 brands were IT related. In comparison, only 3 were IT related in 2003 when we started our research.
Interbrand, one of the larger brand analysts, published its âMost valuable brands 2013â report in October 13. Upon evaluation 6 brands were IT related. In comparison, only 3 were IT related in 2003 when we started our research.
Other CxOs have different priorities.Although all include technology in their list of the top three forces, their views reflect their respective areas of focus:CFOs fret most about macroeconomic factors.CIOs, CMOs and CSCOs put more emphasis on market factors,While CHROs see people skills as the biggest issue.Is this a troubling disconnect? Not as long as the lines of communication are open. CEOs in outperforming organizations told us their teams work particularly well together. That enables them to create substantial advantage by integrating multiple perspectives.
In an era of abundant connectivity and information, and ubiquitous digitization, the new economic equation favors transparency:In search of innovation, more than half of CxOs expect to open up their enterprises â bringing down barriers to extend collaboration inside and outside.Some 60 percent of CxOs now look to partners who will have an equal hand in creating business value.And almost half are sourcing innovation from the outside.Nearly seven in ten CxOs recognize the new imperative â a shift to social and digital interaction.Over half expect to meet an even more difficult demand: understanding and engaging the customer as an individual rather than as a category or market segment.
When we published our first study in 2004, CEOs ranked their own customers sixth on the list of all market factors they believed would drive the most change in their organizations. Today, digitally enfranchised and empowered customers lead the agenda for every CxO profession.More than half of CxOs say customers now have a considerable influence on their enterprises.
In fact, CEOs told us customers exert a bigger influence on their organizationâs business strategy than all but the C-suite itself.But accepting customers as active stakeholders is one sure way to quell the factions and unite the C-suite in a common purpose.CxOs asked to give up autonomy and customers wary of being targeted will need to find new, more collaborative ways of working together that engender trust. The erosion of trust poses a serious challenge for many organizations, and in some cases whole industries, as they seek to return to growth.If one issue has the potential to unite the C-suite to act in concert, establishing trust-based relationships with customers stands at the top.
Instead, CEOs stand ready to relinquish absolute control of what is typically considered their domain â developing business strategy.
A growing number of CEOs believe customer influence shouldnât be confined to activities in which customers have traditionally participated, such as developing new products or services.
In two-thirds of the organizations that outperform their peers, leaders are not just managing customer experiences; they are reorienting their organizations, strategies and investments to cultivate contemporary relationships across all manner of customer interactions.Some of the most advanced enterprises are establishing customer advisory boards to get direct input on strategic issues.
Deep collaboration is a universal ambition: nine out of ten CxOs foresee doing so in the near future.Accepting customers as stakeholders in determining an enterpriseâs future has huge cultural and organizational implications. These businesses canât just be customer-centric. They must be customer-activated. That requires creating fully reciprocal relationships with customers.It means being ready â and willing â to change course to pursue those paths that create mutual value. And it requires finding ways to include customers in key decisions. It also involves building a workforce that is both willing and able to engage with customers on a regular basis and providing them with an opportunity to share their insights within the larger company.
CxOs are adjusting their priorities accordingly in a subtle rebalancing act.They plan to spend less of their personal time on IT systems and operations and other such issues, and more time improving the customer experience.
CxOs intend to use digital channels much more extensively to engage with customers in the future. And hereâs one instance where theyâve already embraced the shift:In 2012, 57 percent of CEOs expected digital channels to become one of their companyâs key means of interacting with customers within the next five years.In 2013, 52 percent of CxOs say they are already there.
The problem? Two-thirds of enterprises have a weak digital-physical strategy â or none at all. Some organizations are reconfiguring their offerings to capitalize on social networks and mobile connectivity. Others are reshaping their operating models to inject customer input into every aspect of the buying and selling chain. But theyâre often not doing both at once.
CMOs, in particular, consider it critical to put the components of a strong digital strategy in place. They want to overhaul every aspect of the customer interface.
CMOs, in particular, consider it critical to put the components of a strong digital strategy in place. They want to overhaul every aspect of the customer interface.
This is surprising, given that 76 percent of CxOs aspire to know their customers better.Watsonâs analysis exposed the urgency thatâs driving the C-suite: rising customer expectations, decreasing tolerance, the limited insights face-to-face contact with customers provides.
Absent a social strategy, CxOs are missing much of the equation, and thereâs a huge payoff for making the effort.The better an enterprise understands its customers, the more likely it is to thrive.
The most progressive enterprises analyze social data to understand customersâ core values and whatâs happening in their lives. Such attributes, when well understood, lay the base for customer experiences tailored to the individual. They get us closer to cracking the âsocial genomeâ: the traits that make each of us uniquely human.And outperformers show the way. CxOs in these enterprises are 29 percent more likely to plan on spending more time crafting engaging customer experiences.
In the words of HuubDevroye: âItâs a race to the finish line. The companies that best understand all aspects of the value chain and get a 360-degree view for the customer experience will win.â
The right partner for a changing world: At IBM, we collaborate with our clients, bringing together business insight, advanced research and technology to give them a distinct advantage in todayâs rapidly changing environment.The IBM Institute for Business Value, part of IBM Global Business Services, develops fact-based strategic insights for senior business executives around critical public and private sector issues.