As a concept, “organizational transformation” is just as involved as the number of syllables it takes to pronounce (ten!). What a mouthful.
As the marketing technology landscape continues to evolve, consumer behavior increasingly morphs into a new kind of beast. You might say things are a little shaken up. So transforming an organization in the digital era has become an imperative for all CMOs.
Forbes kicked off its CMO Summit on November 2nd, where an impressive roster of the world’s leading CMOs will discuss the challenges of leading this looming organizational transformation.
Brands That Lead the Digital Transformation Charge
Among these brands are a few top players that are leading the digital transformation charge with influencers at the helm. That’s because people trust people over brands. If you want to reach your audience and gain their trust, and in turn sell to them, then looking to influential experts is the way to go.
Below we’ve highlighted a select few CMOs who will speak at the Forbes CMO Summit, sharing info about their sessions and showcasing their current influencer strategies supporting digital transformation.
3 Must-See Chief Marketers at Forbes CMO Summit
1. Maggie Chan Jones | Chief Marketing Officer, SAP
Maggie will speak on the Culture Warriors session alongside leaders from Equinox, BCG, and Intel Corporation. The session covers building a strong culture fueled by agile decision-making, innovation, data-driven accountability, and diversity of thinking.
SAP Leads Digital Transformation by Scaling Influencer Relations
More recently, we featured SAP’s digital transformation story, where Jim Dever, SAP’s VP of Audience Marketing, talks about the tech giant’s focus on influencer efforts in support of global marketing initiatives. Check out the feature to learn from SAP’s four steps to supercharge your digital transformation by scaling influencer relations.
2. Chris Capossela | Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer, Microsoft
In his session, appropriately named Microsoft Transformed, Chris will break down marketing’s role in activating a company-wide cultural transformation. Microsoft is on a "new mission to empower everyone on the planet to accomplish more."
Microsoft Integrates Influencers Cross-Functionally
Given that consumer trust has shifted away from brands, Microsoft has started to integrate influencers cross-functionally across the company. That’s why two senior leaders from Microsoft, Eve Psalti (Education Audience Strategy) and Amanda Duncan (Communications), joined us at Content Marketing World 2016 to share the company’s cross-functional approach to influencer marketing. Discover more about a day-in-the-life for influencer relations and how to scale programs within one of the biggest and complex tech organizations.
3. Jeremy Burton | Chief Marketing Officer, Dell
Jeremy will reveal his new marketing vision for the newly private company in a session called Dell Reimagined. Are you noticing a theme here? There’s a reason the world’s #1 companies are strategically focused on transformation. You have no choice but to make a long-term, company-wide change.
Dell’s Relationship-Driven “Pyramid of Influence"
Dell, in addition to Microsoft and SAP mentioned above, has also taken on integrated and authentic influencer marketing. In order to tackle the common challenge of managing siloed, disparate influencer programs, Dell’s approach focuses on relationships, engaging with up-and-coming influencers through a “pyramid of influence”.
What’s Next for the CMO’s Digital Transformation agenda?
As digital transformation completely overhauls the enterprise, CMOs will look to strategies that help them to make agile, data-driven decisions, enabling them to become more innovative than their competition.
In addition to the leaders mentioned above, The Forbes CMO Summit also features innovators from Instagram, HP Inc., Diageo North America, Visa, Apple, and more. So I'd like to ask these CMOs, have you started to integrate influencer relations into your digital transformation strategy? If not, what are you waiting for?
What burning question would you want to ask these CMOs? Leave a comment and join the conversation.