What does a Chief Commercial Officer need to know about Digital Transformation?

Chief Commercial Officers (CCOs) today sit at the crossroads of revenue, customer experience, loyalty, and brand integrity. Yet, despite being bombarded with advice on “digital transformation,” most of what I read online is still rooted in a mindset built for a pre-digital world. The result? Well‑intended strategies that optimize the old instead of inventing the new. 

What is Digital Transformation Really for a CCO?

Based on numerous conversations with CCOs, digital transformation is seen as both an opportunity and a threat to how revenue, customer value, and the commercial operating model are delivered —using data, digital platforms, and new cross-functional capabilities that scale customer relationships, not just individual sales or customer service transactions.

They often appreciate that digital transformation is not about digitising existing processes, yet this is invariably where the conversation leads. It is not launching more dashboards, yet they still focus on managing performance using lag measures, descriptive metrics like revenue, delivery performance, lost sales etc. Often they plan digital transformations that augment small improvement, or incrementally reduce inefficiencies.

The Old Thinking That Holds CCOs Back

Old commercial thinking was shaped by decades of linear go‑to‑market models, channel boundaries, and static customer segments. The classic is "as long as I hit my sales targets, why would I overdeliver and risk next year's?". There are many examples of old commercial thinking, and I challenge you in the next Sales meeting to write down some of the assumptions that are being made, even openly discussed.

(Hint: record your meeting in MS Teams, ask AI Agent like Copilot to make meeting notes summarising key points, assumptions, and then list out the assumptions or old thinking using this article as an input for comparison!) 

The New Thinking: Your Optical Filter for challenging assumptions and making better Digital Decisions

1. Decisions Create Learning Loops - how many decisions really increase our ability to learn from customer behaviour faster than competitors? For example, outside key accounts, which typically get high exposure, which innovative smaller customers need senior management, even cross functional attention? What is the next opportunity to learn from an end customer?
2.  Platforms Replace Pipelines - do existing technologies or processes strengthen your customer facing capabilities—or just deliver to your 'old' metrics? A good example of this is scanning all opportunities for Top interventions needed by Board level members to support sales conversion. One company I worked with made this a key objective of their 'Helping Sales Sell' style initiative. 

3. Capabilities Become the Differentiator - does investment expand the capabilities that generate revenue and loyalty in all types of customers or just key accounts? This goes beyond a customer portal to enable faster service, or old thinking to do with faster order processing, and more into new capabilities that answer the question 'how to win'? Many CCO's focus on pricing or inventory optimisation, understandably so, but I find the answer to this question requires mapping points of differentiation on a customer journey. A good example would be an airline which automatically rebooks if you miss a flight, or integrates their loyalty scheme fully with the booking experience.  

4. Customer Experience Is a System, not just a Culture - this one is controversial as I have often been challenged on when the Cost to Switch to a competitor is high, why prioritise customer experience? If the Cost to Switch is low, then surely focus on culture change rather than invest in a digital transformation? This is not a zero sum choice. It is a BOTH, not an OR, choice. BUT if you do not challenge your digital transformation on what improvement there will be on an experience, then you are missing out on lost sales.  Are we designing from the customer backward, or from our org structure outward?

 Key Questions CCOs Should Be Asking

1.  How do I ensure digital transformation drives new revenue, not just improved efficiency?

Short answer: Focus investments on new capabilities—predictive metrics (and the insights you need), personalisation, automation, AI‑powered tools to support account growth. These are each articles in themselves! 

2. How do I know whether my team is still applying old thinking?

Short answer: If the strategy digitises current workflows or stays inside departmental boundaries, you are still optimising the past. Pick one assumption from your next meeting, and challenge your team to come up with a new future based on breaking that assumption. For example, assume by focusing on key accounts, will reduce cost to serve and grow revenue. 

3. What should guide my choice of digital platforms and data strategy?

Short answer: Choose platforms that unify data, connect customer interactions, and create learning loops. If your culture is less about learning loops, and more about Standard Operating Procedure compliance, then which digital platform enables this, but at the same time supports continuous improvement. One tip would be how good are the analytics capabilities, how fast could you turn around a new insight, for example, which customers are at risk of churn?

If there was one thing that would help a CCO reinvent commercial delivery, it will not just be technology. Of course not. But by replacing the old filter with a new filter that positions technology, data, and resulting new capabilities as central to near term commercial performance, perhaps a CCO will get more from the limited resources that they have at their disposal.