Chief Digital Officer to be Asia's hottest senior tech job in 2014
Senior executive hiring in the Asia-Pacific for 2014 will be driven by several key factors such as big data, adoption of cloud services and cybersecurity, according to recruitment firm CTPartners.
"Big Data will only grow bigger, as organizations race to collect and monetize information to gain competitive advantage," said CTPartners in a press release. Tied to Big Data, the adoption of cloud services will continue on a large scale, enabling access to data and increasingly via mobile devices, it added. Another top priority will be cybersecurity in the wake of several scandals in the region.
IT spending in the Asia-Pacific region is forecast by Gartner to reach US$767 billion in 2014, a 5.5 percent increase from 2013, driven by new opportunities from the digital world, noted Kathryn Yap, managing partner at CTPartners in Singapore. However, she pointed out it was hard to predict if tech sector recruitment would have as strong a year as seen five to ten years ago, because of the "ambiguity" in Asian markets next year.
Still, based on the emerging trends, Yap highlighted eight senior Asia-Pacific tech roles that will be in very high demand in 2014, particularly in Singapore and China:
1. Chief Digital Officer, Head of eCommerce/Omni-Channel
2. Chief Risk Officer/Cybersecurity/Information Security Officer
3. Chief Marketing Officer
4. Vice President, M-Commerce, Retail
5. Managing Director, Data Scientist/Data Analytics Leader
6. Chief Creative Officer, Media/Television
7. Board Director, Digital
8. Chief Information Officer, 2015
The hottest job will be the Chief Digital Officer because digital transformation touches nearly every market, especially in retail and travel, and will require executives who can navigate the move to digital and mobile platforms, said Yap. The consumerization of B2B requires the creation of a digital experience that matches what customers experience in the real world, she added.
The rapidly evolving CMO role is the third in demand, and will see them increasingly using analytics to show that marketing is actually driving revenue and growth, explained Yap. This will see a demand for customer-centric and digitally savvy marketing leaders capable of developing new business models and creating and implementing strategic marketing programs that span multiple platforms, improving customer engagement in a more personalised and cheaper way.
There will also be keen interest in getting directors with digital know-how in the boardroom to better chart the company's strategy. This will allow the board to fully participate in strategic discussions regarding the opportunities presented by digital technology and digital-based services, or even ask senior management the right questions, said Yap.
According to CTPartners, the continuing evolution of the CIO position reflects its increasingly critical and visible role. Many are also taking on additional duties, seen in their adding of "and Senior Vice President" or other monikers to CIO titles.