Posted by

Barry Siskind

UFI’s Community manager

The theme of the Global CEO Summit 2015 will be “Our Industry in 3D – Data, Digital and Developing Markets.”

Over the past few years there has been a lot of attention given to the concept of a digital strategy. Yet very few can confidently say that they have found a digital solution to their business growth. One reason is that there are often basic misconceptions that need to be dealt with.

One of the speakers at this year’s Global CEO Summit is Dr. Barış Onay who is the

Group Digital Director of ITE Group Plc. I asked him if he could identify some of the basic myths.

He pointed to three. The first is that often marketers think that a digital strategy is different than a business strategy.  Dr. Onay says that “a digital strategy is not standalone; it should be built on the general business strategy of the company.” He stated that “While they are two separate documents, they should be interwoven tightly.”

The second issue can be summarized in four words, “Digital is not IT.” You overcome this misunderstanding by focusing on the digital strategy that makes the most business sense and then the details will follow. His solution is to, “Read the general business strategy in-depth first, identify the areas digital can be involved and address those issues. He advises to start small.

One other consideration is culture. Dr Onay said His response was, “at ITE we take the World Economic Forum’s Network Readiness Index study into consideration in our strategy. You cannot expect the same interest in digital all over your geographies. You have to geo-adapt your strategy.”

The Global CEO Summit 2015 will be held in London England from January 28 to 30th. To see the complete program click here: http://gcs2015.ungerboeck.com