You may think that C-suite executives must be digital natives to effectively lead B2B organizations on an eCommerce journey, but is that really the case? In a recent edition of Mythbusters by Master B2B, Tom Jones, Senior Director of Customer Value Advisory at commercetools, was in the hot seat to explore whether having senior leaders with hands-on digital experience is a decisive factor for a successful digital transformation.
After witnessing a significant surge in the B2B eCommerce market in 2023, it’s fair to say that manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors will continue pursuing digital transformation in the coming year. For such eCommerce initiatives to be successful, the involvement and support of senior leadership are undoubtedly critical. Yet the question remains: To what extent should CEOs and senior leaders possess hands-on digital experience?
The discussion at the joint event hosted by Master B2B and commercetools started with results from research by MIT Sloan Management Review in 2021, which revealed that “Large enterprises with digitally savvy teams outperformed comparable companies without such teams by more than 48% on revenue growth and valuation.”
Two real-life examples set the context for B2B practitioners: The first is Grainger Industrial Supply, a B2B giant that has made eCommerce a tremendous success, so much so that two-thirds of its 15 billion USD revenue is generated online. Out of their 12 senior executives, six bring in deep expertise in digital, showcasing a strong correlation between digital smarts across the C-level suite and their eCommerce success.
On the other side of the digital spectrum is Fastenal, a large industrial supplier present across the globe, with a different approach to digital. The company’s C-level execs aren’t digital natives and haven’t brought in people from outside of their organization to spearhead eCommerce. To date, Fastenal’s digital penetration stands at 15%.
Are these examples anecdotal or do they share a simple truth that senior leaders must have extensive digital experience? Tom Jones joined the session with a mission: To prove that business leaders may not need to be digital natives, but they do have to believe in, commit to, enable their teams and support digital transformation in order to succeed. Here are the highlights of the discussion.
What C-level execs should bring to the table
The discussion centered around the idea that C-level executives must have direct digital experience to be able to lead an organization toward digital maturity. While it’s certainly helpful for senior leadership to have that expertise right off the bat, Tom argued that it’s not a must-have. What’s crucial, he argued, is the commitment from the senior leaders to make digital happen.
C-suite, and particularly the CEO, has to be committed to it. They have to be involved and they have to be pushing for it. They have to be there to break those political log jams that we’ve all seen happen, with sales usually being the most resistant. This is an evolution where they’re combining the knowledge of the longtime executives with people within the organization who are showing interest in digital. Then, they can balance that because they don’t want to suddenly make a shift and put the core business at risk while they make that transition to digital, especially in the beginning stages. They need to take the process one step at a time.
Senior Director of Customer Value Advisory, commercetools
Tom expanded on the idea by highlighting that numerous B2B companies are family-owned, where, at times, the baton is passed from one generation to the next. “I personally believe a company like that is going to respond more to the tenured people who have been running this business, in terms of them showing the leadership and the commitment to make the digital change, than some newcomer that comes in.”
Digital expertise doesn’t have to sit at the C-level — but change management does
“I’ve seen a lot of examples of companies where they bring in someone at a lower level or mid-level to start this process who brings in the expertise,” Tom shared. “The key point is that the C-suite and the CEO have to bring this person in, they have to support them, they have to be behind them, and they have to be actively involved in this process.”
Tom shared the case of Dawn Foods, a century-old American manufacturer of baked goods and baking ingredients, that hired Gireesh Sahukar as Senior Director of Digital Technology (now Vice President of Digital) at the start of the company’s digital journey to lead the process. Another prime example is Theresa Kuske, Digital Marketing Director at Ergodyne, who is at the helm of all things digital at the work and safety gear supplier. She leads a working group of digitally-minded folks from across their organization, and they bring proposals for digital initiatives to the C-suite.
Naturally, bringing and nurturing digital expertise is crucial for the success of eCommerce and digital transformation, but does that knowledge have to come from the CEO or other senior leaders? Not really.
In fact, what leaders should focus on is helping their employees navigate the business journey as well as the many changes that come along with digital transformations.
Probably other than the data and the AI part, which is really, really hard, the rest [of eCommerce technology] is not necessarily rocket science. The real challenge comes with organizational change management. How do you get your organization to move along with you? How do you get the culture to embrace it? That's where the real challenge is.
Senior Director of Customer Value Advisory, commercetools
Speaking of change, senior leaders should be open and willing to listen to digital experts on their team. There are still many outdated ideas and preconceived notions that eCommerce will cannibalize the business — a fear also shared with traditional sales reps — which can do real harm to B2B firms.
The companies which do not go on this digital journey are going to have serious problems, if they even exist in five years. But to get there, the important thing is to start. And they probably have people within the organization that can start to lead, and then they can bring in experts from outside to start them down this journey. It's not going to happen overnight, but they need to get started.
Senior Director of Customer Value Advisory, commercetools
B2B practitioners chime in: Is the myth busted?
After a lively discussion, participants voted to answer the question: Does the C-suite need digital experience for B2B eCommerce to succeed?
A landslide of 83% of votes showed that the audience agreed with Tom: While digital expertise is needed, it doesn’t have to come straight from C-level executives. What’s critical for CEOs to focus is on the change management aspects that a digital transformation requires, by backing, supporting and providing the resources needed for a successful journey into digital.
Watch the lively discussion with the MasterB2B experts and get all the insights! Access the full on-demand webinar here.
Julia is a Senior B2B Product Expert at commercetools. With over a decade of experience across product and marketing teams in the tech world, she is an expert at creating innovative, customer-first strategies, and excelling in cross-functional growth & GTM initiatives.