Digitalisation, socio-political change and sustainability: these are the trends that will impact companies in the future. The CEO of a company must start initiating measures today in order to be able to counter these trends. The CEO is responsible for the company’s strategy and specifies guidelines and objectives in order to ensure a successful development of the company. In this regard, issues relating to the company’s identity, its purpose, technology-driven transformation as well as cross-sector ecosystems come increasingly to the fore.

The role of the CFO of a company will become significantly more important within the next five years. In the future, the CFO will play a more active role when it comes to the transformation of the company. Besides establishing strategies and methods for improving profitability, the CFO is also responsible for the company’s operative and long-term financial stability and ability to operate. The CFO must meet the shareholders’ expectations in terms of growth and profits, while also keeping up with rapid change, extended regulations and changed expectations of the consumers.

The COO manages the company’s operative business. The role of the COO, however, has changed considerably over the past few years. Besides the responsibility for the operative business, he/she is becoming involved in more and more areas of the business, such as IT, technology, regulation, compliance, or change management.

The CDO is a relatively new position in the top management circle of companies. The CDO is responsible for collecting, analysing and using data within the company and helps open up new sources of revenue based on data. He/she establishes digital ecosystems throughout the company and develops new partnerships, forms of cooperation as well as business models. Therefore, the CDO is turning more and more from a data collector into a digital change maker.

The CTO manages the technological development of the company. In this role, the CTO is responsible for improving the organisation's technological and digital abilities and capacities. For that purpose, he/she must support and further develop the convergence of technologies and business processes. In almost every area, business process merge with IT and technology, which makes the CTO the pacesetter when it comes to change.

The CIO is the company’s top-level IT manager. He/she manages the planning, the operation as well as the further development of the IT infrastructures and IT systems. In the future, CIOs will have to improve their marketing skills and develop a good understanding of the marketing function as well as other business areas. Being familiar with the other departments is a prerequisite for the CIO in order to be able to support the respective teams.

The CAO is responsible for the areas of data, analytics and AI within the company. He/she ensures that the company’s data resources become a central asset for planning, the development of new business models and offers, as well as the improvement of process quality and customer satisfaction. In the future, the CAO will collaborate closely with the CEO and the CIO in order to establish data-driven decision-making processes as well as a data-driven company culture. This involves collaboration regarding the talent strategy and building internal teams as well as working on IT strategies and data compliance.

The CMO manages the marketing department and is responsible for brand management, the marketing strategy, customer communication and customer analysis. He/she ensures market-oriented pricing and optimal distribution via various distribution channels. The CMO will have an even broader area of responsibility in the future. In particular, he/she will be responsible for creating customer experiences based on the customers’ wishes and for using new technologies in order to open up new ways of customer integration. For that purpose, the CMO must collaborate with various departments, especially with the sales department, the service department, the operations department, IT and the legal department.

The CHRO is responsible for an organisation’s personnel development. His/her central task is to define and implement the company’s talent strategy. In the future, the CHRO will play a key role when it comes to transformation. He/she ensures that the company can win the “war for talents” and finds answers to mega trends such as new work, diversity and inclusion.

The CMIO’s task is to collaborate with the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and the individual IT teams. He/she is expected to translate the requirements of doctors and nursing staff for the IT department and develop adaptable, flexible as well as cost-efficient technology solutions to improve the efficiency and quality of treatment and make contributions to the organisation’s future viability.

The CPO is responsible for the company’s overall procurement strategy. He/she analyses the procurement markets, develops supplier relationships, negotiates framework agreements, ensures lasting security of supply and makes important contributions to cost savings. In the future, the CPO will focus more and more on improving business efficiency, optimising internal processes, increasing transparency in the supplier network as well as ensuring sustainability and compliance throughout the entire value chain.

The CSO manages strategy development and strategy implementation within the company. Thus, he/she has a complex and challenging role which is essential for the future viability and mobilisation of the company. On the one hand, the CSO is the central sparring partner of the CEO and the most important decision-makers and key personnel within the company. On the other hand, he/she also ensures that the company can anticipate economic, political, technological and cultural developments early on and can react to them in an adequate manner.