A packed house at the inaugural Sydney CDO Summit has heard how to focus ‘zealously' on improving the customer experience, along with how to build and lead effective teams and how to increase competencies in digital, social and mobile media.

The summit, presented by Accenture Digital and hosted at UTS Business School, sold out several weeks prior to the event itself.

Dave Maunsell, Acenture Digital Australia and New Zealand managing director, says in the same way that CMOs drive marketing strategy and CIOs drive the technology strategy, ‘those companies serious about digital transformation have identified the need for a CDO to drive the digital strategy at the board level'.

Maunsell says the CDO Summit provided an opportunity for CDOs to come together and learn from each other, while also providing greater understanding of the significance of the role to organisations who don't already have a CDO in place.

Keynote speakers at the event included Paul Shetler, chief executive of the Digital Transformation Office; Bronwyn van der Merwe, managing director at Fjord Australia; and Gerd Shenkel, executive director of Telstra Digital.

Attendees also heard from speakers from a number of high profile organisations, including American Express, City of Melbourne, Flight Centre Travel Group, Google, Microsoft, Network Ten, University of Technology Sydney, Westpac New Zealand and Young and Rubicam.

Similar summits are also held in New York and London, where sell-out crowds are also common.