6 key agenda items for CROs

The role of CRO emerged during the late 2000s to the 2010s. It originally developed in relatively small startups. The broad role is to oversee the entire business strengthening and expanding the revenue base by pioneering new markets ahead of competitors.

The mission of a CRO can be summarized into two "maximizations." The first is maximizing the value provided to clients. In a dynamically changing business environment, client needs are intricately intertwined, and there is a high risk that the products or services a company offers will quickly become obsolete. To address the reality of increasingly shorter product and service life cycles, it is essential to establish an end-to-end customer support system to assist in business transformation.

The second is maximizing revenue. The key is data. Visualizing deal leads, pipelines, client feedback, and market data. The front-line organization and sales department collaborate based on objective data to refine the value and services offered. Creating a system that generates new revenue thorough data-driven management that achieves overall optimization rather than individual optimization is required. Data is a common language that transcends words and customs. Without breaking down silos between organizations or among globally dispersed locations, maximizing revenue will be challenging.

A CRO should be the partner that has the greatest understanding of the customer. They have to explore issues that the customers may not even be aware of, pave the way for solutions, and collaborate deeply. That understanding comes from constantly keeping an antenna to sense changes in the market and clients, and committing to ceaselessly working on the two missions, transforming the company ahead of changes.

In this section, I’d like to introduce the key agenda items that I’m driving as Fujitsu's CRO. The challenges faced by each company's CRO vary depending on their business model. However, many companies—regardless of industry or size—share the fundamental concept of striking a balance between enhancing the value that the company provides and increasing revenue based on optimizing and executing on the portfolio, scientific management based on data, building trust with clients, and promoting team building that emphasizes human skills.

I assumed the role of CRO in April 2023. At that time, the position of CRO was not as common in Japan as it is now. By exchanging opinions with CROs from global companies in the US and Europe, I have been asking myself "what are the CRO’s challenges " and reflecting on them one by one in Fujitsu's transformation.

Below, is a breakdown of the six key agenda items that a CRO should tackle (Figure 1) into three transformations: "Management Transformation," "Value Proposition Transformation," and "Behavioral Transformation." I’d like to demonstrate each using Fujitsu's practical knowledge.

②Insights

We are promoting "future-oriented" management by testing hypotheses based on objective insights derived from data-driven management. To achieve this, we are working on implementing the necessary data infrastructure and technology (Figure 2).

In 2022, we launched OneCRM, a global unified customer relationship management (CRM) project. Previously, pipeline data was fragmented by region and business unit, but now it is standardized globally, enabling quick decision-making in order forecasting, root cause analysis, and deal promotion. We have shifted to pipeline management centered on the Fujitsu Uvance portfolio, creating an environment that makes it easier to monitor market trends and customer needs.

In October 2024, OneERP+, a global integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, was launched in Japan before being rolled out to　other regions. The aim was to transform core and management operations focused on the flow of goods, services, and money, and to achieve data-driven management and operational excellence through IT platform, talent, and cultural transformation.

With the activation of OneCRM and OneERP+, everything from marketing to order receipt, opportunity creation, and profit generation is now on a single platform. We are also focusing on using AI to improve order and sales forecasting. While there is still room for improvement in terms of accuracy, we are working to raise the level globally through collaboration.

④Economics

We are also working on revising our pricing strategy to be more strategic and agile in response to the transformation of our value proposition. The key here is to balance economic viability for both our company and our customers.

Traditionally, we used a "cost-stacking" pricing model, focusing on fulfilling customer requests and selling what we created. This approach hindered the motivation to proactively enhance added value and made it difficult to offer solutions that actively address customer challenges.

Our goal is to continuously provide effective offerings that integrate Fujitsu's strengths, including technology, to solve the challenges faced by our customers and society at large.

Solving customer and societal challenges and contributing to their sustainable growth is at the heart of our Purpose. To achieve this, we need to chart a path of transformation unique to Fujitsu, develop effective offerings, and optimally combine these offerings to solve challenges. We believe it is necessary to shift to a pricing model based on the added value that leads to positive effects in transforming customers' businesses or addressing societal issues.

We plan to reinvest a portion of the returns gained from enhanced added value into developing new technologies and offerings, as well as investing in human resources, thereby creating a virtuous cycle that further enhances Fujitsu's value proposition. We will continue to refine our pricing strategy to establish optimal economic viability.