“Omni-channel” is the word on everybody’s lips. In fact, as the global economy recovers, and companies start hiring again, roles relating directly to omni-channel development have become increasingly common – and not, as some predicted, as middle management roles, but as senior positions.

In 2012, for example, designer department store chain Lane Crawford, created two senior management positions specifically to drive omni-channel growth. These were occupied by Andrea O’Donnell, previously Commercial Director at department store operator John Lewis, and Sebastian Picardo, previously Managing Director of Digital Commerce at Burberry, who now act as Executive Director, responsible for merchandising, marketing, store strategy and planning, and Executive Vice President of Business Development, respectively.

Similarly, in 2013, Belk Inc. hired Dorlisa Flur, who previously served as Vice Chair, Strategy and Chief Administrative Officer at Family Dollar Stores, as its first Executive Vice President of Omni-Channel; and, in 2014, J.C. Penney hired Michael Rogers, previously Vice President, Chief Information and Operations Officer at Saks Fifth Avenue, to integrate ecommerce platforms with physical stores.  

Furthermore, earlier this year, Levi Strauss & Co. announced that Marc Rosen, previously Vice President of Global Ecommerce at Walmart Stores Inc., will be taken on as Executive Vice President and President of Global Ecommerce.  

The trend couldn’t be clearer: big companies are starting to take the omni-channel approach seriously, a fact which really shouldn’t come as a surprise. Of course, the implacable movement towards digital affects almost all markets, especially retail. The upshot is that companies require executives capable of integrating digital and mobile platforms with traditional brick-and-mortar outlets.

And it’s not only B2C markets that are affected. The increasing consumerization of B2B markets means that a parallel demand for equally digitally-savvy senior employees has emerged within organisations that have traditionally focused little on the experience of the end-user. 

Whether it’s sharing opinions and reviews, or multiplatform integration, business buying is likely to increasingly assimilate consumer markets, meaning that B2B end-users will come to expect just as high-quality and personalised an experience as their B2C equivalents do. Of course, such developments require clever, professional implementation and development, with B2B omni-channel senior hires being the likely outcome. 

In fact, the enthusiastic adoption of the omni-channel approach throughout almost all industries led several executive search firms to speculate that Chief Digital Officer, Head of ecommerce/Omni-Channel, will be the most in-demand job in 2014.

However, this influx of senior digital hires will come at a cost. IT middle management is most likely to see the biggest transformation; with digital expertise expected in the boardroom, and technology-driven leadership becoming more common place, IT management professionals will become less important, at least strategically.

So what will be the ultimate effect of the omni-channel approach on company hierarchies and hiring strategy? Perhaps it’s too early to say. But it certainly looks as though IT roles will spilt, with the very best being parachuted into the highest echelons of companies, and those immediately below them experiencing a substantial loss in job security. 

The stats certainly appear to back this forecast up: 19 percent of business leaders expect to hire a Chief Digital Officer by the end of 2014; and 17 percent expect to appoint a Chief Data Officer. On the other hand, cloud technology continues to replace in-house IT infrastructure. David Linthicum, SVP at Cloud Technology Partners argues that cloud technology may eventually make the IT department as we know it practically redundant.

And, with IT outsourcing becoming increasingly popular with IT executives – of which 73% of those who replied to JDL’s recent survey claimed that the main benefit of IT outsourcing is a reduced need to hire technology staff. 

However, whilst Fabrizio Napolitano Partner IT Outsourcing at Deloitte agrees with the general direction of this trend, he doubts that the internal IT will entirely disappear. What he thinks will happen is that “new skills will be needed. Moving profiles from operational IT to managing an echo-system of suppliers, service-integrating them and packaging these services in a relevant way to deliver what the CDO needs to run its business efficiently.” Napolitano also adds that “IT will need to support innovation more effectively, which they don't necessarily do now. Most firms spend the bulk of their IT budget to "run" rather than change the business.” Therefore as CDOs drive the top line agenda, they will need IT to be more active (relevant) in proposing new ways of working”. 

Omni-channel, just like other technological advancements, is bound to affect almost all aspects of any company’s process, and HR is no exception. Still, only time will tell the true extent of its impact.