Pierre-Philippe Cormeraie: “Evangelizing Means Spreading the Company’s Digital Strategy”

Pierre-Philippe Cormeraie, aka@PPC on Twitter, is no ordinary CDO. His title : “Chief Digital Evangelist ” at banking group BPCE. So why “Evangelist”? Simply because the role is about spreading digital transformation throughout the organization. Let there be light!

You chose the term “evangelization”—why does it resonate in your thinking about digital transformation?  

Pierre-Philippe Cormeraie: Digital Evangelist is still a relatively new role in banking and insurance. It's a title already well-established in tech, where it has helped companies drive adoption of new technologies. My job is to support and amplify BPCE Group's digital transformation plan—France's second-largest banking group—across its digital ecosystems. Part of my work involves speaking on topics specific to our digital transformation, supporting the incredible transformation work carried out by each of the Digital Champions across the 14 Banques Populaires and 15 Caisses d’Épargne. Who are the Digital Champions? They are more than 40 employees from across the group’s entities who drive digital transformation in their respective institutions. 

I also speak at numerous external events to raise the group’s profile in France and abroad. These are great opportunities to meet key players in the digital ecosystem and contribute to our ambition of offering best-in-class digital services for our clients, employees, and partners. 

See also: Frédéric Fougerat: “Everything we do must always be customer-centric”

Finally, I lead the Open Data initiative at BPCE Group. We are the first French banking group to make public datasets from group companies available, in order to accelerate value creation and usage. This initiative is a prime example of the evangelist’s role. Internally, it involves engaging with the group’s various departments, explaining what Open Data is, and building a community of public data producers. Externally, it’s about making our offering known and working with other players in France’s Open Data ecosystem to generate value. 

Acculturation versus evangelization—what’s the difference? 

PPC: Acculturation is one of the pillars of evangelization. Evangelizing means amplifying the company’s digital strategy both externally and internally, so that everyone can make it their own and share it as widely as possible. It also means conveying the key insights around model shifts and the changes enabled by technological opportunities. It means breaking down the legitimate fears around new technology so that everyone feels comfortable with the challenges of transformation, and can harness digital opportunities to do their core work more efficiently, meaningfully, and enjoyably.   

“Evangelizing”—the term has religious overtones. Is digital a new religion? 

PPC: Digital is a new industrial, social, and entrepreneurial revolution. The possibilities offered by new technologies allow everyone to revisit their own value chain. It also enables each person to revisit their value proposition with new tools and processes—to distribute their offering to clients or users, to re-enchant the relationship, to revisit processes and tools, to develop working relationships with partners. Everyone can contribute and act at their own level. The goal of evangelization is to help people transcend the technology in order to use it better.   

Evangelizing employees on digital—concretely, how does it work? How long does it take? What steps are involved?  

PPC: Credibility, time to listen, time to share experiences, time to demonstrate, time to explain, and of course, time to scale. Evangelization plays out over the long term—especially if you want to bring as many employees on board as possible. But evangelizing also means simplifying, making a fast-moving world readable and understandable. And of course, it means helping each person make it their own. Giving people things to think about, rather than trying to convince them. In summary, evangelizing in the digital era means combining the right tools with the right practices, common sense, and always putting human relationships before technology.  

Who are the agents of evangelization?  

PPC: Today’s success metrics are primarily usage and NPS (Net Promoter Score, the recommendation score). The manager’s role is evolving, and new professions are emerging in our organizations. Product Owners, UX Designers, Tech Leads, Customer Journey Owners, Data Scientists, Scrum Masters… these new roles now coexist with traditional ones to collectively generate more value for clients and employees alike.

See also: Fabienne Billat: “Without drive and leadership, digital transformation simply cannot happen”

The “Makers” are the new knowledge holders. We have also entered the era of coaching management—leadership-driven rather than directive. Empowerment, evangelization, and facilitation are success factors in a world that demands more agility, faster execution, and a solid understanding of what’s possible to drive adoption. Evangelization also means opening up new fields of reflection to imagine new approaches and methods. To continuously improve the user experience, we have put in place a genuine “Self care” approach.

What are the benefits of evangelization for companies? More employee engagement? 

PPC: Better understanding of the challenges… more employee engagement, more usage, more customer engagement, more usage. The virtuous cycle has been found—it comes alive and improves every day. And I’ll admit, it’s fascinating.