By Saurabh Gupta, Co-Founder at CODEX
In 2002, Capital One appointed Cathryne Clay Doss as the Chief Data Officer. While the “computer science” industry was still gasping on the digital trends, a data officer was a role ahead of time. As the CDO, Doss led a wide range of strategic initiatives. But structurally, the role of CDO continues to be an ever evolving one. As per the analyst reports, until 2010, there were only 15 Chief Data Officers hired by different organizations.
Data technologies, science and processes are rewriting the rules of business and propelling organizations toward digital transformation.
-Forbes
A large amount of data that is being generated is very useful for organizations in order to use it for Business Intelligence. If data is cooked properly, then it can provide insights that can be helpful to increase productivity and revenue. Essentially, data can lead the way to new business models and result in fresh growth avenues.
Senior industry executives understand the importance of data and hence, they can be instrumental in providing strategic direction to the data landscape of an organization. Not only the data strategy, but their thought leadership can be crucial in rethinking business strategies with data. Their sense of ownership, authority, and influential attitude can smoothen the cultural transformation, resulting in data-driven practices. At a high level, CDOs portfolio is constituted and balanced around below subject areas –
- Data ownership and defense strategy — Governance, Security, Privacy, Quality, Cataloging, Master Data Management, etc.
- How to exploit data for business consumption? Data and Analytics
- How to build a value framework around data initiatives?
- What is the data monetization strategy?
- How to build new revenue streams with data?
Who is Chief Data Officer? A Chief Data Officer (CDO) defines the strategic landscape of data in an organization. The strategic landscape of data includes areas that strengthen the foundational elements of data, build and maintain the infrastructure for organizational data, ensure cross-cultural transformation with data, and value framework to measure the impact of data on business models. The foundational aspect of data covers various topics like data governance, security and privacy, data quality, cataloging, and master data management. This builds the data defense layer of the organization. The CDO is responsible for the vision and execution of Data and Analytics. The role is responsible for the development of the Data and Analytics department’s overall strategy and defining the business data management roadmap.
Why CDO is an ever-evolving role?
Organizations have been generating and accumulating data for a long time, but the volume of data started to grow exponentially in the second half of the 20th century.
As per the analysis by Statista and Wikibon, the worldwide Big Data market revenues for software and services are projected to grow from $42B in 2018 to $103B in 2027, at a CAGR of 10.48%.
Source: Wikibon and reported by Statista.
The corporates were very clear that with the growth of “data” comes the need of infrastructure, governance, and consumption. The role of Chief Data Officer was entrusted to spearhead these responsibilities only to realize that there are several other complexities associated with data initiatives.
The phase of “transformation” is not as straightforward as it sounds to be — it wasn’t a race, but a “marathon” journey. Every organization had their business models, vision and mission preambles, and above all, the culture that they have built over years. And these unforeseen and unprecedented challenges made the role of Chief Data Officer quite unsettled and an ever evolving one.
The New Vantage Partners survey reveals that 72% of its executive survey respondents feel the chief data officer’s role is still not settled while 28% describe it as a successful and established role. And by all means, it’s totally acceptable. Large enterprises including Walmart, General Motors, Chase Bank, Bank of America, IBM, VISA, etc. have CDOs and this role is becoming increasingly common. While organizations are now adopting the chief data officer role, New Vantage says there is confusion on the importance of this position. Is it mandatory for organizations to have this role?
Once again, the New Vantage Partners survey shows that 40% respondents agree that the CDO role is important for building data-driven strategies and decision-making in organizations. The leading job portals (Indeed and LinkedIn) and executive search firms scout for the senior industry leaders across industries including Healthcare, Insurance, Media, Education etc. to fill the roles.
Since the first Chief Data Officer appointment made by Capital One in 2002 (followed by Yahoo in 2005), the count has increased to around 400 in 2014 and around 4000 in 2017. One of the key points that often invites a lot of arguments is CDOs position in the organizational chart. The “Chief” of CDO does play a role here — whether the data office should roll into CEO or sit as an advisor to the Chief Digital or Information officer. In either of the cases, the role acts as a trusted strategic partner and continues to rise as a key position at the CXO level. A 2018 survey by Gartner reflects how the industry has positioned the role of Chief Data Officers.
CDO Role is Well Established
Five years of data showing steady growth — all geographies and verticals.
For 2018:
- 49% of CDOs reports to a top business executive
- 22% to a top IT executive
- Stability in reporting relationships
Net out: Value of CDO role recognized — in terms of numbers and reporting relationships
So, what CDOs need to do? Amidst all the unsettling voices and variance in responsibilities, there are a standard set of items that naturally come to the role of the Chief Data Officer. Let’s go through the below list.
- Thought leadership — Build, transform, and maintain strategic view on internal as well as external data in the organization. Formulate data governance, security, and quality framework.
- Build the Data Culture — Enable the use of data for better decision making. Roll out data literacy programs and data democratization initiatives to grow data practices.
- Grow data roles and communities — CDOs focus on building up data organization, advise new roles and competencies who can work with data effectively.
- Data & Analytics — Support data and analytics product development and delivery. This includes data architecture, infrastructure and engineering practices.
- Creates Value framework — Chief Data Officers are involved in the discussions across the organizational leadership to ideate the framework to measure the business value of data programs.
For the executives who are taking up the CDO role for the first time, quite often they are asked to lay down the microscopic and telescopic view of their activities. These views differ for internal transitions and external hires. But structurally, things start with a detailed assessment of organization, business models, IT systems, and competencies. This exercise builds the understanding of domain, current processes, and paints a view of what really needs to be done. Based on the study, the executives find the starting point, build the short- and long-term plan, build teams, and ensure early success for progressive endorsement of the data office. Don’t forget to check out the famous100-days CDO plan from Gartner.
Conclusion
No matter the role of Chief Data Officer finds intersections with C-level peers, the fact that strategic data leadership is vital to the organizations cannot be ignored. More than the technicians, CDOs provide thought leadership to structure the data landscape of the organization, act as transformational agents, and build the culture of data experience.
