As a Chief Data Officer, I sometimes get asked – does a company need a Chief Data Officer? The short answer is – if your company has data that it leverages for business purposes, then absolutely yes, you do!
You need the person who is going to be the data evangeliser, the one ensuring all Data Science, Analytics, Engineering efforts are going to be focused on generating business value. The data driven innovation your company needs must have a leader whose job it is to find those nuggets of value and to polish them, prepare them, leverage them – and create value for the business. Business stakeholders are ultimately looking for an equal partner who can help them understand their data, leverage it to create business impact – and that partner is the CDO. Companies big or small, tech or non-tech, public or private – all of them need someone whose job description includes leading the charge on creating value from data.
Sometimes, a company has more focus on data science instead – and the role could be a Chief Data Scientist role in that case. But its not a technology focused role – it is still a business focused role. Leveraging latest technology to solve the business problem just happens to be the way to execute on the role.
Other companies have more data analysts and a bigger focus on reporting and analytics – the role could be a Chief Analytics Officer – or a Chief Data Analytics Officer role. Regardless, any CDO will be a Chief Analyst, a Chief ML person and a Chief Data engineer all rolled into one – along with being a strong business focused executive.
With the IDFA, GDPR and other similar compliance and privacy questions, the CDO also needs to be looking ahead at the ethics of Data, the implications of these initiatives on business results – will you be able to get the data you need in the world of IDFA? This is not an engineering question, and its not a business question – its both! And the CDO must seek out the answers and share with the team.
So, regardless of whether you call it a CDO/CDAO/CDS/CAO or any other name – if your company has data, and you need cultural change, business impact and technological prowess – do yourself a favour and hire a good leader who has the ability to handle both business and technology to deliver value from the data!
