Chief Data Officer, Part Two

We posted previously about the Chief Data Officer role, inspired by a great article by Mike Anderson. In his article he points out that only a few institutions of higher education have such a position in place, and we got to wondering about what happens everywhere else.

Well, this was a timely post, as at the same time Experian Data Quality was commissioning a survey of corporate Chief Information Officers (CIO) about the role of a Chief Data Officer (CDO) and data management generally. (Link to the report is here [registration required]; to the best of our knowledge, neither the Data Cookbook nor IData Inc. has any relationship with Experian.)

Among its findings are these: 63% of organizations without a CDO would like to see one created; 68% of the same group believes that the CIO role doesn't cover the majority of responsibilities a CDO would have; of those companies that have created a CDO position, 68% have done so in calendar 2015. The report argues:

The research suggests the creation of a CDO role in businesses would help reduce barriers to data utilization, raise the profile of data among stakeholders and prevent data silos. It would also help centralize data governance initiatives and strengthen the drive for data quality...

The report refers to Chief Data Officers as evangelists for data management, and concludes,

A CDO should be seen as the guardian of data, but must avoid putting in too many workarounds or barriers in place that hinder productivity or day-to-day processes.

In our view the CDO isn't the ultimate authority over data management, and probably shouldn't even be the authority figure over any one aspect (such as security, access, quality); rather this role facilitates conversations, keeps people abreast of trends and policies, works to assure collaboration, agreement, and understanding. Does that sound like anyone you work with? Does it sound like someone you need at your organization?

IData provides data governance services and offers an enterprise data governance / data intelligence solution, the Data Cookbook.  If interested in talking more, please .

In case you missed it, part one of our Chief Data Officer posts is located at here.  Additional people-related resources regarding data governance and data intelligence can be found here. 

Also feel free to review our other data steward resources located at this blog post.

(image credit Icons_10 Executive-Manager #1052)