In today’s age of big data, no business can dream of being successful without being data-driven. For any business to be successful it has become imperative to be data-driven. These data come from customers, clients, internal processes, and other stakeholders. Interestingly, many modern-day businesses build their business on data but they don’t necessarily manage them well. This is where the role of Chief Data Officer comes into play.

If your business is data-driven but you are having a hard time managing the growing pile of data in your business, you have landed on the right page. Here we are talking about the roles and responsibilities of a Chief Data Officer – a C-suite executive who can transform your business for the good.

What is a Chief Data Officer?

The term Chief Data Officer first appeared more than two decades back in the early 2000s. In the beginning, the role simply focused on data governance and compliance. But over these years the role of Chief Data Officer has transformed to include many data-related key functions. Today Chief Data Officer is a C-suite executive who leads the governance and utilization of data across the organization. They are the ones who support good data operation (DataOps) for the business. 

The responsibilities of a Chief Data Officer includes –

• Leading the process of data management, data analytics, and data governance.
• Ensuring the quality of data held and managed by the organization.
• Creating data and information strategy for the company.
• Creating a data management system to facilitate a secure process of collecting and managing data.
• Sharing data within the organization for enabling informed and data-driven decisions across the organization.
• Implementing data analytics to identify pain points in the business process.

Why Do You Need a Chief Data Officer in Your Organization?

The definition of Chief Data Officer and roles discussed above can be enough reasons for some businesses to decide that they require a Chief Data Officer. But, if you are still not sure whether your business is in need of a CDO or not try to consider the following points. The below-mentioned scenario explains which business organization needs to hire a Chief Data Officer.

• Your data is mismanaged – The first sign that indicates a need for Chief Data Officer is the mismanaged data. If you feel that the hefty amount of data in your organization is not being managed well, you need a CDO.
• Your data governance and accountability are uneven – Governance and compliance were the foremost responsibility given to a CDO.  So, if you see that the data governance and accountability are uneven in your organization then you need to hire a CDO.
• You want to create a data-driven environment in your organization – If your business is among the growth-oriented businesses that wish to make the organization data-driven to accelerate its growth then you certainly need to hire a CDO.
• Marketing analytics are important for your business – If your business operation is such that marketing analytics are important then obviously you need a Chief Data Officer.

The Key Areas of a Business Where a CDO can Have Transformative Impact

Now that we have discussed briefly the roles and responsibilities of a Chief Data Officer let us see how they can transform a business. We are providing the six key areas of a business where a CDO can have a transformative impact.

Turning Data into Asset

A Chief Data Officer can transform your business by turning data into an asset. You must already be collecting a huge amount of data but if it’s not managed well it won’t be of much value to you. A CDO turns your data into an asset by helping your business utilize it in various forms. They can help you use the data in staying ahead of the competition, driving revenue, optimizing business processes, and reducing the cost of operation.

A CDO helps you extract all possible important insights and information from data to be utilized for your business growth and prosperity. This is the way a CDO can transform your business by turning data into an asset.

Proper Governance of Data

Data governance is one of the key roles of a CDO. They help the organization keep its data safe from interference, theft, corruption, and loss. They create strategic data access policies for both internal and external users. A good Chief Data Officer always keeps an eye on ever-changing data regulation policies in their country of operation and also makes sure that data collected by your company is accessed only by authorized people and in a secure manner.

A CDO can transform your business by governing the data at your disposal to keep the data as well as your business safe from any breach, fraud, or non-compliance with data privacy policies.

Creating Consistent Data Analytics Process

Data analytics is an important process for turning data into an asset. A Chief Data Officer creates a consistent data analytics process for your business. They design and develop a system to conduct data analysis in a way that makes the data meaningful for your organization. Further, they automate the data collection and processing so that data analytics is consistent and effortless. Consistent data analytics helps businesses to optimize their performance by utilizing the available data to make informed decisions.

A well-structured data analytics can help you transform your business and accelerate your growth process. And, Chief Data Officer is the person who is best suited to do this work for your organization.

Reporting Transparently

Data analytics cannot help much if the results are not reported transparently. A Chief Data Officer is an executive who is well-equipped to extract comprehensive and accurate reports from the data analytics process. The analytics process does not only help them see what happened in the past but also to anticipate the future. CDO holds the position to help communicate the analytics report transparently to internal as well as external stakeholders.

Reporting is one of the essential responsibilities of a Chief Data Officer. By successfully fulfilling their responsibility they can help you transform your business. 

Creating Collaboration Among Different Departments

Teamwork and collaboration are important for the proper functioning of any business organization. Chief Data Officer does not directly work for creating collaboration among different departments but they play a crucial role in doing so. Data is important for each and every department of a business and hence CDO becomes the connecting link between different departments by the virtue of their position. When you have a CDO in your company data are processed centrally and individual departments do not necessarily need to process their data in isolation with other departments.

A CDO can play an important role in connecting and promoting collaboration among different departments of your business and thus help your organization in achieving its business goals much more easily.

Making Data Communication Effective   

Everybody in an organization need not understand data, it’s processing or analysis. But, everybody surely needs to know the meanings hidden in data so that they can strategize their work accordingly. A CDO is a person who can effectively communicate the data insights to every key-position holder so that they can plan their activities accordingly. They present the results of data analysis in such a way that even employees who do not understand data understand the result.

A Chief Data Officer can develop a data culture in your organization where everybody understands the importance of data. They help infuse data literacy in every unit of your business organization. And in this manner, they help you transform your business.

Final Thoughts

Chief Data Officer is not a new position but still, some businesses lack behind in utilizing their service to accelerate their business growth. The importance of data for an organization is growing rapidly every passing day. In such a situation it becomes imperative to have a C-suite executive who is focused on data and all related activities. Chief Data Officer is that C-suite executive. If data is important for your business a CDO can help transform your business with their specialized service. 

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