First, what is a CDO? Chief Data Officer, a new role that is emerging in many organizations. There have been CDO’s (Chief Digital Officers) around for a while, but “C Data O” is a relatively new concept. What is it that they do?
A CDO must have an awareness of what information a company has; how it’s being categorized; how it’s being used; who owns the data and what the parameters are for using all the data. It’s a wide-ranging responsibility. It touches on much of the business-side – sales, marketing, product development, etc. But, the roots of the data are also on the technology-side – ownership, classification, permissioning, etc.
Data is becoming more and more prevalent in C-suite discussions. Data has been around for a long time, we all know that; it’s just now that organizations are starting to understand the information they have and are becoming aware of the value in that data. So, if you are a “data scientist” you are now a marketable commodity. Companies are using data for a variety of purposes and they are looking for someone to manage all of their initiatives.
Is it time your company hired a CDO?
