The importance of the Chief Data Officer (CDO) in an organization

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The Chief Data Officer combines information protection and privacy, governance, quality and data management, together with a business vision.
It could be said that the flood of data - 250 billion terabytes generated per day - makes the Chief Data Officer (CDO) a fundamental role in organizations. The CDO is responsible for converting this data into relevant information for the business. And we all know that unprocessed data has no value.


The chief data officer role combines accountability and responsibility for information protection and privacy, information governance, data quality and management , along with the exploitation of data assets to create business value.

Compared to the CIO , the chief data officer plays a more risk, compliance, policy management and business function role . This is a role that drives business-driven information and analytics strategies.



Data the power to be extraordinary


The rise of the Chief Data Officer
It is clear that data cannot be managed by itself. And as we have seen, as data increases and so does the relevance it gains in the day-to-day life of data-driven organisations , the role of the CDO ig database more important. In fact, this role is a declaration of intent and reveals aspects such as:

Recognizing the value of data.
The acceptance that data in the enterprise environment is separate from the systems that run it.
The vision that, when properly exploited, data drives business and its performance.
But this was not always the case. For too long, information assets were considered secondary, a protected part of organizations, but at the same time lacking the current recognition that attributes them a differential added value. Until the arrival of the Chief Data Officer, those responsible for defining and ensuring the application of the best data management practices in the organization were profiles such as:

The data processing manager.
The IT manager.
Any position attached to either of these two.
But in practice, such high-level responsibilities could only be held by people with very specific technical knowledge and experience. And this was not always the case.

The consequences were dramatic when poor management led to the loss of clients, partners or even employees, and so at some point towards the end of the 1980s a new role was created: that of CIO. This position elevated an IT professional to a Board position for the first time, but who is responsible for data ownership?

This issue fell into a grey area, outside of any definition and stagnant between the IT and business areas of the organization.







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Fortunately, the inconsistency of this model soon became apparent and gave rise, around 2002, to a new position that bridges the gap between IT and the business: the Chief Data Officer, who assumes overall responsibility for the management of the organization's information assets. His or her mission is to:

Define a data strategy that legitimizes data by creating a consistent set of definitions, standards, and governance practices that enable informed business decisions.
Leveraging data as a competitive advantage, or as it is already called, achieving the much desired analytical advantage .
Innovate to move forward, determining which technological investment is best for the organization at any given time and providing information on how such innovation can transform the business.