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As data becomes an increasingly important business resource, organizations are increasingly turning to their leaders to ensure data excellence. Mark Fazackerley, ANZ Regional Vice President at Talend, outlines how the increasingly popular role of Chief Data Officer can help lay the foundation for an effective data strategy and culture.
To be successful in data, organizations must ensure a set of processes, roles, policies and standards that establish and enforce internal data policies and comply with external regulations while creating a foundation of trusted data.
However, the use and management of data has often become a battle in many organizations. On the one hand, business users need quick and easy access. On the other hand, IT teams prioritize stability, security and control.
Finding an effective solution to this conflict is a top priority for many businesses. In an increasing number of cases, Chief Data Officers are being installed to bring a data focus to the organization and create a healthy data culture for management.
Responsibilities of the Chief Data Officer
The Chief Data Officer (CDO) is the core decision-maker at the heart of the business. They have a combination of strong technical knowledge and broad business knowledge. This allows them to ensure that data is accessible to all users while being securely and efficiently managed.
It is also important that the CDO does not focus solely on the mechanics of moving or merging data within their organization. They also need to spend time on broader questions such as how data can deliver the best possible business results.
The CDO has an excellent chance of success if he works closely with business teams and uses his unique position to drive sound data. This process begins by democratizing access to data across the enterprise in a secure and compliant manner.
Further reading: Strategy & News investigates the rise of the Chief Data Officer.
Extending data access using low-code technologies
The use of low-code and no-code technology tools and self-service data solutions has grown significantly over the past few years. This helped give non-technical users much better access to the data they wanted.
This democratization of data empowers employees by giving them the tools they need to apply data to their programs, initiatives and campaigns. The more experience a team gains from working with data, the more literate they will be in data-related issues.
Although this has brought significant business benefits, this evolving trend has worsened the level at which organizations are dealing with digital risk. Companies often integrate data processes manually and suffer losses in productivity and agility. And many organizations are now more exposed to the challenges of data fragmentation, breaches and non-compliance.
Armed with technical expertise, deep data strategy experience and business acumen, CDOs are well positioned to mitigate compliance risk, increase team productivity and improve overall business agility with healthy data. This process includes establishing rules and protocols for data management across the organization, such as traceability, business glossary, data literacy and policy workflows.
To have the necessary organizational support, the Chief Data Officer must build a team that not only thinks about data, but also has three key traits: the ability to collaborate, a keen understanding of strategy, and a willingness to learn.
Creating a shared understanding of data
It is important to emphasize that those working in business functions do not wake up every day thinking about data management. They care about getting insights quickly and want to get the right data fed into applications or processes where it’s needed most.
At the same time, on the opposite spectrum, an organization’s technical data teams struggle to create solutions, often with limited resources and context. They focus on ensuring that data governance guidelines are followed and that data is always secure.
Often these two groups can sound like they are speaking two different languages. They may use the same terms to refer to different things, or different terms to refer to the same things.
Ultimately, deep domain experts need more than a compelling digital dashboard, regardless of their area of expertise. They also need common agreement on what constitutes healthy data and how it is used to achieve desired business outcomes.
When there are different pockets of news, things become challenging to make sense of it all. It’s not just about having the right dashboard. Ultimately, it’s about having a common language, and the Chief Data Officer plays a key role in that.
Data must become the common language of the organization. Teams must understand the performance trends of whatever they are responsible for and be able to communicate them to others.
To be successful, organizations need a common operating model, a structured rhythm of communication and a unified culture of data health. Dashboards are just tools that make this possible.
Building data culture
While a CDO is unlikely to have the budget and influence to make these changes on its own, it can still lay the foundation for an effective data culture.
CDOs also have a critical role in executing enterprise-wide data strategies that maintain control while enabling the business to achieve greater value from their data. This will require internal community and infrastructure building, both in terms of technical infrastructure and human relations.
It is still early days in the development of CDOs. As their role becomes more understood and their efforts focus on the data-related issues that matter most, CDOs will continue to grow in value. CDOs who foster a healthy data culture while balancing access and control will strike a balance between data use and governance and help their organization achieve successful business outcomes.
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