At the heart of every successful company is the four letter magical word- DATA. Want to know how your consumers feel about your services? What are your competitors up to? Should you bring that new modification in your product that you think is awesome? Answers to all this and much more is right there, scattered all over the internet in form of social media activity, articles, blogs, your own CRM and internal systems etc. You sure know how to get a hold of all this data, but how will you manage it? How to analyze it? What possibilities does this data show?
Baffled yet?
Well don’t worry, a Chief Data Officer won’t be and that’s exactly why you need one.
In today’s market, where efficient usage of data is one of the biggest competency any company can have, a CDO- Chief Data Officer will not only ensure that you get the best out of each byte, but will also open up possibilities you never knew existed.
For starters, a chief data officer can help you attain the following objectives-
Gaining traction on the net. Although it may seem like it overlaps with the roles of a Chief Digital Officer(CDO), but their responsibilities are very narrowly defined and can’t duplicate efforts in other areas.
Since most of the promising big data initiatives cut across internal and external boundaries, chief data officer can help coordinate info architecture and data governance efforts.
Measuring KPIs and understanding what needs to be measured in each department. What exactly is each department measuring now and how are they getting that data. Which are the most frequently asked questions and which ones are being kept aside because people lack the knowledge to answer them fully.
A chief data officer can help align the various investments with the overall strategy of the company by figuring out what is working and what isn’t, how many BI applications are being used across different organizations and what platforms are required.
According to a recent report published by research firm Forrester, 54% of the companies with 10% year-over-year revenue growth or more have chief data officer, while 33% of the companies with less than 4% revenue growth have them.
Based on a survey of 3005 business and technology decision-makers located in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States with 100 or more employees.
The tides are turning and focus on data is crucial for every business now. The competitive advantage that a chief data officer brings to the top table is one that is gaining ground and is much needed in times of differentiation and innovation.