Role of a CDO Explained with Mathangi Sri

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, organizations are increasingly embracing digital transformation. This shift has given rise to a new category of leaders known as Chief Data Officers or CDOs.

The role of the CDO emerged in the aftermath of the 2008-2009 financial crisis when banks sought ways to protect their assets and navigate financial uncertainties. Since then, the role has expanded beyond the financial sector into various industries, including pharmaceuticals, healthcare, consumer goods, and entertainment.

Growth of Chief Data Officers: Data from surveys conducted between 2012 and 2023 show a significant increase in the appointment of CDOs, rising from 12.0% to 82.6% across companies. This exponential growth highlights the recognition of the pivotal role that data plays in modern business operations. As organizations strive to stay competitive and relevant in their respective markets, the CDO’s importance has grown exponentially.

Evolution of Responsibilities: The CDO’s responsibilities have also evolved to cover a wide range of data-related tasks, from analytics to artificial intelligence. Initially, their role primarily focused on data governance and compliance. However, as data has become a strategic asset, CDOs now spearhead efforts to extract actionable insights from data, driving innovation and informed decision-making.

Navigators of Data Strategy: The CDO serves as a senior executive responsible for shaping an organization’s data strategy. They are like navigators steering a digital ship through vast seas of information. Their mission is to protect valuable data assets and unlock their potential for business value. They play a pivotal role in aligning data initiatives with overall business objectives.

Collaboration with the CIO: Working alongside the CDO is the Chief Information Officer (CIO), and together they aim to navigate the challenges of the digital era. While the CIO focuses on maintaining technology systems and infrastructure, the CDO leverages data generated by these systems for strategic decision-making. This partnership ensures a seamless connection between technology and data, driving efficiency and effectiveness in digital operations.

Data-Driven Decision-Making Advocates: The CDO’s role involves decoding complex data, clarifying the organization’s data strategy, and promoting data-driven decision-making throughout the company. They champion the use of analytics to uncover valuable insights into customer behavior, market trends, and operational efficiencies. By instilling a data-centric mindset across the organization, they empower teams to make informed choices.

Reducing Reliance on Intuition: Moreover, the CDO plays a crucial role in ensuring that decisions within the organization are based on factual data, reducing the reliance on gut feelings and intuition. In an era where data is abundant, harnessing its power becomes essential to maintaining a competitive edge and mitigating risks associated with subjective decision-making.

Data Security and Compliance Stewards: In addition to their role in data strategy and decision-making, CDOs are responsible for safeguarding data and ensuring compliance with data regulations. They protect the organization from data breaches and cyber threats, maintaining its reputation and trustworthiness. In an age of increasing data privacy concerns and regulatory scrutiny, this responsibility is paramount.

In this evolving landscape of data-driven leadership, the CDO serves as a guiding force, helping organizations navigate the challenges of the digital age, maximize the value of data assets, and ensure compliance in an ever-changing technological landscape. As data continues to transform industries, the CDO’s role remains central to the success and sustainability of modern organizations.

Mathangi Sri, Chief Data Officer at Yubi concluded, “The Role of Chief Data Officer has evolved from being one of a governance role to being directly accountable for business growth. This also drives data to be at the centre of decision making. Today a CDO drives the entire spectrum from establishing  data management (Data lake and Data Governance) to  democratizing data (through self-serve dashboards) to enabling micro decisions at scale ( Bots, Personalization, Large scale allocations, etc). The CDO with this charter can add directly to the larger purpose of the organization. Decisions driven by data governed by humans are the future and the CDO will be the one who needs to anchor this shift”