Rise of the Chief Data Officer (CDO) and Data Protection Officer (DPO)

2018-06-22

Rise of the Chief Data Officer (CDO) and Data Protection Officer (DPO)

The Chief Data Officer (CDO) is the newest addition to the C-Suite, and it’s a job that’s responsible for enterprise wide governance and utilization of data (or information) as an asset, including oversight over data processing, analysis, data mining, information trading, and other uses of data.

The infographic below comes from Raconteur.net, and it breaks down organizational perspectives on the role of the CDO, along with how execs in this fast-evolving position are allocating their time to achieve their mandates.

Secondary source: Infographic: The Rise of the Chief Data Officer (CDO) | visualcapitalist.com

Approximately 90% of large global organizations will have a CDO by 2019, and the general mandate for most CDOs will be as follows:

Data Integrator: Raw internal data exploration, diagnostic analytics, and value-added data quality and integration
Business Optimizer: External context and benchmarking, cost-reduction analysis, and business-driven growth opportunities
Market Innovator: Data monetization, cognitive trend analysis, and innovative business models

Gartner breaks it down in a similar way, suggesting that CDOs spend 45% of their time focused on value creation or revenue generation, 27% on risk mitigation, and 28% on cost savings and efficiency.

In addition, under the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a company will often also need to appoint a Data Protection Officer (DPO). This DPO will independently assess and audit the way data is managed in the company, and it is crucial that the CDO learns to work with the company's DPO since the DPO is independent. It is the CDO's job to immediately address any concerns the DPO might raise, while still ensuring valuable data can be utilized optimally.

Additional sources: