The head of data, also known as the chief data officer (CDO), plays a critical role in organizations today. As data becomes increasingly important for driving business strategy and operations, having a dedicated leader focused on data strategy is essential. The head of data is responsible for overseeing and executing the organization’s data vision. This involves developing data governance policies, building data infrastructure, enabling data-driven decision making, and managing data analytics teams. With data growing exponentially in volume and complexity, organizations need a data leader who can harness it as an asset and drive value.
What are the responsibilities of a head of data?
The head of data has a wide range of strategic and operational responsibilities. Here are some of the key ones:
Setting the data strategy
One of the main responsibilities of the CDO is setting and implementing the overall data strategy. This means defining what the organization wants to accomplish through better data utilization and laying out a roadmap for getting there. It involves identifying business needs, technology solutions, data sources, and analytics capabilities required. The CDO must align the data strategy with broader organizational goals and priorities.
Establishing data governance
The head of data is accountable for establishing data governance standards and policies. This includes setting rules for data security, privacy, life cycle management, and ethical use of data. It also involves creating guidelines for data quality, storage, integration, and access across the organization. Effective governance is key for managing risk, ensuring compliance, and enabling trust in data.
Overseeing data infrastructure
A key aspect of the CDO role is evaluating existing data architecture and overseeing upgrades and new implementations as needed. The head of data must assess infrastructure like data warehouses, lakes, and integration platforms. This helps connect disparate data sources and make information accessible for analytics and decision-making. Keeping data infrastructure modern and scalable is essential as data volumes grow.
Enabling access to data
To drive business value from data, the CDO must enable broad access to relevant data and insights across the organization. This requires implementing self-service analytics tools, dashboards, and other interfaces to democratize data. It also involves promoting a data-driven culture through training and change management. The head of data must break down data silos and make data a shared asset.
Managing data analytics teams
The head of data often oversees data analyst teams, including data scientists, engineers, and visualization experts. This involves identifying talent needs, hiring qualified professionals, and organizing them into an effective operating model. The CDO must also set goals for the teams and provide technology, infrastructure, and other resources to optimize their impact. Nurturing a world-class analytics organization is key.
Monitoring data quality
Maintaining high standards of data quality is a core accountability for the CDO. This requires monitoring the completeness, validity, accuracy, and timeliness of data flowing into systems. It also involves establishing processes and tools to improve data quality upstream. Having clean, consistent data is foundational for accurate analytics and reporting.
Driving adoption of analytics
To create business value from data, analytics and insights must be embedded in processes and decisions across the organization. A core aspect of the CDO role is evangelizing and enabling adoption of analytics through training, communications, and role modeling. This helps the workforce leverage data analytics in their day-to-day functions and decisions.
Delivering data-driven insights
The head of data is responsible for translating raw data into meaningful insights that drive strategic business decisions and performance improvements. This requires overseeing analytics initiatives and building cross-functional relationships to understand key issues and questions. The CDO must deliver compelling data stories and insights to senior leaders and frontline managers.
What skills does an effective head of data need?
To be successful in the role, a head of data needs a diverse blend of technical and business skills. Here are some of the key skills required:
Strategic thinking
The CDO must have strong strategic ability to conceive and articulate a data-driven vision and roadmap for the organization. This requires understanding business needs and dynamics and linking data initiatives to financial growth and impact.
Data literacy
Strong data skills are essential, spanning analytics, statistical modeling, data visualization, and business intelligence. The head of data needs data fluency to guide technical decisions.
Leadership
Influential leadership and collaboration skills are vital for the CDO to drive change, make an impact, and work cross-functionally with diverse teams. Strong relationship building abilities are key.
Technology expertise
Hands-on knowledge of technologies like data infrastructure, analytics tools, and programming languages empowers the CDO to evaluate technical options and implementations.
Change management
Since driving adoption of data practices involves people and process change, strong change management abilities are critical for the head of data role.
Communication skills
The CDO must communicate effectively to executives, technologists, and business users. Storytelling and presentation skills help make data insights compelling.
Business acumen
Understanding how businesses operate, create value, and drive performance is essential context for the CDO to maximize data impact. Financial literacy is also key.
Ethics
With data bringing risks around privacy, security, and responsible usage, ethical data stewardship is a fundamental CDO skillset.
What are the key performance indicators for a head of data?
To measure performance and impact, there are several key metrics and KPIs that apply specifically to the head of data role:
Data strategy execution
– Milestones achieved in executing the data strategy roadmap
– Completion of data strategy initiatives against timeline
Data access and usage
– Number of business teams/users leveraging data and analytics
– Adoption rates of self-service data tools
– Frequency of data-driven decision making
Data literacy and capability
– Improvements in workforce data skill levels
– Number of employees trained on data/analytics tools
– Employee satisfaction with data availability and usability
Data governance compliance
– Audit results for adherence to data policies and standards
– Data quality metrics around accuracy, validity, completeness
– Stakeholder satisfaction with data governance
Business impact
– ROI/revenue contribution of data analytics initiatives
– Data-driven improvements in operational metrics
– Business leader satisfaction with data insights delivered
Data optimization
– Reductions in data silos/duplication
– Improvement in data integration across systems
– Downtime/outages of data and analytics systems
What challenges does a head of data face?
Being the organization’s data leader comes with a unique set of challenges:
Evolving technology landscape
The technology environment is constantly changing, requiring the CDO to continuously evaluate emerging data solutions and overhaul legacy systems. Keeping data architecture modern is demanding.
Scarcity of talent
There is a shortage of qualified professionals across data science, engineering and analytics. Recruiting and retaining top talent is difficult given intense competition.
Unclear role definition
Since the head of data role is still new to many organizations, executive peers may not understand their mandate. The CDO must prove value and carve out their scope.
Siloed data systems
Overcoming legacy siloed data, teams and technologies to enable enterprise data sharing remains an obstacle in many organizations.
Immature data culture
Many business cultures are still struggling to become data-driven. Driving adoption of analytics for decision making can encounter inertia and change resistance.
Compliance mandates
As data privacy regulations proliferate, the CDO must ensure governance policies and practices meet evolving compliance requirements.
Legacy mindsets
Some senior leaders lack understanding of data analytics which can slow funding and impact. CDOs must educate executives on data possibilities.
Proving ROI of data
While logical, demonstrating clear financial return on investment for data platforms can still be a hurdle in budget discussions.
Conclusion
The chief data officer plays an indispensable role in the modern data-driven organization. They are responsible for unlocking the tremendous value in company data assets. By developing data strategy, governance, infrastructure, and analytics capabilities, the head of data enables data-driven decision making and performance improvements. However, realizing this vision requires surmounting challenges like evolving technologies, talent gaps, transformation roadblocks, and legacy mindsets. The companies that will win in the future are those with leadership who recognize the power of data and appoint strong dedicated data chiefs to fulfill this mission.
