Chief Data Officer: What Does a Chief Data Officer Do?

A chief data officer (CDO) is a company's chief data strategy and data governance executive. The digital transformation of the present-day economy means data collection and data analysis play key roles in overall business outcomes. This development prompted the creation of the CDO role to coordinate data initiatives among all company stakeholders. Chief data officers often hold C-level positions where they engage in collaborative decision-making with the entire executive team. Some CDOs also serve as company vice presidents.

The job description of a chief data officer may include the following responsibilities.

• Information management: A chief data officer takes stock of their company's information assets. They then determine how those assets can improve information strategy and overall business intelligence. Big data firms have tools to effectively predict customer behavior, but smaller companies with a chief data officer can also employ internal data analytics to support their business strategies.
• Improving data quality: When it comes to enterprise data, quantity alone will do little to help a company. The chief data officer must fine-tune data collection and data analysis to give the company's information assets legitimate business value. A CDO may explore artificial intelligence and machine learning, or they may refine existing metrics for human-based data analysis. If a company has a chief analytics officer, they will work in close collaboration with the CDO on this data optimization goal.
• Data monetization: Chief data officers are often tasked with finding the financial value of the troves of data a company collects. Internally, this can mean showing a direct link between data analysis and improved sales. Externally, this can involve selling accumulated data to advertisers or other companies.
• Setting company data policy: The CDO sets data policies that affect the whole company—from the information technology team to sales and marketing teams. By getting the whole company on the same page in terms of data policy and data sharing, the CDO can deter territorialism and inspire a common appreciation for a newly-appreciated business asset.
• Data security: Chief data officers also work with company security teams to protect the valuable data assets a company has amassed. Careful data management can protect a company from hackers, which is especially important for companies that work in healthcare or financial services.
• Adhering to regulations: In addition to setting proprietary security rules, chief data officers must be sure their business adheres to national, state, and local government data protection regulations.

In most cases, a team of data scientists reports to the company's chief data officer. Some members of the corporate data team may specialize in communications. They might create visualizations like graphs to help communicate data findings to a larger audience.

Within the executive C-suite, the chief data officer may have equal stature to a chief information officer (CIO) and a chief technology officer (CTO). The exact distinction between these roles will vary from company to company. The chief data officer would typically report to a chief financial officer (CFO), chief operating officer (COO), or the chief executive officer (CEO).

The role of a chief data officer may require some or all of the following skills and qualifications.

1. 1. College education: Expect companies to require at least a bachelor's degree. Some companies only grant senior management roles to those with master's degrees. In many cases, the CDO is a trained data scientist.
2. 2. Work experience: Data executives typically need to have years of experience as full-time data scientists.
3. 3. Strong communication skills: A CDO must be able to speak the language of data scientists but also speak to other members of the company who aren’t fluent in data jargon.
4. 4. Leadership skills: The CDO role is ultimately a management role that involves overseeing an entire team, setting expectations, and resolving conflicts.
5. 5. Collaboration: A CDO must explain to colleagues why they, too, are stakeholders in the company's data assets. They must then work collaboratively with their fellow stakeholders as they use data to build toward the company's overall goals.

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