While there is a huge amount written about data scientists, much less is said about the role of the Chief Data Officer (CDO). However, the value of this individual to any business must not be underestimated. In fact, Wired describes the emergence of the Chief Data Officer as “a transformational change that elevates the importance of data to the top of the organisation”.
In the last couple of years, businesses have recognised the role of the data and its part in their core business strategy. There is now an understanding that if harnessed and analysed properly, data can make businesses run better by realising cost efficiencies and run differently by bringing innovative products and services to the market. Insight from data gives a better understanding of customers, which in turn helps organisations to develop new commercial models, deliver tangible business value, and remain competitive. This evolution has caused a demand for new business roles, the most prominent of which is the CDO.
The CDO first emerged in the financial services industry, to deal with the pressure that arose from the financial crisis and evolving regulation. While a large part of the CDO’s immediate focus was managing and orchestrating risk response, this then shifted to identifying data-driven revenue opportunities through micro-personalisation and marketing triaging. The focus is now on building integrated data ecosystems that bring in social data to identify unusual patterns in transactional behaviour, flagging them to prevent loss and fraud. The CDO’s role in helping financial companies stay ahead by managing risks and remain compliant more efficiently is pivotal.
Retail is another industry where CDOs are bringing real business value. Through harnessing customer data, retailers can offer targeted products and services and improve customer satisfaction. Meanwhile sentiment analysis can detect subtle nuances in the relationship between customer and retailer. Focusing on the tonality of a customer’s voice in any interaction, from phone call to social media post, can help retailers detect the true feelings of their customers and adjust tactics accordingly. Similar tactics and benefits can be realised across any number of other industries.
For marketers, data has always been critical to understanding customer trends. However in today’s hyper-connected world, the volume of data available to analyse is so great that having the right strategy underpinning it is a necessity. Having a CDO at the C-Suite level who combines a deep knowledge of data with strong business acumen and the ability to identify business opportunities is the ideal way to get the best value and competitive advantage out of data.
By Karthik Krishnamurthy, Global Business Leader for Enterprise Information Management at Cognizant.
PrivSec Conferences will bring together leading speakers and experts from privacy and security to deliver compelling content via solo presentations, panel discussions, debates, roundtables and workshops.
For more information on upcoming events, visit the website.
comments powered by Disqus