Accenture-Chief Data Officer
Accenture-Chief Data Officer
Accenture-Chief Data Officer
OFFICER IN
THE NEW
The next champion, an evangelist,
a change agent
Who is the one person you could count on for If the persona of the Chief Data Officer (CDO) did not come up,
then it is time to reconsider how your business is organized,
immediate action in your organization, if the
or rather ask why is it not organized around data?
regulatory authorities decide to expand the
Increasingly, it is becoming clear that while CDOs execute data
scope of what constitutes a data breach and up
programs, they play a much larger role in the overall data-driven
the ante on the penalties? Who could you turn organization. They help build the critical enterprise foundational
to if your competitors start getting ahead of you capabilities—technology assets, analytics enablers, business
in predicting the changing customer demands and governance processes, and talent and partnerships—to
drive business. Although CDOs are best positioned to give their
and quickly tweaking their portfolio of products
organization a competitive edge, most businesses, however,
and service? Who is best positioned to ensure are not clear on how to translate the theoretical virtues of this
that the crucial investment decision you are role into reality. Why not?
about to make is based on trustworthy data?
1. Move to the New 2. Build the New The mandate of CDOs goes beyond building
the new data platforms. What should an
Migrate the enterprise from the old data The data paradigms that have stood organization do about the intelligence and
ecosystem of data warehouses and marts enterprises in good stead over the past smarts that are embedded in the hundreds if
towards the new world of data lakes and three to four decades have profoundly not thousands of analytical models that were
cloud, enabling more real-time data changed with the advent of open source built with the old data and analytical platforms
flows, and supporting the ever-changing hardware, software and analytics, infinite and techniques, which have now given way to
demands of the digital marketplace. scalability of cloud, and emergence of data AI/ML and big data? This is where the CDOs
lakes to accommodate unstructured and must be responsible for “analytics migration”
CDOs need to nurture and grow partnerships traditional data. as well, that is, carrying the old models and
with data and analytics providers as well as
talent into the new ecosystem. The people
products and services companies. Along This new model allows system-builds that
who built the old models possess the deepest
the way, they will be required to maintain are significantly faster. But, at the same
insights into what makes the company and
some parts of the legacy platforms that offer time, it imposes significant expectations
its products and services tick. They need to
robust capabilities for financial, risk, HR and on the business to know how to use the
be transitioned into the new world of AI/ML—
regulatory functions—this balancing act of new capabilities with advanced data
a task for which the CDOs are best positioned.
accelerating to the new, while continuing access and analytical technologies.
to judiciously strengthen the core, will be
a critical strength of the future CDOs.
Your organization must position itself well data about your customers and products
during this transformative period, even if in volumes never imagined before, will you
that vision extends beyond the tenure of the stand by and say that you only need a data
current leaders. Who should ultimately be repository of your own data? Or, will you want
accountable for setting up the company to to be a player with the people, technology,
thrive in an era of ever-changing ecosystem of processes and leadership to naturally fit
business and technology partners, constantly into that ebb and flow of a data-driven
sharing data and insights in an open-sourced, AI-powered business ecosystem? If you
crowd-sourced, infinitely-scalable, real-time want to breathe life into this vision, then
data ecosystem? When a hockey puck, you must enable your CDO now to build
a baseball, a car seat, a contact lens, foundational capabilities as an integral
a hearing aid, a truck engine, a (digital) credit part of your enterprise-wide strategy.
card and wearables are constantly emanating
1.
https://newvantage.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Big-Data-Executive-Survey- 4. Joyce Wells, “Enter the Chief Data Officer: Q&A with Ramesh Nair,” September
2019-Findings-Updated-010219-1.pdf. Accessed October 10, 2019. 17, 2018, http://www.dbta.com/BigDataQuarterly/Articles/Enter-the-Chief-Data-
Officer-QandA-With-Ramesh-Nair-127411.aspx. Accessed October 11, 2019.
2.
https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2019-06-10-gartner-
survey-finds-chief-data-officers-are-prioriti. Accessed October 11, 2019. 5. For an interesting read on the evolving role of CDOs, see Sara Brown, “Make room
in the executive suite: Here comes CDO 2.0,” August 15, 2019, https://mitsloan.
3. For example, Basel Committee on Banking Supervision’s regulation 239 mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/make-room-executive-suite-here-comes-cdo-2-0.
(also known as BCBS 239) and the U.S. Federal Reserve’s annual Accessed October 9, 2019. See also Minda Zetlin, “What is a chief data officer?
Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR). A leader who creates business value from data,” May 28, 2019, https://www.cio.
com/article/3234884/what-is-a-chief-data-officer.html. Accessed October 9, 2019.
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