Turning Data Into Insights: The Role of the CDO
Chief Data Officers face an ever-changing role with new challenges in today's fast-paced world as they deal with scale and how to use data to drive value.
Leonard Maganza, Chief Customer Officer at 黑料网, sits down with Head of Data Science and Analytics at Gap, Inc., Vimal Kohli, to discuss the changing roles of the CDO and the challenges facing them today.
The Role of the Global CDO
In today鈥檚 fast-paced world, 鈥渄ata is rich but insights are poor鈥� as Kohli puts it. Before the advent of Big Data, the biggest complaint within the business was, 鈥�We don鈥檛 have enough data鈥�. These days, it鈥檚 the reverse; companies feel they have too much data and struggle to manage it. And with the volume and variety of that data, it’s a bit like drinking from a firehose.
The role of the CDO has become critical and is now abundantly clear. 鈥淥ur job is to make sure the organization has the ability, the eco-system, and the processes to turn data into insights and insights into action and strategy,鈥� Kohli states. 鈥淏ecause otherwise it just becomes this 鈥榥ice to have鈥� and there isn鈥檛 really any ROI from your data.鈥�
The Challenges of Scale
The problem of scale is not a situation unique to any one country or industry 鈥� it’s across the board. The trouble is that when any new technology comes to market, it becomes the hot new item. 鈥淚t鈥檚 easy to do a lot of POCs,鈥� says Kohli, 鈥渂ut it鈥檚 really, really difficult to scale. It鈥檚 difficult to go into production. To do that at scale and at the velocity that modern business needs, and that鈥檚 been some of the biggest challenges.鈥�
For Kohli, part of the reason companies have had difficulty with scaling data and analytics is because they鈥檙e not focused on process-driven change.
鈥淚f data and analytics have to be the engine of growth for running the business into the future, we have to pivot the mindset,鈥� Kohli says. Data quality and strategy have to be a part of the way everyone in the company does business, from the marketing organization to business users throughout the business.
Using Data to Drive Value
As Maganza notes, data is often considered the 鈥榥ew oil鈥�. 鈥淏ut it’s only going to achieve that status if we prove that these efforts of gaining insights actually has an impact on the business,鈥� Maganza says. To do this, Kohli recommends taking an investment perspective on data is key.
鈥淚f you really want the oil to be flowing through the pipeline, we need to be talking about investment. Otherwise, it鈥檚 not possible to scale. There鈥檚 no value capture going on,鈥� Kohli explains. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not about doing those flashy cool things that you read about in a magazine, it鈥檚 about driving action for the business.
Democratization of Data
People are still in the mindset that you need to go to someone within a central analytics team to get data and analysis to do your job. The pivot will be when everyone can use it.
We used to say, 鈥業f you want to build better quality cars, don鈥檛 make it the problem of the quality assurance department鈥�,鈥� Kohli recalls. When it comes to data, this could never be more true. Democratization of data throughout the business is critical. If anything, global workforces and customer marketplaces are demanding it at a rapid pace.
The roles of employees are also changing across functions, just as the role of the IT professional has matured a lot since its inception decades ago. Employees perform complex tasks as a part of their daily workflow. For a truly 鈥淎I-version鈥� of the company, one of the tenants is providing employees access to data across the business.
As Kohli sums up, 鈥淚f we truly want our company to be data-driven, and have an analytics and AI-centric company, this has to be everyone鈥檚 jobs, not just the people who have ‘Data’ in their titles.鈥�
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