The MIT Sloan Review reported “In the wake of the 2008-09 financial crisis, leading financial services companies were compelled by government regulators to address systemic issues resulting from failures in the management and reporting of financial data that were seen as a contributing factor to the financial collapse. In response, several large banks took the lead in creating the role of chief data officer (CDO) to focus on implementing standards and safeguards for managing data. The driving motivation was to mitigate risk and avoid future systemic financial failures.” The November 30, 2020 article entitled “Why Chief Data Officers Must Assume Leadership for Data Success” included these comments:
Today, the chief data officer role has emerged as a standard for most Fortune 1000 companies, but it comes with serious issues and challenges as companies struggle with how best to shape the role to achieve successful business outcomes.
While a majority of CDOs — 54.6% — are now focused on revenue initiatives (offensive), a significant minority — 45.4% — remain focused on risk factors (defensive).
Only 12.3% of CDOs have assumed direct revenue responsibility thus far, suggesting that moving into an offensive business-generation role will take some time.
Alarmingly, less than 30% of executives report that the CDO role is successful and well established within their organizations.
What is the role of CDO in your organization?
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