Management teams for larger corporations are a necessity, and said positions should be given to those who can carry the weight effectively. CEOs are the driving force behind the company while COOs make sure operations run smoothly. CFOs manage money and watch over the assets of the company, but when it comes to data management, who is the person at the helm of keeping records clean, useable and updated? It’s time to make way for the new kid in town; the chief data officer, or CDO.
According to Business2Community, while data management in and of itself can be a costly undertaking, not maintaining the good data while weeding out the bad can exhaust resources even further. As data ages, its value becomes nil.
In an age where information is crucial, it is unquestionable that data is a profitable commodity that companies can sell. Therefore, companies need to elevate their data assets to the same level of importance as their other assets and to create the position of a CDO who is in charge of these precious data assets.
Much like the CEO, the CDO is in charge of implementing strategies, but only as it pertains to data management. This can include data governance, data quality, and setting data standards. CDOs bring order to the data sources within an organization, tap the multiple analytics opportunities that exist, and develop a strategic vision around those opportunities.
Data management means redundancy elimination, data consistency, flexibility, and easy back up. Neat and tidy data also means effective data analysis; similar, redundant, un-coherent and unrelated data can only give half the benefits; or even worst, wrong data analysis, which can have awful consequences. With proper management, businesses and organizations can get smart and decision-enabling data analysis, which is crucial. The CDO will help to make sure the aforementioned goes off without a hitch.
Regardless of what kind of business you’re running, chances are you rely on data to perform day-to-day functions. If you’re a one-person operation, you’ll use data in the form of contacts, services rendered or products purchased. If you’re part of a large-scale operation, then data can be a bit more complex and requires proper data management to keep it all neat and tidy. That’s why a CDO is a key component to proper data management.
Data is the watchword, the new tool by which governance can be managed. Who is managing your data?