Gartner identifies 4 ways to build the office of the CDO
- 12 February, 2016 06:26
The rapid adoption of the chief data officer (CDO) role — from 400 in 2014 to 1000 in 2015 — raises important questions about the structure and positioning of the office of the CDO in organisations,says Gartner.
The analyst firm says there are four organisational design principles that CDOs should apply when designing their office.
“The organisational design of the office of the CDO must clearly take account of the role that data is expected to play in the organisation," says Mario Faria, research vice president at Gartner. "Most CDOs, however, are new to the role and often have little experience with managing large teams or designing and changing organisational structures."
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"There's no one correct way to design a CDO office — its structure and strength depends on how it is used by the evolving organisation," says Faria.
To help CDOs and other business leaders meet the needs of their organisation and structure the office of the CDO appropriately, Gartner lists four value propositions for the office of the CDO.
Figure 1: Possible Value Propositions of the Office of the CDO
Source: Gartner (February 2016)
- CDO Organisation as an Engine Room: The office of the CDO delivers operational data services that are focused on the needs of the internal users. It succeeds by monitoring any data market developments and building expertise in data asset usage, information management and analytics.
- Everyone's CDO Organisation: The office of the CDO focuses on the needs of the internal users. But there is a strong push for data assets to be used aggressively by business leaders and individual contributors to break through traditional perimeters of business, and to drive transformation and new digital business models across the organization.
- CDO Organisation as a Business Service Provider: The office of the CDO delivers operational data services that are used by both internal and external users. The activities are expanded and integrated into a shared-service organization that runs like a business.
- CDO Organisation Is the Business: Information is one of the explicit external offerings of the organization or is inseparable from the product line. The office of the CDO delivers internal and external data services that drive business transformation and differentiation.
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"The CDO organisational design is about people," says Faria. "It is easy enough to think about what kind of CDO an organisation needs in order to meet its business goals, but it can be harder to put in place the right people to deliver on that structure.
“It's vital CDOs think critically about what skills and behaviours will be required by the office of the CDO in the short, medium and long term,” he concludes.
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