The Evolution and Future of the Chief Data, Analytics, AI Officer (CDO)

On the eve of the upcoming Chief Data Officer, CDOIQ Symposium in Boston, founded by the visionary Richard Wang , I wanted to share my thoughts on how I've seen the CDO role evolve, and where it might be heading. Back in 2014 when I joined Reltio as CMO and CPO, it was clear that the CDO was emerging as a role, as Tom Redman and I had pondered together in his guest blog post "Are you ready for a CDO?"

In the last decade, the role of the Chief Data Officer (CDO) has exploded, with 74% of organizations now having a CDO, up from just 12%. This surge reflects the growing recognition of data strategy as a key differentiator in today's competitive marketplace. However, the CDO's path is far from straightforward. They continue to grapple with issues like lack of data trust, the need for strategic architecture, and fostering data literacy. Despite their drive and passion, many CDOs find their tenures cut short, as highlighted by a MIT Sloan study. In this brief article I take a look at the evolution, challenges, and future of the CDO role.

A Brief History of the CDO Role

The role of the CDO has seen a significant evolution since its inception. The first CDO was appointed by Capital One in 2002, marking the beginning of a new era where data was recognized as a valuable asset. However, it wasn't until the 2010s that the role began to gain more acceptance.

In the beginning, the CDO was seen as part technology and data expert, part psychologist and bartender. A 2017 TDWI article humorously even compared the responsibilities of a CDO to that of Maslow's pyramid of needs

An Acronym from Another Brother

Ironically Gartner predicted in 2012 that by 2017, 20% of large global companies would have appointed a CDO. But the CDO they were referring to back then was the Chief DIGITAL Officer. The shared abbreviation created a bit of confusion as the Chief Digital Officer was typically responsible for digital strategy and digital transformation, while the CDO focuses on data governance, data management, and data-driven business strategy, as explained by CIO.com.

In 2015, Gartner gave CDO's their due predicting that by 2017 50% of companies in regulated industries would have one. And with that the role started to focus in on data governance, as well as Master Data Management, with GDPR looming on the horizon. This led to vendors such as Reltio (my former company), Collibra , and Informatica to name a few, to grow significantly during this period. Among the Gartner analysts at the time I credit Douglas Laney , now at West Monroe for championing the concept of Data Monetization, which CDO's are still aspiring to reach today.

The Marketing Frenzy to the CDO ICP with a Budget

Many ISVs and trade show organizers realized that money was flowing into the newly formed CDO role. Taking advantage, several organizations, publications and summits sprang up recognizing the work of top CDOs. For instance, the CDO Club maintained a list of the top global CDOs and had a CDO of the Year award. The CDO Magazine issued its first publication in 2018, and Forbes continues to regularly features articles and lists highlighting the work of leading CDOs. Today several great Podcasts I can recommend include ThoughtSpot 's Cindi Howson : The Data Chief Podcast, and Profisee 's Malcolm Hawker 's CDO Matters.

In addition to the upcoming CDOIQ Symposium, IBM still organizes one of the top CDO events annually, chaired by their brilliant Global CDO Inderpal Bhandari . Other industry trailblazers include Derek Strauss , former CDO at TD Ameritrade who presented at numerous CDO and Gartner events, as well as at Reltio's Data-driven, the Modern Data Management Summit, Joe DosSantos , former CDO at Qlik , and now VP of Enterprise Data and Analytics at Workday , who combined the power of data catalogs, data governance, MDM with Reltio, in operational and analytics use using Qlik's state-of-the-art BI tools.

The Strategic Focus of the CDO Role

A PwC quantitive study in 2022 focused on the prevalence and role of CDOs at the world’s 2,500 largest publicly listed companies, highlighted that the role of the CDO has evolved from a purely technical role to a strategic one, with CDOs now playing a key role in shaping their company's strategy. The infographic below shows some startling findings, especially one in which 42% of CDOs are still not "C-suite members"

But they start with a bold question, which is "In the age of data, why are there so few Chief Data Officers?" as their study found that 79% of companies still do not have a CDO in place.

Gartner's 2022 survey championed by Distinguished VP Analyst Debra Logan, Alan D. Duncan , Melissa Davis among others, provided some insight to this question, in that successful CDOs had started to link data and analytics to prioritized and measured business outcomes. Prior to that as Tom Davenport pointed out in his 2017 HBR article they were just playing defense, not offense. According to that study top three objectives of the highest performing CDOs, were improving decision-making capability (63%), meeting revenue generation (49%) and improving customer experience (49%), putting CDOs squarely in the realm of offensive functions that generated value for the business.

An EY 2022 report stated "With the winning formula framework, CDOs are encouraged to use trusted data to support their data monetization efforts. These efforts are then rendered exponentially more effective when supported by innovative strategies and technology. The value of these defensive and offensive strategies is multiplied when everyone in the organization can access, understand and analyze the data."

The pandemic had also elevated the need for accelerated use of data and this McKinsey report on how CDOs navigated the COVID-19 response highlighted the critical role CDOs played in crisis response and the "next normal" that followed. The report emphasized the need for CDOs to provide organizations with timely and accurate data in a high-stakes environment. This once again provided a boost in Master Data Management platforms across the board, as companies raced to improve their digital engagement, personalization, and overall digital transformation from brick and mortar store sales, which were all shut down during the pandemic.

The Challenges facing all CDOs

Despite the increasing recognition, CDOs continue to be saddled with more and more responsibilities, with a number of vendors offering tools for data governance, data cataloging, data quality, master data management, data privacy, and data observability.

EY's 2022 report also found that 92% of CDOs believe that improving data quality is a key priority for their role, and 89% believe that improving data protection and privacy is another key priority. CDOs remain however challenged, facing unrealistic expectations, a lack of clarity around their role, and resistance to change within the organization, as detailed eloquently in Randy Bean and Allison Sagraves ' HBR article "Why CDOs are set up to fail". Successful CDOs are those that focus equally on increasing data trust and identifying monetization strategies while embracing innovation and championing data democratization across the organization.

Finally who CDO's report to matter. I recall back in 2016 I attended a CDOIQ Symposium fireside chat with Mark Ramsey, Ph.D. , then CDO of GSK, and his CIO counterpart Daniel Lebeau , where they were distinguishing between the two roles, and the question of who reported to whom was repeatedly raised, and they were asked on the CUBE what the charter was from then GSK CEO.

Gartner's study in 2022 found that the 17% of CDOs who report to the CEO were all among the highest performers, but that correlation did not hold for other business reporting relationships. CDOs who report into a technology function (CIO or CTO) were not correlated with success or its lack thereof. So clearly I believe the message is that the role of CDO needs to be at the highest level of strategic importance, and it should report to the CEO, just like the other C-level roles within an organization. Clearly the 42% of CDOs who were still not considered "C-level" in the PWC survey will continue to trend upwards.

The Future of the CDO Role and the Impact of AI

The next wave of AI, often referred to as Generative AI, is set to have a significant impact on the role of the CDO as well as other roles in data management. For CDOs, this means a shift in data strategy to no longer just focus on managing and governing data; but to also leveraging AI to extract insights from that data and drive decision-making. As Gen AI becomes more prevalent, I believe we can expect to see the role of the CDO continue to evolve and adapt.

In fact the evolution of responsibilities of a CDO in recent years, mirrors the technology advances in data. The emergence of the Chief Data and Analytics Officer (CDAO), added to the job title reflecting the importance of analytics in data strategy. And now the role will get even more demanding with possibly a Chief Data, Analytics, and AI Officer (CDAIO) as the next step, highlighting the increasing relevance, and responsible and ethical concerns around AI. Something that the EU AI Act is bringing to the forefront with the US lagging a bit behind.

The Excitement Around Data Fabrics and Data Meshes

CDO's also have to grapple with new terms and methodologies like data fabrics, data meshes and the concept of data products. The size and complexity of your organization's data landscape is a key determining factor of what choices to make. I go into the differences in approaches in detail and some of the major players in this article "Knit a Fabric or just Mesh Around?" The TLDR is that a Data Fabric is a good choice for CDOs and organizations with large and complex data landscapes while Data Mesh might be a good choice for organizations with relatively new, smaller and simpler data landscapes.

However here's the paradox, a Data Fabric requires a strong central IT team and a culture of collaboration, while a Data Mesh requires a culture of empowerment and self-service, and is a relatively new concept which could be challenging, even for the most mature of data management experts. Which typically doesn't align with relatively new smaller and simpler data landscapes. All speak towards the complexity of building a culture around data which is also within the CDO purview.

The New Black: Data Observability

In a recent survey of CDOs, Data Observability emerged as the joint top trend, together with data meshes/data fabrics

Let's All Toast and Sympathize with the Modern CDO

The role of the CDO has come a long way since its inception. Despite the challenges, CDOs have made significant strides in leveraging data to drive business value. As we look to the future, the role of the CDO is set to evolve further, driven by advancements in AI. It's an exciting and challenging time to be a CDO. Although I won't be at the 2023 CDOIQ Symposium this year, as I'm starting a new Chief Product Officer role at Acceldata . I will be working to advance the technology that CDO's will need to deliver on their charters, and I'll continue to champion the role of the CDO as more critical than ever.

P.S. For nostalgia, here's a very young looking me, with Richard Wang at a Reltio sponsored a session at CDOIQ 2016, where I discussed the role of MDM and the CDO, tying in Microsoft's then acquisition of LinkedIn.