The Secrets of CDO Success

Repeatedly this year, Inside Reference Data has been hearing about and reporting on greater prominence for the chief data officer (CDO) as an often newly created role at firms. Other than a couple of prominent examples where a new CDO has apparently gotten authority and power to make changes within firms, the jury is still out on whether CDOs will catch on as a force in data management.

Firms are having to make the most of their available resources for data management. As Kingland Systems' Alex Olson remarked at our Toronto Financial Information Summit, CDOs can only be effective if they have clout with the business side of their firms. That implies that CDOs whose pedigree is on the operations technology side have to bridge that divide to do their job.

Are CDOs likely to get caught in a C-level turf war with chief information officers or chief technology officers? That's a distinct possibility. A CDO, especially if they come from the technology side rather than the business side, is likely to have to report to those pre-existing positions, or at least has to collaborate with them. Could this be a case of too many technologists spoiling the broth?

Should CDOs be chosen and appointed with a business focus in mind? Looking for CDOs who have a business rather than a technology pedigree is a possible solution. Another factor for how useful a CDO role can be at a firm is the volume of data it handles and the size of the data management that is necessary. Sell-side firms naturally contend with a lot more data than the buy side.

What's happening with the rank and file, however, may matter more than machinations at the top. Oliver Salvati, a data management executive at Sun Life Financial in Toronto, points to the importance of business and technology professionals working together, under any CDO who might be in charge. "An effective data manager or specialist understands developments with data from a business perspective," he says, adding that business stakeholders have to take ownership (and by extension, responsibility) for data projects if they're going to succeed.

To place this all in perspective, the CDO role appears to be catching on, but for it to be meaningful and effective, it has to mean that firms' business sides are invested in supporting the CDO's authority – and that business and technology staffs are going to work together under that authority.