Data and analytics leaders actively involved in digital transformation initiatives

As organisations accelerate their digital transformation, data and analytics leaders are increasingly leading or heavily engaging in such initiatives.

According to Gartner, Inc.’s sixth annual Chief Data Officer (CDO) survey, 72 per cent of data and analytics (D&A) leaders with digital initiatives are either leading or heavily involved in their organisation’s digital transformation initiatives.

“The results indicate that more organisations now understand the synergy between building a data-driven business and leading digital transformation,” said Debra Logan, distinguished research vice president at Gartner.

“D&A strategy is a business strategy infused with D&A thinking; it has a primary role in digital business strategy, affecting everything the organisation does,” said Logan.

As 24 per cent of respondents said that they were leading their organisation’s digital transformation efforts, the boundaries between CDOs and chief digital officers are becoming more and more blurred.

“CDOs are increasingly being asked to take on more strategic objectives and lead digital transformation initiatives as digital business itself transforms to business as usual,” the report said.

The key objectives for data and analytics leaders include data quality (51 per cent), ROI from D&A investments (44 per cent) and data sharing (43 per cent). However, “their role will not be seen as valuable unless they focus on stakeholders’ KPIs,” as per the report.

“It’s not enough to manage data and create insights,” said Logan. “These activities must deliver measurable business outcomes.”

“Data sharing is the way to optimise higher quality data and more robust data and analytics to solve business challenges and goals. Data sharing is an important KPI and a business necessity. It accelerates digital business transformation,” Logan said.

Gartner predicts that by 2023, organisations that promote data sharing will outperform their peers on most business value metrics.

The report further said that, “CDOs who have business-facing KPIs and multiple business partners are 1.7 times more likely to be effective at consistently producing clear business value by successfully demonstrating ROI from the D&A investments.”

“They are also 2.3 times more likely to be effective at reducing time to market and 3.5 times more likely to be effective at data monetisation,” it added.

Additionally, 93 per cent of CDOs also said that effective communication is critical to the success of their roles.

Overall, the most essential competencies for D&A leaders are leadership skills such as influencing, engagement and effective communication plans, as per the report.

“If the CDO does not exert influence across the organization by promoting data sharing, engaging stakeholders and training the workforce to become data literate, they will likely not perform well in their role,” said Logan.

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