Many enterprise companies have traditionally distributed data responsibilities among different departments.
As each department came up with their own policies for use and retention of data, this resulted in organizations having a siloed approach to data governance even if data was being stored in the same warehouse.
As growing IT demands continue to overwhelm chief information officers (CIOs), some companies are moving to install chief data officers (CDOs) to bring order to the expanding sources of data in the enterprise, pinpoint value in the gathered information and develop and strategic vision focused on data.
The responsibility of deciding how data was collected, store, managed and disposed of used to be distributed among the CIO, business, HR and legal departments, according to Dorman Bazzell, practice leader for emerging technologies and advanced solutions at Capgemini.
However, in recent years, the CDO has emerged as the central authority for data management and data governance, he said in a recent interview with Computerworld.com.
The rise of the CDO is still at the early stages. A 2014 report by Garner on the CDO position estimated that just 17 per cent of large companies would have a CDO by the end of the year.
You’re most likely to find CDOs in regulated industries.
At present, Gartner said, only 36 per cent of CDO positions are in financial services.
Another industry where CDOs are prevalent is in healthcare.