A Look at the Role of the Chief Digital Officer

In 2002, Capital One appointed their first Chief Data Officer (CDO), Cathryne Clay Doss. At the time, the job was one of the first of its kind — a collaboration between supply chain and market analyses and IT. But today, with more than 250 million terabytes of new data are created daily, and growing application for machine learning and artificial intelligence in business analytics, CDOs are much more common.

CDO are responsible for managing corporations data strategy in ways that create value: improving customer experience, lowering costs, and increasing operating efficiency. To do this, they need data that is current, accurate, and easily correlated for analysis. This requires a careful strategy for collecting information from a vast array of different sources. Once collected, CDOs must ensure the data is stored securely, maintaining their customer’s privacy, and analyzed in meaningful way to guide business decisions.

In 2016, twice as many CDOs were hired from a technology background than the year prior, indicating a shift toward technology-driven, big data initiatives rather than traditional marketing and business analytics. Companies that employ a CDO collect more data than competitors, and more than 80% see benefits from big data initiatives.

Learn more about CDOs in this infographic: