The race to gain competitive advantage and improve efficiency through better use of information is leading to a sharp increase in number of Chief Data Officers (CDOs) and 90 per cent of large companies will have such a post by the end of 2019, Gartner has said.
"Business leaders are starting to grasp the huge potential of digital business, and demanding a better return on their organisations' information assets and use of analytics," said Mario Faria, Vice-President (Research) at the IT research company.
"It's a logical step to create an executive position - the CDO - to handle many opportunities and responsibilities that arise from industrial-scale collection and harnessing of data," he added.
Gartner predicted 90 per cent of major companies will have a CDO role by 2019-end in the race to get competitive advantage and improve efficiency through better use of information.
CDOs will face a number of challenges, to the extent that only 50 per cent will be successful by the end of 2019, the analyst firm said.
One challenge is that the role will be new in most organisations and most CDOs will be learning on the job.
"With the explosion of datasets everywhere, an important task is determining which information can add business value, drive efficiency or improve risk management," the Gartner Vice-President said.
The CDO's role will raise expectations of better results from an enterprise information management strategy.
Faria expects that high expectations and limited knowledge around information management by business users can make it difficult for CDOs to get the budget and commitment from the business to make their plans a success.
Many CDOs already report high levels of change resistance, particularly from the IT department, over the control of information assets and their governance, he said.
The success of a CDO will, to a large extent, depend on his/her ability to lead the change as well as gain the enthusiasm, support and resources of business leaders and other key business units, Faria said.
