.jpg?width=100&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale "Picture of Jorg Heizenberg")
.jpg?width=400&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale "Jorg Heizenberg")
Never Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.
How CDAOs and CIOs Can Divide Data and Analytics Responsibilities
The division of responsibilities between CDAOs and CIOs is often disputed, which can create tension and hinder operations. A better approach is to split the work and collaborate as peers.
6 Min Read
iStock
As the chief data and analytics officer (CDAO) role becomes more established within an organization, tension can arise over authority and responsibilities between the CDAO and business units or C-suite members. However, tension is most often between CDAOs and chief information officers, despite it often being a relationship of necessity.
Some of this tension is driven by unclear and sometimes overlapping responsibilities between CDAOs and CIOs. CIOs do not always see the need for CDAOs to assume responsibilities within the overlapping area of data and analytics (D&A) technology. This tension causes some CDAOs to take on more foundational D&A activities rather than focus on activities that drive D&A’s success for the organization, including focusing on culture and change management, as well as stakeholder goals and objectives.
Another big driver is ownership of AI initiatives. CDAOs have the necessary D&A resources and expertise but are often not in the lead. Because of these trends, the CDAO role is at risk of being perceived as a technical function as they struggle to demonstrate the business value of D&A.
Discussing and establishing clear domains is critical in addressing the tension between the CDAO and CIO roles and establishing the CDAO role as a critical business driver for the organization. There are three key actions that enable CDAOs and CIOs to address the tension in the most holistic and effective manner.
Action 1: Split the work by organization or architecture
Begin by understanding the typical work split between a CIO and CDAO and assessing which available option is ideal for the organization. The exact split can depend on items such as the current organizational structure, politics, and CDAO-CIO dynamic.
Align the responsibilities to each role by splitting work using one of the two options: organizational structure and D&A architecture.
The first option is to split the work based on how the D&A function is positioned in the organization. To use this option, consider these key elements of the D&A function’s organizational model:
Structure. Is the D&A team centralized as a single function to emphasize consistency? Or decentralized to foster agility and business outcomes?
Alignment. Is the D&A team within the IT function for better technology enablement? Or is it in the business for better business alignment.
Focus. Is the D&A team’s focus on enabling the organization by providing trusted data and platforms? Or is the focus on using data & analytics to drive business outcomes?
Typically, the D&A function’s organization model is often split between centralized within the IT function, decentralized within business functions, or a hybrid model may be utilized combining the two with the CDAO as their leader.
The second option is to split the work based on the D&A architecture. In this option, the CIO role’s main responsibility is to “run the business” by supporting the applications used for primary enterprise business processes. These include operational business systems like enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, online transaction processing and others.
In contrast, the CDAO’s main responsibility is to “manage the business” in this option by supporting the applications used for analytical purposes. This includes systems or platforms that help organize the data, such as analytical systems like data warehouses or data lakes and data integration platforms for such analytical systems.
Action 2: Assess the organization’s reporting lines
If the two options for splitting work promise to be either unsuccessful or difficult to implement in the organization, CDAOs and CIOs can work to assess the effectiveness of the D&A function’s reporting lines. The CDAO is a business-oriented role that must engage with various stakeholders to create a balance among data, technology, business value, and people. The balance among these four focus areas is the key for success, and changing reporting lines could enable a better balance.
CIOs remain a common reporting line for CDAOs and D&A leaders, but overall reporting line dynamics favor a CDAO’s reporting to a business-oriented role like the CEO or COO. CDAOs often report that their collaboration with the COO has contributed the most to both the achievement of D&A goals and enterprise-wide business value.
This does not mean CDAOs must report to the COO or CEO to succeed. It simply means that they must be conscious of their reporting lines as they balance focus areas as the reporting line will skew their focus to that domain. CDAOs have traditionally reported to CIOs, so their main area of focus remained within technology and data. They need to balance this with more business-outcome-focused work, such as value measurement and talent and skills development.
Compare current organizational structure with focus areas and the success of those areas so far. Then, review and adjust the list of tasks and responsibilities split between both roles to find the critical priority items on which they need to collaborate with others in different focus areas. CDAOs reporting to CIOs, for example, will likely benefit more from overseeing data literacy programs than platform or infrastructure, as that area will open opportunities for collaborating with the CHRO or equivalent role to mature the organization’s D&A culture.
Action 3: Elevate the CDAO role as the CIO’s peer
Splitting the work is not the end in addressing tension between both roles. It is just the beginning, and CDAOs must elevate their role as the CIO’s peer and partner.
The CDAO role is still new, with 54% of CDAOs being the first to their role and 41% of D&A leaders only having one to five years of experience as the head of the D&A function, according to a recent Gartner survey.
In contrast, the CIO role is well-established with more than 40 years of history. The difference in the roles’ maturity might skew the CDAO-CIO dynamic to favor the CIO in most organizations.
Where the CIO might have well-established patterns of operations and enterprise influence, the CDAO is still navigating authority and developing successful patterns of engagement. However, this does not mean CDAOs must compete against CIOs for more leverage. Rather, they must do the opposite and collaborate:
Establish the CDAO brand by maturing a full suite of capabilities within existing scope before attempting to take on responsibilities for long-held IT activities.
Identify the CIO’s priorities using expertise in D&A to help the CIO achieve their goals and become a partner and peer to the CIO.
CDAOs and CIOS must go deeper to pinpoint both those shared priorities where they stand to benefit by partnering together and also areas of diverging priorities where conflict is likely to occur. Then, proactively engage with each other to define best practices for resolving any conflicts that might emerge.
Learn more about topics like these at Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo™, taking place 21 – 24 October 2024 in Orlando, FL.
About the Author
You May Also Like
More Insights
