In recent years, companies in Spain and around the world have realised the importance of data and the need to understand and interpret it – no matter in what sector. Technology has opened up opportunities for unlimited data tracking, and that data is now being used to drive everything from product innovation and sales to employee engagement.
Given that data now plays such a key role in determining a company's strategy and business success, it's no surprise that we've seen an increase in the number of companies creating the profile of Chief Data Officer (CDO) within their organisations.
In this post, we will take a closer look at the profile of the Chief Data Officer, their functions, and what you need to study in order to have a successful career in this position, such as a Business Analytics Degree.
The CDO is usually part of the executive team of a company or organisation. They are responsible for defining the information and data strategy at an organisation-wide level, governance, control, policy development and the effective use of data to benefit the business.
The CDO role combines various aspects such as responsibility for information protection and privacy, information governance, data quality and data lifecycle management, along with how data is used to create business value.
The role of a chief data officer varies depending on the company they work for and the industry they work in. For example, the CDO of a social media company whose business model is based on monetising customer data will have different objectives than a CDO at a bank.
That said, wherever they work, the Chief Data Officer has certain roles as they are responsible for using data for the good of their company and helping it grow. These roles include:
The difference between a Chief Data Officer and a Chief Analytics Officer (CAO) (another profile that has grown in recent years thanks to the data boom) depends entirely on who you ask and, on the company, and the sector.
For some, the CDO role is a natural evolution of the CAO, who has traditionally been responsible for data analytics. But some organisations still distinguish between the two and the CDO puts more focus on overall business objectives, based on analysis done by the CAO.
To be a Chief Data Officer in any company, you need to have a knowledge of big data and data analytics. The Business Analytics Degree is designed for scientists, engineers, statisticians and mathematicians who aim to work in the world of Big Data.
During the programme, you will learn from data experts working in large organisation to startups, giving to the change to see the variation in the role dependeing on the size of the company and sector. These companies include IBM, DataCentric or Innova, and startups such as Valydo or Shoppermotion. You will have access to the latest tools for interpreting data, such as Apache Hadoop, Spark, Scala, Python, PySpark, TensorFlow, and more.
If you are interested in studying big data, we also offer several alternatives, with a number of our programmes offering the combination of furthering your knowledge in big data but also management and leadership. These include: