The role of the Chief Data Officer (CDO) continues to rise in importance as data becomes the key to profitability. The role of the CDO has evolved from that of the one who protects, connects, and governs data, a more reactive role to now, where they focus on delivering insights that generate better revenues.
Technology evolution, the rise of data products such as Generative AI, and cloud-first strategies, and the growing importance of data across all business units are changing the role of the CDO and the environment they operate in.
As change becomes a constant, here are a few trends CDOs need to look out for as we step into the coming year.
Data Quality and Adaptive Governance
Managing data quality and ensuring robust data governance continue to be a key focus area for CDOs. AI and machine learning are geared to change data governance practices for the year ahead and beyond.
Data officers have to identify ways to process and maintain the data quality of not just structured but also unstructured data. Robust data governance strategies and policies for the collection, storage, usage, and access of unstructured data and more data democratization are going to be important focus areas.
CDOs also need to pay heed to their data monitoring and data lineage capabilities to ensure the quality, integrity, and security of organizational data.
Adaptive data and analytics governance will enable context-appropriate governance mechanisms and styles to be applied to different data and analytics scenarios to objectively drive business outcomes.
Cloud-based governance and the use of AI and machine learning in managing and monitoring data quality and governance are rising trends catching the eye of forward-thinking CDOs.
AI Revolution Continues
The modern data stack is being impacted in profound ways by the combination of AI with Large Language Models (LLMs). CDOs now get front-row seats as these technologies revolutionize data transformation, interpretation, preparation, and analysis.
CDOs however have to create pathways to harness unstructured data and build semantic meaning to this. LLMs are handy in this journey as they allow enterprises to filter and classify unstructured data and facilitate the extraction of valuable insights from unstructured and ‘messy’ data.
Semantic models and knowledge graphs are becoming an indispensable part of the data toolkit. These enable AI systems to gain meaningful insights from large and complex data sets. CDOs, as such, have to not only identify ways to harness the unstructured data but also connect the data streams seamlessly to prevent data silos.
Security Challenges Continue
Governance, security, and privacy remain top concerns for CDOs in 2024. As the modern data stack evolves, it becomes more complex and open to security events. CDOs need to build additional data security measures and invest in heavily sophisticated systems that protect the data completely and ensure strict adherence to privacy regulations.
CDOs can expect to see the role of AI in security expanding and anticipating future threats by analyzing historical data and current trends. Integrating AI to encompass predictive analytics, identify anomalies or deviations, and deliver automated responses by analyzing vast datasets and identifying patterns will become a mainstay.
Real-time Insights with Edge Computing
The importance of real-time filtering and analysis continues to grow in 2024. CDOs have to actively look at prioritizing edge computing adoption to enable instant analytics. The total amount of data created, captured, copied, and consumed globally is expected to grow to more than 180 zettabytes by 2025.
CDOs have to now enable their organizations to move past the cloud struggles that emerge with the vast influx of data. They now need to facilitate systems that enable lightning-fast processing and embrace edge computing. Data officers have to now look towards edge analytics to accelerate tasks, increase productivity, and save time and resources.
Intelligent Automation Aims for More Intelligence
Intelligent automation will increase its intelligence in 2024 as technologies such as Generative AI and NLP emerge as workforce partners that make individual tasks easier, faster, and more accurate.
CDOs have to look at leveraging intelligent automation to optimize workflows and increase process efficiencies. Process intelligence solutions leverage advanced analytics and real-time monitoring to identify process bottlenecks, streamline operations, and drive informed decisions.
Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) is also emerging as a key trend as organizations adopting it increase document processing speed and reduce document-related errors. The IDP market estimated at USD 1.45 billion in 2022 is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30.1% from 2023 to 2030.
The Rise of Decision Intelligence
2024 will also witness the steady growth of Decision Intelligence. IDC reports that organizations that do not leverage Decision Intelligence will experience the same effects as those in business who were late to embark on their digital journeys.
Decision Intelligence may seem like a futuristic concept but is expected to become essential to mitigate risks and improve business outcomes. It uses artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics, data fusion, data visualization, and collaboration tools, to improve decision-making. It enables organizations to consider a broader range of factors, risks, and uncertainties and helps them make decisions that are not only data-driven but also ethical and responsible.
This technology elevates business performance, efficiency, and agility and helps organizations anticipate challenges and adapt to market fluctuations easily. It also allows them to evaluate the ethical, social, and environmental implications of their decisions and drives responsible decision-making and long-term success.
Summing Up
The year ahead will be an exciting one for CDOs as the value of data and its applications continue on its upward trajectory. In an age when data products are on the rise and data technologies evolve rapidly, CDOs need to prepare for the rise of new roles such as AI Governance Specialists, Data Product Architects, etc. within their data teams.
With the value of data rising every day, data teams and the role of the CDO move from a supporting function to one that is now indispensable to propel business success. CDOs, however, will have to pay close attention to escalating regulatory and compliance requirements, fortify their data protection strategies, and create data-security-centric roles across their organization. This will allow them to play a more integral role in driving business growth, elevating business efficiency, and reducing risks.
