The CDO

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The CDO

Steve Jones - SSC Editor

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April 26, 2018 at 9:08 pm

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David.Poole SSC Guru Points: 76000 More actions · Answer 1

Under GDPR the chief data office answers to the highest level of the organisation. They are not intended to block legitimate use of data nor dictate the way things should operate. What they are is a focal point for expertise and advice for data husbandry matters. Their position in the organisation means they have the authority to say no to ensure that the concerns of data are not dismissed for the convenience or short-term expediency.

Yes, many of us did perfectly OK and even thrived before a large number of disciplines and practises existed but we also suffered at the hands of the HIPPOs (highest paid person's opinion) and got caught in the cross fire of high level corporate egos.
The authority to say no is a great power but one to use sparingly and judiciously.
My inbox and industry press seems to imply that the steps necessary to comply with GDPR have been left to the last minute despite the 2 year advance warning. A CDO would have had the duty and authority to mandate the necessary work much earlier and with far less disruption to the organisation. I think such proactive work would have actually benefited the organisations for which they worked.

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Eric M Russell SSC Guru Points: 125561 More actions · Answer 2

Chief Data Officer would be sort of a pretentious title for those small and medium sized organizations that don't even have a designated Database Administrator.

"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho

KGERBR Say Hey Kid Points: 689 More actions · Answer 3

We're a small company but we do have a designated CDO. My boss' title is Director of Data Services. He's the chief DBA etc but as a PCI compliant company he's also the person responsible for the security of our data, and makes all the decisions on all things related to it. PCI compliancy is a very big deal at our small company so its a very important role.

(PCI = payment/credit card industry compliant)

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 736183 More actions · Answer 4

Eric M Russell - Friday, April 27, 2018 7:05 AM
Chief Data Officer would be sort of a pretentious title for those small and medium sized organizations that don't even have a designated Database Administrator.

It doesn't have to be a full time job, but certainly someone should be in charge of data if you work with EU customers. If not, it's still a good idea. Microsoft has one and they don't have a DBA.

Rick-153145 SSCrazy Points: 2823 More actions · Answer 5

Considering the sheer size of the fines for getting it wrong, I would say any company that deals with the EU will need one simply to save their own backsides.

Eric M Russell SSC Guru Points: 125561 More actions · Answer 6

Just like the 20th century was the period when companies learned the consequences of industrial pollution, perhaps many companies today will minimize their legal exposure and operational expense by not hoarding unneeded personal data in the first place, and for some it will mean finding a different business model that doesn't depend on it. Human society will move onward and upward without it.

We should be focusing on better quality data and better managed data - not more! more! more! data.

"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho

David.Poole SSC Guru Points: 76000 More actions · Answer 7

Eric M Russell - Friday, April 27, 2018 3:35 PM
We should be focusing on better quality data and better managed data - not more! more! more! data.

Amen!

I worked on a personalisation project that took a cartesian product of product purchases against all product attributes to produce a score for each customer for each attribute. The result was 37TB
We ran cluster analysis and determined that millions of customers formed 45 distinct clusters. Millions of combinations of product attributes could be reduced to less than 100,000 physically possible ones.
That dataset wouldn't challenge MySQL let alone SQL Server or require a Big Data technology.
Hadoop teaches you to think about problems in different ways. Mostly ways that don't require Hadoop

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Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 736183 More actions · Answer 8

Eric M Russell - Friday, April 27, 2018 3:35 PM
Just like the 20th century was the period when companies learned the consequences of industrial pollution, perhaps many companies today will minimize their legal exposure and operational expense by not hoarding unneeded personal data in the first place, and for some it will mean finding a different business model that doesn't depend on it. Human society will move onward and upward without it.
We should be focusing on better quality data and better managed data - not more! more! more! data.

Boy, would I like to see this.

xsevensinzx One Orange Chip Points: 25560 More actions · Answer 9

We have both chief data officers and global data officers due to the size of our organization.

allinadazework SSCarpal Tunnel Points: 4506 More actions · Answer 10

Steve Jones - SSC Editor - Friday, April 27, 2018 9:41 AM
Eric M Russell - Friday, April 27, 2018 7:05 AM
Chief Data Officer would be sort of a pretentious title for those small and medium sized organizations that don't even have a designated Database Administrator.
It doesn't have to be a full time job, but certainly someone should be in charge of data if you work with EU customers. If not, it's still a good idea. Microsoft has one and they don't have a DBA.

Chief Data Officer would probably be the title of the boss at the ministry of information or ministry of truth! It wouldn't surprise me if the EU has a Chief Data Officer 🙂

Eric M Russell SSC Guru Points: 125561 More actions · Answer 11

allinadazework - Monday, April 30, 2018 4:25 AM
Steve Jones - SSC Editor - Friday, April 27, 2018 9:41 AM
Eric M Russell - Friday, April 27, 2018 7:05 AM
Chief Data Officer would be sort of a pretentious title for those small and medium sized organizations that don't even have a designated Database Administrator.
It doesn't have to be a full time job, but certainly someone should be in charge of data if you work with EU customers. If not, it's still a good idea. Microsoft has one and they don't have a DBA.
Chief Data Officer would probably be the title of the boss at the ministry of information or ministry of truth! It wouldn't surprise me if the EU has a Chief Data Officer 🙂

'Ministry Of Truth' sounds more like a religious organization. :unsure:

"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho

Eric M Russell SSC Guru Points: 125561 More actions · Answer 12

Steve Jones - SSC Editor - Saturday, April 28, 2018 7:30 PM
Eric M Russell - Friday, April 27, 2018 3:35 PM
Just like the 20th century was the period when companies learned the consequences of industrial pollution, perhaps many companies today will minimize their legal exposure and operational expense by not hoarding unneeded personal data in the first place, and for some it will mean finding a different business model that doesn't depend on it. Human society will move onward and upward without it.
We should be focusing on better quality data and better managed data - not more! more! more! data.
Boy, would I like to see this.

I believe we are in the early "smoke stack" and "robber baron" era of the Information Age. Folks today who are focusing their IT careers or business models on building bigger smoke stacks or riding the coat tails of Google and FaceBook are not the real innovators.

"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho