With so much talk about the ever-evolving role of the Chief Analytics Officer, one interesting pattern that we see is the increasing business responsibility that comes with it. With better decision-making comes the expectation that improved revenues and profits will not be far behind. Could this be true? How will the CAO role evolve in the coming years?To shed light on the matter, we recently spoke to Ed Lee, Chief Analytics Officer at ProtoType Industries and a member of the CAO Forum Global Advisory Board. In this insightful interview, he discussed how in the not-so-distant-future, the “roles of the CAO and CFO will blend together”. We also spoke about the key challenges facing CAOs today and how to get people in your organization better engaged with analytics.
CAO Forum: How would you describe the role of a Chief Analytics Officer?
Ed Lee: Being in a small private business environment, I imagine that my role is quite different than that of a CAO in a large corporation that employs 50 data scientists. That said, in my personal role within my organization, I am responsible to manage the financial risk of the company, direct the financial planning and record keeping, and perform various company analytics ranging from financial to employee performance to demand/delivery cycles, etc. In short, I would say that it is my job to make sure that the company is healthy financially, to make sure the company is running efficiently, and overall, to stay attuned to the “story” that the data (once analysed) is communicating such that we can be informed in both our strategic and tactical decision making.
My job is to make sure that the company is healthy financially, running efficiently, and overall, to stay attuned to the ‘story’ that the data (once analysed) is communicating.
CAO Forum: What would you consider as the biggest challenge faced by Chief Analytics Officers (CAO) today?
Ed Lee: Because this is still an emerging, and relatively newer field, I can imagine there would be challenges in finding and attracting the right employee candidates. Also, the initial establishment of the data analytics infrastructure may pose a challenge to companies more recently employing a CAO with a desire to take advantage of their mounting data. Additionally, for larger organizations where there exists ‘silos’ of data controlled by different groups or business units, it may be a challenge to centralize the data, and in particular, to centralize the ‘control’ of the data for analytics purposes.
CAO Forum: In what ways have Big Data and analytics already impacted the industry that you work in?
Ed Lee: In commercial aviation, aircraft have become increasingly computerized and the average flight today can produce upwards of 1,000 gigabytes of data. As one might easily imagine, there could be quite a range of practical applications and value gained by leveraging this data. From predictive analysis to develop scheduled pre-emptive maintenance activities, to information that can be passed to engineering to improve designs and increase efficiency, there are countless benefits of harnessing the power of the insights obtainable via the data. One specific example that I have seen first-hand is the collection of Built-In Test (BIT) data from various components/systems within an aircraft, which can be downloaded and analysed by engineers to monitor activity, data flow, and various automatic alerts, to seek opportunities to make engineering hardware/software improvements.
CAO Forum: Do people, in general, in your organization appreciate the value of analytics? Please share with us your experience.
Ed Lee: Yes. We are in a highly technical field, and we are very much data-driven. One of the primary services we provide is controlled aircraft maintenance data (largely in the form of performable tasks). Our organization realizes the importance of accurate information, because the very content of the maintenance activities we document must be supported by some form of data (whether it be an engineering source drawing, a software specification, a wiring diagram, etc.). As a result, the type of culture and the people we employ have an appreciation for an analytical approach to decisions-making.
CAO Forum: What strategies are you implementing to encourage your internal workforce to engage with analytics?
Ed Lee: Our company offers eligible employees, participation in a quarterly bonus program that is tied to the performance of the company. So, we provide visibility of certain performance metrics via a mini Dashboard that all employees are able to view at any point in time. Also, we are in the process of developing brief training sessions on the subject of KPIs, to increase the general awareness of some of the measures that the company keeps track of, but also to impart knowledge and a skillset that they might be able to employ onto themselves, to analytically see where they might have room for improvement with their job performance and efficiency, which would in term contribute to their career growth potential.
CAOs will see the need to expand their knowledge of accounting and finance (and likewise, the CFO will seek to expand their analytics know-how).
CAO Forum: How do you see the role of Chief Analytics Officer evolving in the next few years?
Ed Lee: I envision that within the years to come, the roles of the CAO and CFO will blend together, such that in many organizations the CFO will be required to have certain skills possessed by CAO (and vice versa), and may one day have the responsibility to manage both departments. And as a result, CAOs will see the need to expand their knowledge of accounting and finance (and likewise the CFO will seek to expand their analytics know-how).
In terms of career paths, I can imagine many engineering/IT-minded data professionals pursuing MBAs to seek the profession of the future CAO. And likewise, can foresee certain accounting/CPA professionals seeking further technical training in databases/analytics tools in order to pursue the role of the future CAO.
Hear more from Ed Lee and other leading Chief Analytics Officers at the coming Chief Analytics Officer Forum organized by Corinium Global Intelligence. For more information, visit www.coriniumintelligence.com
Join the Chief Analytics Officer Forum on LinkedIn here.
