The Chief Data Officer (CDO) role is still a rapidly emerging and evolving job title and, as such, it is often difficult to find a standard description of the position. However, I did manage to find consensus on the CDO job description during my recent research with numerous CDOs from various industries and different countries, when asking them to explain the CDO role to graduates fresh out of college or university.

These CDOs explained that there are typically two components to the CDO role – sometimes referred to as defense and offense.

The first component is that the CDO is responsible for the compliant and efficient collection, storage, management and availability of an organisation’s data. In a recent conversation at a CDO Forum event, one CDO referred to this as ‘increasing confidence in the data’. Essentially, to make sure that the organisation has all their ducks in order and that the data they have meets legal obligations, is of high quality and is readily available for the relevant lines of business.

The second, and increasingly important, component, centres around two words: ‘value’ and ‘innovation’. According to one CDO, a ‘true CDO’ must ensure that their ‘organisation is driving the maximum business value from data as an asset’ , which gives rise to innovative products, increased customer engagement, improved internal efficiency, cost savings and, crucially, competitive advantage. In the words of another UK-based CDO, it is the CDO’s role to ‘set the vision, strategy and roadmap’ for the innovative utilisation of an organisation’s data as a vital asset.

Therefore, as the adoption of the CDO role grows, it is reasonable to suggest that it is becoming somewhat easier to pinpoint the function of the CDO and to be able to describe that to somebody. However, what became apparent during a conversation with another leading CDO from the US banking sector, is that, whilst we are now able to describe the role - the ‘what’ - it is still virtually impossible to provide a succinct and standard answer to become a CDO – the ‘how’.

Ask 100 CDOs and you will get close to 100 different responses as to where they came from before they got their first CDO role – marketing, risk, operations, data science, engineering and IT, to name but a few. Therefore, when tasked with explaining to an interested graduate how they can become a CDO, what do you tell them?

Again, there are 2 main facets, but it all centres on experience. Experience, experience, experience. If you want to become a future CDO you need to gain as much varied experience as possible within ‘Technology’ and ‘Business’.

An aspiring CDO could have all the technological knowledge and skills in the world but, without business acumen, it is rendered useless. Likewise, you could be the most business-savvy executive in your organisation, but without an understanding of technology and how it can be leveraged for different needs for a business, you will not succeed.

For the new generation of graduates – the first to have the CDO role as a career aspiration in the same way that their predecessors saw the CIO, CMO, CFO or CTO role – the best way to become a CDO is to immerse yourself in different roles and different lines of business to build up a unique and diverse skill set.

Unsurprisingly, the topic of how to become a CDO is best summarised by a CDO:

'There’s not a straight line, you can’t go deep into analytics, or deep into data warehousing because that could be too siloed in your thinking – you need to get experience in technology and business’.

And lots of it.

By Adam Plom