Superior organizational performance can only be achieved if the right set of priorities is focused upon and combined with the best balance of appropriate activities. Gartner’s latest survey revealed that while most CDOs and their data and analytics teams identified and pursued the right priorities, there was a failure in addressing some of the most important issues such as the promotion of data literacy throughout the organization and an objective measurement of the financial value of the company data and information assets.
Here is an excerpt from a report published in IT-Online:
“CDOs are generally focused upon the right things, but they do not have the right mix of activities,” says Debra Logan, distinguished research vice-president at Gartner. The survey found that while the creation of a data-driven culture was ranked the No.1 critical factor to the DA team, there were conflicting rankings for technical and nontechnical activities (data integration and data skills training), and strategic and tactical activities (enterprise information management [EIM] program and architecting a DA platform).
Gartner’s fourth annual CDO survey was conducted online from September through December 2018, among 257 CDOs, chief analytics officers and other high-level data and analytics leaders from across the world.
While the implementation of a DA strategy was ranked the No. 3 most-critical success factor by 28% of CDOs, another strategic activity – creating a data literacy program – was ranked only 12th. This was despite the fact that, in the same survey, “poor data literacy” was rated the No.1 roadblock to creating a data-driven culture and realizing its business benefits.
“The low ranking of strategic activities can be explained because the majority of organizations are at maturity level 3 or higher for EIM and business intelligence and analytics,” says Logan. “While the survey shows that information governance is important, especially master data management (MDM), CDOs should never lose sight of the business outcomes they are trying to achieve. Focusing exclusively on governance, even MDM, is not enough to succeed as a CDO.”
