Only 10% of organizations believe they’ve achieved DataOps “maturity”, according to a recent survey from Immuta.

Organizations with CDOs were more likely to have advanced DataOps strategy, according to the survey data.

From the report:

Most organizations fall in the middle of the maturity curve, with ‘emerging’ DataOps strategy being the most
common response. Higher DataOps maturity, in turn, was correlated with other investments to improve data
supply chains, such as making technological efforts to simplify data access and usage, as well as hiring
additional people to help ensure data availability and access.

Respondents from organizations with ‘emerging,’ ‘accelerated’ or ‘optimized’ DataOps maturity were also
more likely to report having a chief data officer, with 65% of respondents across these respective categories
reporting a CDO, versus only 49% of respondents who reported a ‘nascent’ or ‘low maturity’ DataOps response.

As discussed previously, the role of the CDO has increasingly become a proxy for data leadership, with 60%
reporting their organization has a CDO. However, the CDO is neither saint nor savior, and there can be enormous variance in the reporting structure and responsibility of individual CDOs within different organizations.

Half (50%) of respondents who said their organization has a CDO also indicated that the CDO reports directly to the CEO, which may suggest the responsibilities assumed are more high-level and visionary in these cases.

But, other common positions that the CDO reports to include the CTO and the CIO, in which cases the role may potentially be more technical and requirements-oriented. Which approach is ultimately ‘better’ is subjective, and the correct answer likely has to do with the maturity of the organization.

While a tactical and requirements oriented CDO may be highly appropriate for an organization that is just beginning to establish best practices and procedures for data – when attention to detail is critical – a more visionary CDO may be more appropriate for an organization that already has demonstrated success with data and is looking to adapt business models long term.