The Role of Data Leadership in Data-Driven Transformation

How do successful companies differentiate from their counterparts? While there may be many factors that are apparently in play, the single most important factor is the leadership that steers those companies. Industry has witnessed numerous leaders who have transformed mediocre businesses into highly successful ones through their abilities and strategic actions.

Pivoting an organization towards data-driven approach starts with the leadership buy-in. Leaders or the C-suite of an organization must understand the importance of data and how it can contribute to the growth of the business. Investing in data-driven approach provides the company with the much-needed competitive advantage.?

Building a Data Strategy

Today, data and analytics is playing and will continue to play a key role in changing the competitive environment. A McKinsey Global Survey revealed 47% of the organizations surveyed say that data and analytics has significantly or fundamentally changed the nature of competition in their industries over the past three years. Hence, leaders have to sense and understand this changing competitive landscape and equip their organizations with tools and resources to deal with those changes.

"My role is more of a transformation agent. I ask a lot of questions to gauge everyone’s thought process" - A Global CDO

A Global Chief Data Officer from a manufacturing conglomerate says, “The very first step of drafting a data strategy is to assess the data perimeter. First know what you have, before you make plans to manage it. My role is more of a transformation agent. I ask a lot of questions to gauge everyone’s thought process”. Data leaders are first required to comprehend the role that data and technology play in generating value for the organization. The organizational data strategy needs to be inclusive of various persona needs, focus on strengthening the defense, and open gates for analytics and AI interventions.

The McKinsey survey further revealed that having a sound and flexible data strategy that is aligned with the overall organizational goals have helped companies to reap long term benefits.?

Data Leadership

In the process of data transformation roll outs, few people from across the ranks and roles in the organization, usually take lead towards achieving the data goals. Right from the CEO down to the frontline employees, people who takes such initiation to create or increase the data value are collectively called as Data Leadership. The Data Leaders contribute to building momentum in implementing data and analytics tools as well as derive better value out of the available data.

Anthony Algmin, the founder of Algmin Data Leadership, has overseen numerous projects in data transformation. He pointed out that without active involvement of Data Leadership, there is no momentum towards deriving value from the data. “Although Data Governance provides guidance, it does not inherently build momentum, which is exactly what Data Leadership is designed to do. Without Data Leadership, Data Governance programs start with much enthusiasm, only to become side-lined due to passive resistance or lack of real interest,” he said.

A McKinsey survey on data & analytics leadership showed that in high-performing organizations, executives are 44% better educated on data concepts than others.

Thus, in the earnest interest of achieving overall organizational goals, the C-suite has to look out and identify these data leaders and empower them to bring transformation and promote data-driven culture in the organization.

Women in Data Leadership

Last but not the least, inclusivity in data leadership is also fast catching up. Though more women are taking up jobs in the data domain lately, there is much more space to fill in. A 2020 US survey puts the percentage of women working in data and analytics jobs in the USA at 27%. This means there is still a lot of ground to cover in terms of gender inclusivity in the data domain. Today, more women are being encouraged and mentored to take up roles in this field and ultimately become data leaders in the foreseeable future.

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Saurabh Gupta