VIDEO | Quantum Space CDO: The CDO Is a Change Agent Who Liberates Data

(US and Canada) Ron Thompson, Executive Director and CDO at Quantum Space, and Ido Biger, EVP and Chief Technology and Data Officer at Delek US Holdings Inc., speak with Effie Kilmer, CDO Engagement Lead - Data Governance at Microsoft, in a video interview about working through the compliance aspect and overcoming organizational use cases and challenges of a CDO, and how the CDOs and CIOs work together to drive success in an organization.

At the onset, Thompson notes that the compliance aspect of a CDO’s job necessitates a great deal of reporting to multiple government agencies. He adds that the Chief Data Officers Council across all government departments follows the established roadmap, which comprises:

• Inventory and setting up governance
• Create value in business
• Shift toward a data-driven culture

Delving further, Thompson cautions Chief Data Officers from starting conversations with business partners on the compliance note. Instead, CDOs must first portray the benefits of being a data-driven organization to business partners.

According to Thompson, CDOs must build on guiding principles that include providing fair access to data, making it accessible, maintaining interoperability of processes, and ensuring high-quality data. Ultimately, the goal is to ‘liberate the data’ so that it is reusable across organizations, he says.

Furthermore, Thompson narrates how he accomplished goals in line with the NASA and Federal Data Strategy to achieve digital transformation and mitigate pain points across the enterprise. He further describes how data was utilized to protect the workforce during the early stages of COVID-19, in collaboration with organizations like HHS and CDC.

Additionally, he states that CDO is an evangelist who needs to maintain the visibility of the initiatives. Thompson emphasizes that there must be openness in demonstrating what works and what does not, to gain trust among the stakeholders and workforce.

Emphasizing value addition, Thompson states that NASA has had an open data platform for many years, allowing scientists to observe and collect data from the planet and the solar system. He further discusses how NASA’s enterprise data platform with a data commons accommodates different use cases.

The platform ensured NASA partnerships with the CIO community and the development of tools and capabilities for managing data with consistent processes, which still add value, states Thompson.

Moving forward, Biger shares his experience of wearing the dual hat of a CDO and a CIO. He states that when in charge of the data engineering and the analytics team, one will have control over all data solutions provided across the organization. However, they may not be as focused when they are in charge of additional IT and cyber teams.

Nevertheless, Biger believes the pros outweigh the cons in this situation. He argues that the organization must be ready for the change and approach to achieve successful outcomes by combining the roles.

Following up, Thompson points out that CIOs primarily focus on keeping operational systems running. However, the role of the CDO is to become a change agent and uses approaches like DevSecOps, and agile development to liberate data. Then, he emphasizes the need for the CDO and CIO positions to work together in a symbiotic relationship to cultivate data policies and governance for implementation and success.

In conclusion, Thompson states that successful implementation of the CDO role depends on organizational maturity, and organizations must strive to utilize the role best in their unique situation.

CDO Magazine appreciates Ido Biger and Ron Thompson for sharing insights and data success stories with our global community.

See more from Ido Biger and Ron Thompson

The CDO Should Be at the Highest Level of an Organization