(US and Canada) Ken Pfeil, Chief Data Officer, Commonwealth of Virginia, speaks with Denise Verdicchio, SHI International Senior Vice President and President of Public Sector Sales, in a video interview about balancing the challenges of data sharing, organizational data strategies to derive value, and the modern data stack.

Pfeil says that knowing the location of the data is an integral part of the organization’s data governance program. The focus is also on understanding the needs and facilitating the inter-agency agreements to bring six weeks of paperwork down to 48 hours.

According to Pfeil, the key is understanding the data and maintaining proper custody. He explains that by brokering connections between agencies, the organization provides the conduit without capturing the data, using a federated model.

The Commonwealth of Virginia, he points out, has made available various data sets for public use through the Open Data Portal — a partner program with Virginia’s library. Pfeil says the public feedback has been impactful.

Speaking about data management gaining urgency among business leaders, he maintains that it moves from inception to adoption and then notices value. According to Pfeil, business executives are witnessing the benefits of repeatable value delivery. He highlights three organizational perspectives for deriving value from data:

1. Operational standpoint: Having the skills to keep the technology running.
2. Tactical objective: Solving immediate business problems.
3. Strategic aspect: Investing for the long term in predictive analytics and putting up cloud modeling for agency use.

Pfeil points out that a modern data stack should have data storage, transformation, governance, and analytics in a cloud-based platform with open access. He urges organizations to focus on the processes, not the tools, because improving the existing processes before modernizing the data stack is critical.

In conclusion, Pfeil urges engagement to bring out the best outcomes for the agencies and the constituents. He wants to empower people to think about data in every possible way and hopes they continue growing technically.

CDO Magazine thanks Ken Pfeil for sharing his data insights and thought leadership with our global community.

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