(US and Canada) Theodore Kaouk, the Deputy Director of Human Capital Data Management and Modernization and Chief Data Officer at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, speaks with Denise Verdicchio, SVP and President of Public Sector Sales, SHI International, about the need for collaboration, future opportunities for data, and models for deriving data value.

Collaboration is critical for implementing a data strategy, says Kaouk. Government agencies and departments are moving toward a shared vision and establishing best practices for data inventory, analytics, data management, improving data skills, or simply trying to accelerate.

He says that since COVID-19, there has been a significant increase in the prioritization of analysis and collection of data to ensure it’s timely, reliable, and actionable. Agencies are frequently developing these solutions parallel with each other. Hence, they come up with joint solutions to create a lot of economies of scale, generate better insights, and leverage data more effectively.

Kaouk says a market-based model identifies data utility in terms of cost, revenue, and profit. Economic models consider utility in terms of economic and public benefit. Specific contextual and dimensional models estimate utility based on categories, dimensions, and contexts.