(US and Canada) Theodore Kaouk, the Deputy Director of Human Capital Data Management and Modernization and the Chief Data Officer at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, speaks with Denise Verdicchio, SVP, President Public Sector Sales at SHI International about data reconciliation in multiple cloud environments, syncing active data environments, and data professions in the federal government.

Kaouk says that the federal data strategy, CDO position, team spirit, and the right level of data aggregation will enable all agencies to collaborate better and create improved approaches in the future. The current approach has a significant impact internally and in the inter-agency conversation.

Regarding concerns about syncing active data environments into the cloud from a data security and integrity standpoint, organizations will follow a zero-trust strategy. While things have been primarily addressed at the system level, the need now is to consider sensitivity at the data level. This needs the chief information security officers, chief data officers, and privacy officers to work together to implement the zero-trust strategy, he notes.

While many agencies have moved to the cloud already, others are poised to do so. Kaouk emphasizes that zero-trust is but one component of ensuring improvement in data security integrity, and it will require much collaboration.

Regarding leveraging trends to make data more impactful, Kaouk points toward establishing data governance boards to assess data maturity, creating data inventories, and assessing gaps in data skills. Continued improvement in those areas will be required.

What can help agency CDOs in creating value early? Kaouk notes that an improved data platform and tools in the cloud make it easier to attract better talent because people get to do the kind of work they want to do.

He maintains, however, that the agency has to have the tools, infrastructure, and vision to attract the talent needed. In terms of a trend in focus, he concludes that it is the idea of attracting the right talent and upskilling with the appropriate capabilities and how they relate to one another.