Harnessing the data revolution: Future leaders, future skill sets
Data is driving the evolution of both business and the workspace, underpinning a wide range of emerging and exciting technology
The use of data is a function that did not exist even eight years ago, but it is now beginning to impact all areas of an organisation.
Dubbed the ‘fourth industrial revolution’ data is heralding new business models and introducing new job roles. Harnessing this revolution means thinking and doing things differently, especially when it comes to changing an organisation’s culture from the top down.
Indeed, the rapidly evolving role of data and the business decisions it enables (and automates) is already having a huge impact on the c-suite. As such, current and future leaders need to ensure they have the right skills to be credible and effective in a landscape dominated by data.
Leadership roles and teams therefore will increasingly reflect this significant shift. Chief data scientist, chief digital officer, chief data officer – these are not roles that existed as recently as even eight years ago, but are now joining the c-suite and are certainly influencing the executive.
The traditional leadership team is rapidly evolving. The traditional roles of CEO, CFO and COO still stands firm, however new titles and triumvirates of CIO, CDO and CMO or CPO are forming and joining the table.
Gartner predicts that by 2019, 90% of large organisations will have a Chief Data Officer while research from big data London shows that 51% believe data should be the responsibility of the CDO, reporting directly to the CEO.
While such change brings huge opportunities for growth, it also raises challenges. For example, for a recent executive search mandate, 78% of the CDOs we engaged with were in their first senior leadership role.
