Data is
becoming an integral driver of the economy and our overall daily lives.
In tech circles, it is regarded as the ‘modern oil’ that when well
processed, fuels corporates growth in a fast-changing digital economic
environment.
A new report on the state of data and
analytics in Middle East and Africa (MEA) in 2020, explores how data
leaders design business objectives, the changing role of the chief data
analytics officer (CDAO) and hurdles holding back corporates.
The
report, An Exclusive Snapshot of the Opportunities and Challenges
Facing Data and Analytics Leaders Today, reveals that having someone who
is responsible for maximising the value of a company’s data asset is
essential for businesses operating in the digital age. It indicates that
more than 70 C-Suite data leaders have been hired in the MEA region
since 2012.
“Going back five years ago, data, being
data-driven and especially analytics were kind of a ‘nice to have’ for
companies,” says Louise de Beer, Head of BI and Data Science at South
African analytics-driven estate agent Leadhome.
“If you
look at reports from two years ago, innovators started playing with
data as a differentiator. I think where we are now is that data is
becoming a hygiene factor. If you don’t have it, what are you doing with
your business?”
The number of executives working in
senior data roles is a simple litmus test for assessing a region’s
digital maturity. South Africa is a regional trailblazer in this
respect, with the UAE in a distant second place.
The report suggests that a consensus is starting to form about
where the chief data officer (CDO) sits in relation to the wider
organisation. Gone are the days of the CDO reporting into the chief
information officer (CIO).
Instead, 60 per cent of the
CDAOs who responded to the survey answered to their company’s chief
operations officer (COO), 20 per cent report to the chief risk officer
(CRO) and another 20 per cent answer directly to the CEO.
Mark
Nasila, Chief Analytics Officer at FNB South Africa says data leaders
need a mandate that spans the whole business in order to effectively
drive organisational change.
“The business needs or use
cases are very unique to each business unit. What I’ve done is to
follow what is called a ‘shared services’ operating model. The strategy
is centrally led, but it’s executed in a decentralised way, at a
business unit level,” he told Digital Business.
Evolving role
The role of a CDAO will naturally evolve with a company’s data maturity. A company’s first CDAO will initially be concerned with developing a data strategy and laying the foundations for data success.
The role of a CDAO will naturally evolve with a company’s data maturity. A company’s first CDAO will initially be concerned with developing a data strategy and laying the foundations for data success.
But
with this groundwork complete, their focus will shift towards enhancing
the ways their organisations can extract value from its data asset. The
research shows that this evolution is well underway in organisations
across MEA. A whole 46 percent of data leaders say their companies are
in this transitionary phase, with 42.5 percent reporting that their data
teams are focused primarily on offensive initiatives.
Hartnell
Ndungi, CDO at Absa Bank Kenya (formerly Barclays) explains that when
people start visualising their data better, they start asking questions
like, ‘What will happen in the future?’
“In South
Africa and East Africa, what I’m seeing is that 90 percent of CDOs are
at level one. They are focusing mostly on data management, data
protection and data privacy,” Mr Ndungi reveals.
“I am
also seeing a few CDO 2.0s, who are also able to talk about solutioning
and coming up with dashboards and analysis to ensure that you’re able to
visualise and present data better, and very few CDO 3.0s,” he adds.
The
vast majority of the survey respondents said the purpose of their role
is to drive business performance through advanced analytics.
According
to the study, building a data science capability was the second most
frequently cited ‘purpose’, tied with identifying opportunities for AI
adoption.
Just 26 percent of respondents said the
purpose of their role is to implement sustainable data management and
governance practices.
Data leaders are clearly looking
to the future when it comes to articulating the purpose of their roles.
This is particularly crucial as technologies such as blockchain, data
science, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR) cloud
computing and Internet of Things (IoT) becomes integral part of
business.
But some may be ignoring or downplaying the traditional data challenges that are still present in many organisations.
“They
will need to balance their advanced initiatives with more foundational
investments to give their data strategies the best chances of succes,”
the report says.
Some executives may initially have
resisted the idea that their instincts might not be the best tool for
guiding their companies to prosperity. But the Middle East and Africa’s
data leaders are successfully proving their worth and combating these
old-fashioned ways of thinking.
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