If you’ve been in the data and analytics space for any length of time, or even if you’ve ever logged in to LinkedIn, then many of the well-established and well-communicated best practices for data management success are certainly not news to you.

These include best practices like:

• Establishing a strong foundation of data governance;
• Quantifying the business value of investments in data;
• Focusing on people and processes, not just technology

And on, and on. The list here is exceptionally long — with many recurring core themes.

As much as data and analytics leaders know these things are important — and impossible to argue, poll after poll, survey after survey — we know that data leaders are often not following these recommendations, failing to implement them, or are outright ignoring them. As a result, their results, and their tenures, suffer.

Why Do Business Leaders Ignore Best Practices?

If these recommendations are known to drive business results, why are they so often not being followed?  

I’m not raising this issue to point fingers. I believe having industry pundits and analysts like myself using blogs, conference presentations or LinkedIn posts to point fingers at data leaders who ignore best practices is a big part of the problem — and is only making things worse.   

As a company, Profisee is fully committed to both our customers’ success and that of all data and analytics leaders industry-wide. We believe a rising tide lifts all boats, and that a big part of our mission is the education and professional development of all data practitioners. 

Therefore, to help CDOs and other leaders realize the benefits of these data management best practices, we’ve decided to try something new.

Modern CDOs Need a Different Approach to Data Management

To fulfill our goal of having data and analytics leaders acknowledge and realize the business value from improved data management (including MDM and Governance), we’ll be launching a series of initiatives in the coming months that will all take more innovative, fresh, and more modern approaches to sharing insights on industry best practices.

Our first major initiative in this journey is launching the ‘CDO Matters’ podcast, hosted by yours truly.

In this podcast we will not point fingers, preach, or recommend things that are impossible to operationalize. This podcast will leverage a combination of innovative subject areas, approaches and unconventional thought leaders to help CDOs address/overcome the reasons why these data management best practices are often ignored.

Simply put, this podcast will not be the same old approach to sharing insights CDOs (and people who aspire to be CDOs) need to become more data-driven. It will take a modern and often irreverent approach to providing insights — insights that align with organizational incentives and can be implemented.  

On the CDO Matters podcast, listeners will be entertained as much as they are educated, as we focus tirelessly to provide information from industry experts and fellow data practitioners that CDOs can use to differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive market.