Data analytics journey: identifying the key roles for a successful project

The data an organization uses and owns is one of its most crucial resources. An organization that gets better at harnessing its data will see transformation in its people, processes and overall business results. As the organization becomes more sophisticated in understanding and using its data, it will need to fill new roles from inside and outside the organization.

In the first article in this series, we looked at a data analytics maturity model and the four phases all organizations will go through in their analytics journey. This article focuses on the different roles and responsibilities an organization will have to fill as it becomes better at understanding and using its data. Depending on where an organization sits on the data maturity model, one person may fulfill more than one of the roles listed below. As an organization moves up in the maturity model, more and more of these roles will be added, either internally or with outside support from contractors or consultants.

Role identification

Each organization will likely have an imbalance among the vision, strategy and execution roles. An organization may have a visionary leader with a specific plan for growth, but lack the talent to clearly understand the data or define a strategy. Another organization may have enterprising data engineers and scientists who have interesting ideas about how to manage data, but the organization lacks leaders who can lay out a vision to take advantage of that data. In addition, not every organization has filled each of the roles listed below. As organizations grow and get more complex, however, each of these roles will be necessary for the organization to use its data successfully.

Executive sponsor

Any data project is directly related to specific organization strategic goals: growth, efficiency or something else. The executive sponsor could be a combination of senior-level people, including the chief executive officer, the chief financial officer and the chief information officer. The technical resources necessary to fulfill the goal will vary depending on what the goal is; the sponsors likely will not have the background understanding of what the technical resources are necessary to fulfill the goal.