February 2017,

Evidence for the rise of the role of chief data officer within business is inconsistent. According to the State of Analytics and Decision Sciences report for 2016 by research group Mu Sigma, chief data officer are in overall charge of data and related analytics technologies at only 9% of US organisations, while at 13% these are under the control of a chief analytics officer. In contrast, a survey of CXOs in the UK by MHR Analytics found that as many as 48% currently work alongside an executive with one of those titles. Perhaps more convincingly, though, LinkedIn shows 1,555 individuals now with the job chief data officer on their profile, up from just few hundred at the beginning of the decade, while the website’s Chief Data Officer networking group now boasts an impressive 5,700 members.