Many companies have become more mature in their handling of data and AI.
According to Ekimetrics' 2024 Data Director survey, 58% of AI-driven products reached industrialisation in 2023—a 25% increase over the previous year.
With or without the ChatGPT effect, AI-based products now make up a growing share of project portfolios, accounting for 40% in 2023. Several factors contribute to this trend, including increased data literacy efforts and decentralisation of data competencies among various departments, including IT.
Using AI for bold transformations
Didier Mamma, Vice President of Advanced Analytics & AI Innovation at Decathlon, stresses that AI’s true value isn’t found in incremental improvements to existing models. Instead, it allows for bold, unprecedented shifts in potentially outdated business frameworks.
Would it be fair to blame data groups and their CDOs for a lack of boldness or for ignoring business concerns? Not entirely. At La Banque Postale, for instance, the Data Office operates within a hybrid model, with departments actively sponsoring data use cases.
This approach isn’t unique. AXA France has employed a similar strategy, requiring projects to undergo data analysis and ROI assessment, contingent on sponsorship. Sponsors commit to financing 50% of the project costs and allocate resources from their departments to work in an agile mode to deliver the project, according to Chafika Chettaoui, AXA’s CDO.
A comparable model can be found at Suez, an industrial water and waste management company. Through a Data Mesh approach, operations such as waste sorting take centre stage. Plant operators are directly involved in creating data products, reclaiming ownership and actively contributing to data projects.
Modern C-Suite priorities: Data alignment across an organisation
Executives, and more specifically their data managing entity the CDO, must align more closely with business strategy and act as strategic advisors. The CDO’s role is evolving beyond being just a "doer" and evangelist of data.
Data offices increasingly focus their resources on developing strategic use cases while delegating tactical ones to business teams, enabling CDOs to concentrate on their enabling roles. However, business leaders must expand their expectations beyond incremental improvements and short-term wins to embrace more transformative, long-term possibilities.
The key to success lies in placing data and AI firmly on the leadership agenda and moving from theory to action.
The Data Office must also build strong, continuous partnerships with business units, acting as advisors and strategists. While CDOs still need to engage with technology, they must also integrate into broader digital transformation programs while conversely, business leaders must embrace technology wholeheartedly.
The four pillars: business, tech, digital, and data
Decathlon has moved from theory to practice, organising itself around six business domains where “the four pillars” (business, tech, digital, and data) collaborate to define future roadmaps. Inspired by Walmart’s "four in the box" concept, this structure ensures data is an integral part of the company’s transformation.
Carrefour has also adopted a similar approach, deploying 100 dedicated Data Translators across various business sectors. These translators act as liaisons between business units and data science expertise, according to Arnaud Grojean, Carrefour’s Chief Data & Analytics Officer.
Grojean emphasises that data culture is one of the core elements of their strategy. To implement this, they rely heavily on human resources to spread data competencies and AI-driven job transformation across the company, supported by ongoing training programs.
HR & IT: essential partners in data strategy
IT departments are crucial partners for Data Offices. By 2023, 39% of Data Offices reported directly to IT departments—a figure that has been steadily rising for the past three years. Both teams benefit from this collaboration, which Ekimetrics notes has led to better data literacy within IT departments and clearer mandates for both sides.
This collaboration also drives hybrid roles such as Data Engineers and Machine Learning Engineers, reflecting the growing convergence between data and IT skill sets.
Synchronising roadmaps between CDOs and IT departments is essential for adapting data systems to business needs and promoting the development of self-service data and AI tools.
L&D and HR departments are similarly powerful drivers of data transformation. By embedding data skills at the heart of the organisation, they’re reshaping teams and fast-tracking a data-centric culture. Their role goes beyond training: they break down silos, engage managers, and create fertile ground for AI and analytics to become true performance drivers across every function.
The CDO, HR, and IT: A trio for transformation
CDOs, HR, and IT teams together form a powerful trio for business transformation—if they are recognised as strategic value creators and not merely cost centres. However, the entire C-level must be involved to successfully integrate data and AI across the organisation.
Business functions like customer relations, sustainability, logistics, marketing, and finance all have their own data use cases. These needs will only be effectively addressed if they partner closely with the Data Office.
As Romain Paillard, Co-Founder and General Manager of Le Wagon for Business, puts it: "We’re convinced that data shouldn’t stay confined to experts. It must serve everyone, breaking down silos, aligning teams, and maximising impact across the organisation. We need to make data accessible to all."
