A new MeriTalk survey has found that 69 percent of federal agencies with chief data officers said they are more likely to manage big data workloads compared with 40 percent of agencies that operate without CDOs.The report “Calling the Plays: The Evolving Role of the CDO and Federal Big Data†is underwritten by ViON Corp. and is based on an online survey of 150 federal information technology managers in September and October, MeriTalk said Monday.
The study also showed that 88 percent of federal IT executives whose agencies have chief data officers said CDOs have a positive impact on their organizations, while 93 percent of respondents whose organizations lack CDOs believe such officials would have a positive impact on their agencies.
MeriTalk also found that 61 percent whose agencies operate with CDOs said their institutions are more likely to use big data in decision-making efforts, compared with 28 percent of respondents whose agencies lack CDOs.
The study noted that 92 percent of agencies with CDOs said the chief information officer and CDO maintain a working relationship in terms of analytics and big data management.
Seventy-six percent of respondents say the CDO has been responsible for data management issues with various responsibilities such as organizational data centralization and protection, management of open government data initiatives, and efforts to manage the gap between operations and IT.
“Implementing a chief data officer ensures your agency is focusing the right amount on mission-critical data management goals – while storing and protecting data throughout the process,†said Rodney Hite, director of big data and analytics solutions at ViON.
The report also showed that federal agencies with CDOs are more likely to leverage big data in cybersecurity analytics, mission intelligence and strategic decision-making operations compared with those without one.
