Data & AI Leadership Executive Survey 2022

The central theme of NewVantage Partners 2022 Data and AI Leadership Executive Survey is “The Quest to Achieve Data-Driven Leadership”. The year marks the 10th edition of this C-Executive survey, which was first published in 2012.

The survey was launched in response to a constituency of US Fortune 1000 business and technology C-executives seeking to understand the transformational impact that data would have on their organizations and industry.

The long journey to become data-driven

Becoming a data-driven organization doesn’t just happen. It requires leadership. Data volumes and sources continue to proliferate at an ever-increasing rate, challenging large, complex organizations to adapt and keep pace. As AI and machine learning capabilities mature, and as issues of data ethics and privacy become paramount, leading organizations will be challenged to transform their business and technology processes to deliver business value.

The bar has been raised. While much progress has been made over the course of the past decade, becoming data-driven is a journey. There is still much work to be done. In this context, a few findings from this year’s survey immediately stand out.

#1 / A new high of 73.7% of organizations surveyed have appointed a Chief Data and Analytics Officer (CDAO), up from 12% when this survey was first conducted in 2012.

#2 / Yet, 59.8% of these organizations see the Chief Data and Analytics Officer (CDAO) role as still nascent and evolving, and 44.2% have struggled with turnover in the role.

#3 / Organizations continue to struggle to become data-driven, with only 26.5% reporting have achieved this goal, and only 19.3% reporting having established a data culture.

#4 / Cultural impediments remain the greatest barrier to organizations becoming data-driven, with 91.9% of survey respondents identifying this as the great challenge.

#5 / Data ethics is emerging as an issue of rising importance, with just 44.1% of organizations reporting well-established data and AI ethics policies and practices in place, and only 21.6%

ABOUT THE RESPONDENTS

This report this year records 94 US Fortune 1000 and industry leading organizations participated in the 2022 survey.

77% of survey respondents functioned as the Chief Data and Analytics Officer (CDAO) within their respective organizations, and 96% held C-Executive responsibilities.