Exploring the rising role of digitally-focused executives in unlocking value through integrated, data driven decision making.
The Chief Data Officer (CDO) role has emerged over the past two decades as a pivotal connector between digital technology and operations, especially in industries where product and manufacturing innovation drive strategic growth. Traditionally, IT—often led by the CIO—has been tasked with maintaining legacy systems, managing technical debt and overseeing core digital infrastructure.
With many CIOs reporting to CFOs, the emphasis has largely shifted to cost efficiency over proactive innovation. This gap opens the door for digitally minded, innovation-driven executives like CDOs to bridge IT, engineering and manufacturing, enhancing data integration, accessibility and actionable insights. This coordination across Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Material Requirements Planning (MRP) and other core systems supports a holistic approach to data-driven innovation.
A 2023 Deloitte Insights report highlights three factors driving CDOs’ effectiveness in transforming business performance: aligning their vision with business strategy, controlling data management practices and cultivating influential relationships to extend their reach. Approximately 67% of Fortune 500 companies now have a CDO role, underscoring the priority of data leadership across industries.
This article examines how the CDO elevates IT’s mandate, aligning data strategies with engineering and operational needs to make data a driving force behind manufacturing and product innovation.
The CDO drives end-to-end data integration
In manufacturing, the integration of PLM and ERP is not just a technical requirement; it is an essential component of strategic growth. The end-to-end flow of data between product design and production (facilitated by PDM and PLM) and operational processes (led by ERP, MRP and MES systems) boosts collaboration, shortens time-to-market and improves product quality —ultimately unlocking greater innovation potential through real-time, data-backed insights across the product lifecycle.
The CDO approaches this integration challenge with a strategic vision. By dismantling data silos and enabling seamless information flow between PDM, ERP, MRP, MES and CRM repositories, the CDO empowers cross-functional teams with real-time insights that support timely, informed decision-making. This effort involves more than just integrating systems; it requires fostering a culture of continuous collaboration and improvement. The CDO mandate is therefore more about people and stakeholder alignment than about data analytics and AI governance.
Addressing some key questions can drive value from cross-functional alignment, including:
- Are design and engineering teams optimizing products for customer needs and regulatory standards?
- How effectively are production teams implementing efficient manufacturing strategies?
- Are procurement teams securing cost-effective and sustainable supplier partnerships?
- Is the sales strategy aligned with product capabilities and customer feedback?
- How efficiently are we responding to market changes based on real-time data?
The CDO role goes beyond data integration and technical alignment, fostering a culture where data serves as the foundation for innovation and responsiveness in product development. With well-managed and accessible data, innovation flourishes, enabling organizations to meet market demands proactively and competitively.
The CDO bridge the engineering-IT divide
The CDO role in bridging engineering and IT is central to achieving seamless collaboration across all stages of product development and manufacturing. Engineering and manufacturing teams often rely on specialized tools and platforms for design, simulation and testing, which may not always be compatible with traditional IT infrastructure. This disconnection can isolate engineering efforts from broader strategic objectives, slowing down innovation and creating operational silos. Here, the CDO brings a strategic approach to data integration, aligning specialized engineering tools with enterprise systems and ensuring that engineering efforts contribute directly to overarching business goals.
By establishing data pathways between engineering and IT, the CDO makes real-time insights available across departments, enhancing collaboration and ensuring engineering data supports PLM and ERP solutions. This integration goes beyond technical alignment. It fosters a shared understanding and sense of purpose across functions, allowing engineering teams to innovate with a clear view of how their efforts impact end-to-end product strategy. When engineers can seamlessly access critical information and align their objectives with broader business needs, the organization can drive faster time-to-market, improve product quality and make more informed decisions at every stage of the product lifecycle.
A 2023 survey published by the Harvard Business School reported that “The CDO role is poorly understood and incumbents of the job have often met with diffuse expectations and short tenures. There is a clear need for CDOs to focus on adding visible value to their organizations.” Furthermore, the authors, Davenport et al., highlighted that “Of the CDOs surveyed, 41% said they define success by achieving business objectives —significantly more than those who measured success in terms of change management or culture shift (19%), technical accomplishments (5%), prevention of serious data problems (2%), or an equal combination of these factors (32%).”
As the CDO aligns data strategies to break down engineering silos, they create a connected ecosystem where engineering insights actively inform operations, design and customer needs. By prioritizing and advocating for the distinct data needs of engineering, the CDO elevates this function from an isolated operation to a core, strategic component of the organization. This alignment allows the business to respond more rapidly to customer demands, ensuring that innovation efforts stay on track and deliver tangible value across departments.
Leveraging technology adoption to create value
While CIOs are often tasked with “sweating the assets” and managing technical debt, the CDO can advocate for engineering’s unique data requirements, highlighting their role in broader strategic goals. An effective CDO can reshape the traditional IT role, transforming it from a cost center focused on operational maintenance into a proactive, strategic partner in product innovation and manufacturing excellence. By aligning IT functions with product development and manufacturing priorities, the CDO facilitates a shift from reactive data management to data-driven growth and continuous innovation.
The CDO fosters digital transformation by building a data governance framework that prioritizes data quality, accessibility and security—empowering IT to act as an enabler of data-driven insights rather than just a gatekeeper of digital resources. Through advanced analytics, machine learning and cloud-based solutions, the CDO enables IT to leverage data assets for predictive maintenance, supply chain efficiency and agile product design. As a result, IT contributes actively to achieving the organization’s strategic goals, moving beyond maintenance to deliver predictive insights that inform every stage of the product lifecycle.
Collaboration between the CDO and CIO is also critical in identifying and prioritizing technology investments that drive the highest business impact. This synergy ensures that while the CDO focuses on strategic, data-driven growth, the CIO maintains a stable and secure IT foundation—balancing innovation with operational resilience. By harmonizing their objectives, the CDO and CIO can allocate IT resources more effectively, emphasizing data initiatives that deliver substantial returns while safeguarding the organization’s core infrastructure.
In times where agility and innovation determine market leadership, the CDO stands as a visionary force, aligning data, technology and people to redefine business potential. By embedding data-driven strategies at every level, the CDO not only bridges operational silos but also empowers organizations to drive sustainable growth, anticipate change and maintain a competitive edge. In the digital age, the CDO leadership is not just valuable—it is essential for turning data into the organization’s most powerful asset.
