Top 5 Ways Data Roles Will Change in 2023
Professionals in data roles can no longer just limit themselves to being engineers. They also need to gain expertise in consumer requirements and core business operations.
Organizations worldwide are increasingly focused on upskilling and reskilling their workforce to meet the requirements of data-centric business approaches. Businesses must follow more than older styles of business cycles.
With the higher presence of bodies like managed service providers, government and private entities use principles of data analytics to minimize wasted time and resources, reaching new consumer bases and cutting decision-making inefficiencies.
This article discusses some more critical changes in data-based organizational roles this year.
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1. The Role of Chief Data Officers Will Expand
Modern data-driven organizations now understand that data roles should not be limited to only chief data officers and subordinates. It is vital for all employees in an organization to use and manage data as an integral asset needed to run a business effectively.
Earlier, the roles and responsibilities of chief data officers and chief analytics officers were largely distinct. However, with the changing use cases of data, these roles will likely become one. Chief data officers will increasingly have to work on how organizations work with information.
According to a 2023 report by the Harvard Business Review, more than 60% of CDOs today are working on initiatives involving AI and data analytics. They will also have to take up the roles of CAOs in cleaning and categorizing frequently updated data to meet organizational objectives. This approach will become critical in mitigating the issues arising from poor data quality, which is a fairly common problem across industries.
Most businesses acquire information from a large number and variety of data sources. Consequently, CDOs in 2023 will also have to take on the emerging role of data product owners. Under this role, professionals must manage company data resources with associated entities such as company employees, customers, vendors, etc. This will be only one of the many changes to the role of CDOs in the years ahead.
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2. Data Engineers Will Become Vital to Data Management
Data engineers are primarily responsible for storing and transferring information and working on uncategorized data to prepare it for users, including data scientists, app and software developers, etc.
Software engineers are a part of many decision points. These professionals must start considering themselves as part of data-based businesses rather than just engineering employees in a company. Data engineers have to go beyond toolchains and data feed optimization.
Data engineering is essential, especially for businesses opting for data mesh approaches, as data is considered an asset that requires dedicated management efforts for the duration of its use.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of data engineer jobs is expected to grow by 9% through this decade. Through 2023, data engineering roles will likely collaborate with AI and data science teams, as their interactions with databases are not as well-defined anymore.
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3. Regulation and Data Culture Challenges Will Remain Prevalent
Organizational data strategies must pay particular attention to comply with regulations. Collaborative efforts toward data-related legislation will become critical through 2023 and beyond.
Regulation strategies are more likely to be efficient when carried out in an organization-wide approach rather than a separate regulatory strategy for each department in the organization that handles data assets.
The future of data science-related roles will be driven by organizations highly skilled at changing data to actionable insights, generating feedback loops for decision-makers to create data-driven business operations. This is only possible with a digitally proficient professional workforce to compensate for the continuing shortage of people in these roles.
Furthermore, businesses in 2023 need to adapt to culture building appropriate for extracting maximum value from data assets. Companies worldwide need help with an organizational culture uncomfortable with efficient data handling. Consequently, new organizational strategies should now include data governance programs with a dedicated authority to manage data assets.
For conventional IT infrastructure, the efficient use of real-time data proves to be challenging as accessing and processing databases relative to archived and current operations data is difficult. Updates, including deep learning and machine learning, hybrid analytics and in-memory computing solutions, can notably improve simplicity and reduce data storage, processing, and transfer costs.
4. Data-Driven Approaches Will Support Autonomous Finance Operations
Chief financial officers across industries are pushing for autonomous finance strategies in the coming decade, which will require significant team restructuring. While conventionally trained professionals have expertise in traditional finance operations, new teams must also be well-versed in AI algorithms, bots, and machine learning processes.
According to a 2023 Gartner report, more than 40% of all finance-related roles will go through notable changes in the next three years due to cutting-edge technology availability. Autonomous financial data structures will provide organizations with integrated, insight-rich data on demand. These structures will be highly scalable and agile, and all processes will be AI-enabled and digital in their default state.
Data roles in financial services will require high expertise in AI and partnership and data handling skills. These factors will likely result in slower hiring rates but higher pay expectations.
CFOs in 2023 will likely start adding leadership roles to their teams, including IT, decision support, and address analytics, with significant overlap of responsibilities from chief data officers, chief information officers, and chief operating officers.
5. Unified Departmental Decision Making Will Drive Data Strategy Overhaul
Data strategies globally will go through significant changes in 2023. Organizations will increasingly seek unified operations and decision-making between departments about how data will be used.
Companies are expected to create formal strategies to derive greater value from real-time analytics and optimize business operations while complying with prevalent regulations relevant to the enterprise.
The overall organizational strategy must align with data management strategies, with dedicated resources allocated to data governance. Such updates will prove profitable for businesses throughout 2023 and beyond.
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