Alternatives to the Chief Data Officer - A Sales and Prospecting Approach for Data Management Consultants

• Hypothesis
• The emergent industry perspective is that, given the increasing realization by C-level executives that data should be treated as a business asset, Chief Data Officer (CDO) roles are being formalized and created
• Vendors working in the data management space are eager to engage with CDO's at these organizations as key decision makers for the sales process
• Is there an alternative path to a key decision maker that may be more relevant and hold greater sway than the CDO?
• I would submit that Chief Risk Officers and the General Counsel may be equally valid if not more viable key decision makers for vendors undergoing the sales process
• This hypothesis is based on the combination of 
• Business need
• New and existing regulation
• Dodd-Frank
• Basel II/III
• European regulatory reporting (COREP)
• Funding
• Firms have allocated capital towards complying with these regulations
• Well-defined domain/scope
• Scope of compliance is relatively well-formed vs. a typical reference data/master data management effort
• Approach
• Data Management Consulting Vendors should...
• Align service offerings to key regulatory imperatives
• Clearly define scope and outcomes of service offerings based on analysis of regulation
• Take note of timing requirements and factor them into proposed initiatives
• For further research
• Apply sales themes based on likely impacted industries and companies
• Regulatory compliance and risk mitigation
• Financial Services
• Cost reduction & efficiency
• Manufacturing
• Retail
• Profit generation
• Social media?