2022 EMEA CDAO Community Highlights

During the past year, CDAOs within the European region came together at Evanta gatherings – both virtual and in person – to discuss a variety of issues, ranging from data governance, talent and data literacy training. In 2022, CDAOs from Evanta’s European communities attended an Executive Summit, three Inner Circle Dinners and seven virtual gatherings to exchange ideas and make new peer connections. Here, a few CDAO community members shared their experiences:

Great event, with lots of time to connect with peers. Thanks very much!”

– James Hodkinson
Global Head of Data and Analytics, Dyson

Excellent, thought-provoking event, and great to connect with peers.”

– Nick Beresford
Head of Data & Analytics, Heathrow Airport Ltd.

Excellent sessions. The day was a real credit to the organising team.”

– Jules Elliott
Vice President, Science & Analytics, Gfk

CDAO Top Priorities

Results gathered from our annual Leadership Perspective Survey shaped the agendas and influenced key discussion topics throughout our sessions in 2022. Our CDAO community members' top priorities were:

• Data Governance
• Data-Driven Culture
• Data Sharing, Availability & Democratization
• Skills & Literacy Training
• Business Alignment – Operating and Delivery Models

Highly-Rated Presentations

Over the course of the year, CDAOs from Evanta’s European communities came together for an Executive Summit, and here are some of the most popular sessions:

Keynote: Data Transformation is not a one-off Project
In this session, Priya Lakhani, OBE, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Century Tech shared her takeaways on how organisations can achieve effective digital transformation across the board. Approaching digital transformation as a continuous process, Priya outlined detailed steps to incorporate change management and create a culture which embraces data.

Keynote: Building a Data Ecosystem to Drive Transformational Change ꟷ an ASDA Case Study
In this session, James Morgan, Senior Director, Data Management & Information Strategy, ASDA outlined his team’s herculean efforts to scale data systems at pace – the largest data project of its kind in Europe – to deliver business critical decisions. James discussed how organisations can identify data migration, maintenance and creation priorities to translate into business outcomes for senior stakeholders.

Boardroom: Pivoting to Data Ownership Culture With Data Mesh
In this session, Andy Mott, Lead Solution Architect - Data Mesh, Starburst and Sanjeevan Bala, Group Chief Data & AI Officer, ITV discussed how organisations can enable data mesh by undergoing a culture shift in data ownership, linking data to the wider business strategy. Andy and Sanjeevan discussed strategies to embed a data-driven culture, rethinking the role of central data teams and measuring the impact of data products against corporate objectives.

Breakout Session: Architectural Shifts to Enable Data Transformation
In this session, Paul Lodge, Chief Data Officer, Department for Work & Pensions outlined the journey towards a citizen-centric data model, with lessons learned along the way. Paul discussed how as mature organisations accelerate their digital transformation, they must leverage technology to make decisions powered by data analytics while also reducing cost and complexity in data architecture.
 

Highly-Rated Town Hall and Boardroom Gatherings

Evanta also hosted a number of virtual gatherings for our European CDAO communities. Here are a handful of the most popular sessions:

DACH CDAO Virtual Town Hall: ESG Transparency and Engaging Key Stakeholders
In this session, Steffen Lange, Group & Data Analytics Officer, Sulzer; Michael Zimmer, CDAO Zurich Group Germany, Zurich Insurance and Kai Diener, Global Head of Data & Analytics, Straumann Holding discussed how companies' ESG data proficiency could become a key differentiator in attracting new talent and engaging new investors and consumers. Steffan, Michael and Kai explored the CDAO’s role in maintaining effective ESG data and the associated obstacles. 

DACH CDAO Virtual Boardroom: Adopting a Data-Centric Approach to Simplify Data Management
In this session, Stefan Brock, Industry Partner and Strategist, Hewlett Packard Enterprise; Irina Koitz, Director of Data Strategy, Siemens AG and Fabian Winter, Chief Data Officer, Munich Re outlined how data leaders can collaborate with their IT functions to install a data-centric approach into their IT strategy to better serve the business. Stefan, Irina and Fabian discussed the benefits of a data-centric approach, such as improving the capability to monetise data.
 

Most Popular Content

Outside of Evanta gatherings, CDAO community members can stay on top trends with access to content that highlights C-level peers and mission critical priorities. Here is a look at the top content from 2022:

• Governing Body Spotlight: Di Mayze, Global Head of Data & AI, WPP In this Q&A series, we highlight Evanta governing body members who drive our “by CDAO, for CDAO” communities. This spotlight features Di Mayze, a Co-Chair for the UK & Ireland CDAO community.
• How Data Mesh Can Unlock Value Through Hyperconnectivity In this Town Hall Insights article, CDAOs in the UK & Ireland CDAO community explored what data mesh entails beyond conceptualisation.
• 2022 CDAO Leadership Perspectives This infographic highlighted what 150 CDAOs said were their most important priorities in 2022.
• Top 3 Goals & Challenges for CDAOs in 2022 Here, we take a closer look at CDAOs’ top goals and challenges for 2022, based on Leadership Perspective Survey data from 350 CDAOs in Evanta communities.
• [PODCAST] How Can Organizations Empower, Transform and Liberate with Data? Executive Vice President and Chief Data Officer, Moin Haque of Warner Music Group joined The Next Big Question podcast to talk about how organizations can be empowered through data.
• [PODCAST] What Role Does the C-Suite Have in Sustainability? Executive Director and Digital CIO Eddy Wagoner of JLL joined the podcast to talk about how C-level leaders can address sustainability and other global concerns. 

What’s in Store for 2023?

So, what does 2023 have in store for executives in our European CDAO communities? We are gathering new insights from our Leadership Perspective Surveys to curate content for our upcoming agendas, and we have already confirmed several dates for 2023:

UK & Ireland CDAO Executive Summit – 20 June 2023

UK & Ireland CDAO Inner Circle – 27 September 2023

More gatherings will be announced soon, so be sure to join your local CDAO community to never miss an opportunity to connect with like-minded peers on mission critical topics!