It was during a conversation with an IBM Corp. executive at last week’s Information on Demand conference that I learnt of a role called the chief performance officer. It’s a role not often seen and when it is, usually exists in large organizations, I was told by Peter Griffiths, the company’s vice-president of worldwide research and development for business intelligence and performance management.
The chief performance officer, which typically reports to the executive team and is tasked with managing corporate performance, may not be a common role today but is certainly catching on given large organizations’ growing focus on business analytics, according to Griffiths.
The next day, I spoke with Richard Livesley, Bank of Montreal’s head of information governance and quality, about data governance and decided to ask his thoughts on this chief performance officer position. He responded that the job description is far more common than the job title itself. The reason is while there aren’t many employees called chief performance officers, there are many who hold that responsibility. He added there are similar discussions around chief data officers as well.
But managing corporate performance, said Livesley, is usually embedded – and should be if it’s to work best – in existing processes like Basel as an example for the financial services sector. That’s one reason why the title is not often heard, but it’s also because “you don’t want to have to hit people on the head with it.”
Will roles like chief performance officer and chief data officer remain organization-specific, or, as business analytics continue to take greater focus, emerge from its camouflage and assert the presence it’s always had in the organization?
Indeed, the existence of a records management analysis manager (a role I encountered with Microsoft Corp. about a year ago) is clearly driven by the strong emphasis on regulatory compliance and the need to ensure the company can identify and supply the documents required in the event of e-discovery.
But, are there obvious drivers today for a chief performance officer or chief data officer? Organizations that have already named a chief performance officer in their ranks may be well ahead of the game. Perhaps they’ve recognized data governance, business intelligence and corporate performance management as a distinct function, and not a side project. Moreover, shining the spotlight on a role that exists, but is little known, is a great way to raise awareness throughout the rest of the organization of its importance to the business.
