The rise of the chief data and analytics officer
Alteryx has announced that Alan Jacobson, former director of global analytics at Ford Motor Company and longtime Alteryx user, has joined the company as chief data and analytics officer (CDAO).
As CDAO, Jacobson will lead the company’s data initiatives and help customers around the globe implement and execute successful digital transformation strategies.
CDOs, once focused on making data assets usable for the business, are now proving to be the linchpins of digital business transformation — manifesting in varying titles, including CDO, CDAO and transformation officer.
As the lifetime of companies continues to shrink, CDOs (in all their forms) are increasingly charged with maintaining competitive advantage and owning digital transformation as a critical business imperative.
As data science is democratised, digital business transformation initiatives are accelerating across every geography, industry and domain — and data is the key.
Driving successful digital transformation requires the right technology, people and culture in place. Jacobson understands these principles and joins Alteryx in this role to help its customers expand their use of analytics and deepen their investments in digital transformation strategies.
“As an analytics company, we recognise both the immense opportunity and the immense challenge in driving digital transformation. Bringing Alan on board is indicative of our investment in creating a best-in-class team so we can serve our customers in their own digital transformation journeys,” said Dean Stoecker, co-founder and CEO of Alteryx.
“As an Alteryx evangelist at Ford, Alan witnessed first-hand the impact a culture of analytics can have on the bottom line and what it takes to succeed as a data-driven enterprise. He brings invaluable experience that I am confident our global customer and partner base will benefit from.”
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Extensive experience
Prior to joining Alteryx, Jacobson held a variety of leadership roles at Ford Motor Company across engineering, marketing, sales and new business development; most recently leading a team of data scientists to drive digital transformation across the enterprise.
As an Alteryx customer at Ford, Alan spent many years leveraging the Alteryx Platform across the company, delivering analytics to the manufacturing plant floor, optimising shipping and logistics, driving HR business intelligence and launching new forecasting tools within the finance organisation.
“Organisations can no longer rely on a select number of data scientists to uncover the insights that drive imperative business decisions. Now, with tens of millions of data workers around the world and an endless supply of data, the role of the CDO is becoming a necessity for organisations looking to stay competitive and develop a true data-driven culture,” said Jacobson. “After more than two decades at Ford, I am ecstatic to join the Alteryx family and spread the knowledge, both internally and externally, from my many years deploying the platform across a global organisation.”
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