As the value of refined data to enterprise SaaS products continues to increase, the role of the managers responsible for gathering, processing, and maintaining mission critical data – “DataOps” managers – has become essential. So, who are these new Data Ops professionals and what do they do?
In the software business DataOps managers are responsible for:
- Acquiring data (licensing, harvesting, performing primary research).
- Refining/processing the data (appending missing fields, normalizing, standardizing, overlaying).
- Designing hybrid automated/human-in-the-loop processes to manage data supply chains.
- Managing API development projects to allow processed data to be ingested by other applications.
DataOps skillsets typically include operations management, IT/AI project management, regulatory compliance (GDPR, CCPA) management, and data science. For this reason, many professionals come from the software publishing and MarTech industries where this combination of skills is common. Senior managers in DataOps pros are now found in all kinds of data-intensive manufacturing and service businesses where they manage data for quality management, regulatory compliance, and competitive intelligence processes.
The rise of the DataOps manager is one of those trends we can expect to see continue. ”Data-driven decision-making” has become a management mantra and it puts pressure on designing efficient supply chains and executing complex projects in a timely and cost-effective fashion. If “data is the new oil,” then the professionals managing data pipelines will only continue to be more and more important to corporate success.
