What is a data connector?

data connector (noun)

A person who facilitates collaboration between business operations and data teams, aligning data science with organizational goals.

Efforts to apply data analytics to business operations and decision-making can be stymied by the tension between data scientists, who tend to provoke disruption, and line managers, who want predictability and control. 

These conflicts threaten an organization’s ability to deploy useful data science models, according to Thomas H. Davenport of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy and Thomas C. Redman, president of Data Quality Solutions.

Writing in MIT Sloan Management Review, the pair propose a connector role to bridge gaps between data and business departments. To ensure that these data connectors aren’t simply solving one tactical problem after another, the authors advise organizations to employ a disciplined, three-step approach to establishing this strategic role:

Define the project process and identify the people involved. Recognize that each phase of the project — framing the problem, preparing data, developing the data model, and deploying the model — will require contributions from different parts of the business.

Evaluate where connectors can help. This often involves a mix of framing the problem in data science terms, translating between business and technical teams, ensuring data quality, and tracking progress.

Clarify specific roles for connectors. Placing connectors between the data science program and the rest of the business can help ease tensions and help each group better understand the other's challenges.

The rise of connector roles in data science