A recent infographic from Semarchy shows why companies are hiring a Chief Data Office (CDO) to manage and protect massive amounts of data. The role of a CDO is relatively new, but it’s becoming more and more of a necessity for today’s enterprises as businesses are using data like never before.

According to Semarchy, the number of companies hiring a CDO has more than quadrupled since 2012. The need for a CDO comes from an increased focus on data management. As noted in the graphic, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created a day.

A CDO is responsible for the strategy, maintenance, policy and stewardship of all organization data for the purpose of creating value. In other words, CDOs determine opportunities with data analytics, maximize data value, increase operational efficiency. Here’s why the CDO is increasingly becoming the new seat in the C-Suite: