Why do we even need data roles? (via Passle)

This article and the associated survey makes for interesting reading. Senior execs are saying they are seeing a good ROI on their AI & data led projects. I find this hard to believe, as every organisation I meet and speak with, they know they are only really scratching the surface. There is a lot of headline grabbing going on, to be "seen" to be doing something, to "prove" to their clients that, "hey, look at us we are down with it, we know what we are doing" Then, as this article cites, this industry is creating a new type of role, but are the lines blurred between the CDO, CIO, CTO and so on. Do you actually need a Data role to head each department, HR, IT, Finance, Marketing & Sales?