The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of data and chief data officers (CDOs) in progressive companies. Data has incredible potential to enable organizations to deliver better performance, financial results, and user experiences. The use of contact tracing technology, which involves accessing mobile phone records to identify people who were in the vicinity of an infected person, poses obvious privacy concerns. However, this technology also has the power to help prevent the spread of the virus by identifying clusters of infections and predicting where the spread is going to happen next. To harness data correctly, companies need a data strategy and a champion, such as a CDO, who can drive data-driven insights and optimize experiences. This requires vast and essentially bottomless storage and infinite compute power, which cloud technology provides. The global pandemic has made it essential for businesses and institutions to keep a pulse on their data and understand not just how many cases there are but also how people are moving around.