IT spending is a major part of corporate budgets and continues to increase. Savvy technology leaders can contribute by helping boards oversee complex digital transformations and corresponding technology and process integrations. Digital transformations can require a ruthless focus on organizational agility, data analytics, rapid prototyping, and customer needs across all aspects of the business. Digital is more than a set of technologies-it is a new way of operating. A technologist can be well-positioned to explain the promise, hype, and threat of such technologies to the board to help it make better business and strategy decisions.Ĭomplex digital transformations. For example, free online courses, telemedicine, and robo-advisors can pose the risk of disruption to their respective industries, but can also offer opportunities for growth. Virtually every industry is on the verge of technology disruption. Technology can rapidly obsolesce businesses-or entire industries-even as it creates opportunities.

Technologists can help boards understand and anticipate such business disruptions and guide risk mitigation discussions beyond cybersecurity. The rapidly changing business environment and competitive landscape leave little room for error or delay-a missed IT deadline or failed project implementation can negatively impact the business. Security threats remain a top focus of corporate boards, but technology-related risks can extend far beyond cybersecurity to data protection and privacy, business resilience, and intellectual property protection. Even as technology delivers value, it can create vulnerabilities. Business-savvy technologists can help directors better oversee technology issues such as risks beyond cybersecurity, opportunities and disruptions, complex digital transformations, and technology spending. Adding a technologist to the board roster can bring both new skill sets and fresh thinking to the boardroom. The data indicate that many boards provide IT oversight and guidance without sufficient technology knowledge. Although having a technology-focused director may not be the sole reason for performance success, many high-performing companies appear to recognize the potential advantage of having technology expertise in the boardroom (figure 1). However, this figure almost doubles (32 percent) for high performers-companies that outperformed the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (S&P 500) by 10 percent or more for the past three years. The percentage of public companies that have appointed technology-focused board members has grown over the last six years from 10 percent to 17 percent. Our analysis finds that the number of technology-focused directors-those with meaningful technology experience-on public company boards is low, and that many executive boards are only beginning to add technology expertise. The case for technology-focused directors (See appendix for research methodology.) It outlines steps that directors and CIOs can take individually and collectively to bridge the boardroom’s technology gap. 1īased on a comprehensive analysis of data on public companies and a series of phone interviews, this report contends that technology expertise has become a key criterion for corporate board appointment, one that likely cannot be ignored. In 2016, more than 85 percent of new board seats were filled by CEOs, COOs, or presidents (38 percent) those with financial backgrounds (25 percent) or business, division, or other functional leaders (23 percent). Yet even as technology cements its status as a vital linchpin of business strategy and operations, many boards do not have the appropriate technology knowledge to oversee critical technology-driven initiatives, opportunities, and threats. In their quest to enhance long-term business growth, corporate boards of directors juggle a number of responsibilities, including technology oversight.

Enterprise journal carolyn brown