Creating a digital advisory board: 10 rules for success in the social, mobile, cloud and big data age.

• Author: Libert, Barry
• Position: COVER STORY

WIITH MORE THAN 2 BILLION CUSTOMERS connected to social networks, 5 billion people carrying mobile phones, and 2.5 quintillion new pieces of data generated every day, it is clear that being digital is critical for corporate success. Where once industrial companies ruled the list of most treasured companies, today software, big data, and social and mobile network companies like salesforce.com, Google, Workday and Apple are titans of brand identity, customer loyalty, and shareholder returns. Further, with digital companies reigning supreme over Wall Street as the place to go to start your career, the best and brightest of our youth are also lending their human capital to this trend. But if this data is not enough to sway you, then take a look at the Chinese market.

More specifically, China's e-commerce market overtook the U.S. in 2013 as the world's largest online retail market. According to management consulting firm Bain & Company, online sales in China are expected to reach $540 billion by 2015, compared with roughly $345 billion in the U.S. Further, e-commerce sales using mobile and social technologies in China have increased more than 70% annually since 2009, compared with 13% in the U.S. As Duncan Clark, chairman of BDA China, says, "If you're going to be in China, [digital] is going to be the first thing you consider, and if you're already there, you're scrambling to adapt."

So whether your firm is local or global, it's time to acknowledge the hard truth: digital rules the customer, employee, and shareholder roosts! And that means that if you don't have at least one digital corporate director on your board, you need him or her now. But that subject--recruiting digital corporate directors--has already been covered by this publication in an earlier issue (First Quarter 2013). As such, this article addresses the importance of creating a digital advisory board to bolster your organization and the competencies of your board in this critical arena.

Getting started

The question is how to get started and where to look to build this new advisory board. Here are 10 rules to follow.

Rule 1: Understand the importance of a digital advisory board. A digital advisory board, as distinct from your company's board of directors, should be created to offer advice to your management team and board on a regular and recurring basis given the importance of today's technologies. It is important not to confuse your digital advisory board members with your...