Digital advisory boards are a win-win for all.

• Author: Stautberg, Susan

As cyber security, cloud computing, e-commerce, and digital/social media are rapidly developing, businesses around the world are under increasing competitive pressure to undergo a digital transformation. Corporate directors and senior executives often do not want to allocate a valuable board seatto a digital/IT expert, who is often in his or her 20s or 30s and without financial, management, or regulatory expertise. Instead, they are creating technology, or digital, advisory boards.

Advisory boards, or advisory councils, provide the knowledge of young technology executives without the financial or legal responsibilities necessary to be a board member. The rising stars of the digital and social media worlds often prefer the occasional strategy sessions of these councils to the scheduled time demands of corporate boards. Formal board service also often requires extensive pre-reading preparation and time spent at board and committee meetings--none of which are of interest to digital advisory board members of this cohort.

Who is creating them--and why? AmEx/ OPEN, Medtronic Diabetes, Unilever, IBM, and Clubcorp, among others, are creating these new advisory boards to:

* Help anticipate digital trends that will be shaping the expectations of customers and demands of suppliers.

* Address structural issues, such as whether social media should be a separate discussion or integrated throughout the corporation.

* Provide dialogue on social media, big data, or mobile technology initiatives.

* Provide input on the ways to drive new customer revenue online.

* Develop digital and social media guidelines for executives and employees.

Who is joining? Digital advisory boards tend to be comprised of 5-8 members from a variety of ages. The younger ones may work at Facebook, Google, Huffington Post, or successful startups. Older members are often senior executives at companies that are implementing digital strategies for themselves (e.g., Disney, a Big 4 accounting firm, Verifone) or directors of companies that are using social media in an effective way (e.g., Bebe, Hot Topic).

Successfully creating and managing an advisory board requires planning and developing a skills matrix based on the company's strategic goals and challenges. What are the gaps in knowledge that this advisory board candidate can address? How has this person driven strategy in their own company similar to what we want to achieve in ours? Where can this person bring the board and the top...