Resident expertise: digital directors at the board table: a look at the boards of commercially-focused companies shows how they are embracing the win-win of recruiting members with digital expertise.

• Author: Gottenberg, Norbert
• Position: BOARD COMPOSITION

A commercial company's long-term viability could be threatened if there isn't any digital expertise resident at the board table.

With volumes of real-time information available, on a global scale, board members must know what it takes to capture, digest and analyze all that information in order to make fully-informed and timely strategic decisions. In addition, there are current areas, such as cybersecurity, which need to be understood and dealt with at the board level, if one of the company's most important assets, namely its information, is to be protected.

With so much at stake, there should be at least one board member with the requisite 'digital expertise' to guide the other board members so that strategic decision making is optimized and potential threats are minimized.

Loss of standing

With the advent of Big Data, international communication networks, and analytical software, all operating in a real-time environment, there has been a radical change, occurring at lightning speed, in how market information is being gathered and analyzed. Competitive forces will continue to accelerate this process, and those companies that do not recognize and adapt to what is happening will face immeasurable consequences and, in the long term, could lose their standing in whatever commercial arena they operate in.

In 2013 Directors & Boards published my article titled "Digital Directors Can Be the Deciding Factor." That article covered the need for digital and social media expertise at consumer-focused companies, since two-thirds of GDP is driven by consumer spending. As a follow-on, this article covers the remaining third of companies associated with GDP, specifically, commercially-focused companies.

While the common need for both types of companies is digital expertise, there is, perhaps for now, less emphasis for social media expertise at the board table.

Recruiting a board member with digital expertise should be viewed as a win-win situation. Of course the board would have resident expertise at the table, but equally important, the new board member would have an opportunity to:

* Guide and mentor fellow board members regarding current and anticipated technology trends and how those trends will impact the company.

* Have an a priori platform to see what digital technology works and what doesn't and integrating relevant digital technologies to provide the company with some uniqueness in order to gain a competitive advantage.

* Serve as a change agent...