Spencer Stuart: Digital Expertise in the Boardroom

Spencer Stuart finds that boards have an important role to play in ensuring the organization is examining the opportunities and risks associated with the digital landscape. As a result of digital becoming a business imperative, the demand for a digital director has accelerated.

Although the digital director is important, it is not sufficient to appoint a director with digital expertise. Boards may often consider hiring two directors with digital expertise to compound their influence on the digital agenda. It is necessary to understand what digital means for the business because the digital transformation is a complex undertaking, requiring a collective effort at both the board and executive level.

In the boardroom, executives with the appropriate digital expertise can demystify digital, help management and clarify the digital forces impacting the business and provide insight into the ways customer behavior is changing and other important trends — all of which can advance the broader board’s understanding of the issues at play for the business. As a result, the executive team can spend less time educating the board and more time in strategic discussions.

This article is part of Spencer Stuart’s Point of View 2014.

The full article is published on Spencer Stuart’s website. Read the full article.