Few directors are experts in how to design a strategy for a rapidly evolving world where digital innovation can radically transform the way companies create value for customers.

To help directors who want to build a ‘no regrets’ strategy and to give some clarity to the context and impact of decisions boards are making about their digital futures, we have put together this list of questions and ideas to consider.

The questions below provide comprehensive coverage across:

  • Defining ‘digital’ and ‘disruption’
  • Understanding evolving customer expectations
  • Reviewing and responding to regulatory and legislative change
  • Encouraging capability development
  • Resourcing and developing talent
  • Assessing ‘Where are we now’
  • Questions to unlock insights
  • Choosing an initial direction
  • Building commitment to implementation

The questions are designed to start you thinking about issues that you may encounter. Your answers are not necessarily good or bad; they should reflect the current and desired state of your understanding of the board and its role in your company.

Trust yourself to recognise the most important questions to help you maximise digital progress with your board and directors.

  • At the end of the checklist, we have listed some references that you may wish to investigate for additional reading on the topic. We have also included some suggestions for putting into action the ideas that result from considering the checklist.

Defining ‘digital’ and ‘disruption’

1. What does ‘digital’ mean for your industry and sector? What are your competitors doing with digital technology?
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2. What has changed recently that has created new strategic opportunities for your organisation? Has technology enabled or instigated that change?
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3. What has changed recently that has impacted your organisation’s original strategy? Has technology enabled or exacerbated that change?
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Understanding evolving customer needs

4. What is driving your company to seek new ways to deliver value to customers?
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5. Do you need to reduce costs, increase markets, gain market share, keep pace with customer demands, or something else?
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6. What are your customers asking you to do? What would they like you to do but haven’t yet thought to ask (or are possibly not asking because someone else is proactively offering)?
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7. How does the board stay attuned to customer needs?
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8. How does the board ensure that management is aware of customer needs?
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Reviewing and responding to regulatory and legislative change

9. How does your board keep abreast of the changes to regulatory and legislative requirements, especially with regard to data and privacy?
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10. Do you have a dedicated staff member whose job it is to keep up with developments and likely developments, especially with regard to data and privacy?
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11. What companies similar to yours are in the news about digital or cyber issues? What are the likely outcomes for those companies?
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12. Can you move to implement systems or technology platforms that will help you to avoid their pain and comply with any new standards that are introduced as a result of what happened to your competitors?
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13. Do any directors have insights, skills or contacts with regulators involved in digital change?
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14. Do you have access to consultants (including your audit firm) who can help your board to recognise and respond to coming changes?
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Encouraging capability development

15. What do you need to learn to help you contribute to your board on developing digital strategy? What can you do alone and what do you need company support to do?
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16. What does your board and senior executive team need to learn? What do you expect them to do alone and what will the company provide to help them learn? Have you discussed this with them?
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17. What is the most effective way to gain the required knowledge?
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Consider: External expert presentations, joint board / staff workshops, attendance at conferences or training courses, visits to companies that are using technology you might use, an external technology review.

Resourcing and developing talent

18. Do your management team have better, similar, or lower technology skills than are required by your strategic plan?
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19. How much of the company’s training budget is dedicated to learning new digital and technological skills? Does that seem adequate, too much, or too little?
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20. How much training budget is dedicated to the soft skills that will enable your people to extract full value for digitally enhanced ways of working?
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21. What is the culture around learning in your company? Will staff who request training or support be treated with empathy or derision?
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22. How does your board compete for technology talent in an increasingly competitive market?
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23. What do your staff want to do differently or in addition to what they have done before?
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Assessing ‘where are we now’

24. What technology or platforms is the organisation currently using? How much of that is ‘off the shelf’ and how much is proprietary or bespoke?
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25. Is any of your technology nearing obsolescence? Do you have a plan to keep technology up to date and is the plan supported by realistic budgets?
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26. What critical assets or processes rely on your technology working correctly? What alternatives do you have if the technology should fail? Is there built in resilience and redundancy?
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27. What strategically critical data does your company use? Do you own the data, develop the data, or pay to access the data?
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28. Who has access to the data? How loyal are they? How well trained are they in matters such as cyber-security, information management, privacy and data protection regulations, and technology?
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29. What platforms is your data housed on? Do you own the platform or rent access to a third party’s platform? Where is the platform? What laws and regulations apply in the location where the data resides? Who else has access to the platform? Is there a service level agreement that provides for enhanced platform security in line with technology developments?
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30. How is data used within your company? How do staff transport the data to the points where it is used? Are there any insecure processes?
 
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Questions to unlock insights

31. What digital tools have the company’s competitors started to use?
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32. What digital tools are the company’s customers and suppliers using?
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33. What value could the company create by using these, or similar tools? What would it cost to develop or implement? What risks would be exacerbated or reduced by these tools?
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34. What are new start-ups and scale up companies doing? Have any ‘non-traditional’ companies entered the sector? How do they use technology to compete?
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35. What tools could make administration easier to implement or monitor? What tools would enhance service or product delivery?
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36. What does an ‘innovation mindset’ mean to the board and executive team?
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Building commitment in implementation

37. Who is accountable for implementing [each of] the digital strategies? How will the board monitor implementation performance and accountability?
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38. Who is responsible for delivering the digital strategies? Do they have appropriate authority, resources and skills?
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39. Who needs to be kept informed or consulted about digital implementation? What is the process for this?
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40. How does the company incentivise staff to deliver its digital strategies? What factors incentivise staff to resist change and can incentives outweigh those factors?
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Taking action

Read the questions and note which ones you can confidently answer. Make a record of any actions that you wish to take to help answer any questions that you were not confident about.

There are no right or wrong answers to these questions. All companies need to embrace change or risk obsolescence; digital change is really no different to any of the other changes that your company and board have successfully faced in the past. Seeing past the risks to the opportunities and ensuring that your people are supported through the changes is the hallmark of a successful board.

Additional reading and reference sources

Dilemmas, Dilemmas, Practical Case Studies for Company Directors, J Garland McLellan, Great Governance Press, 2016

Digital Transformation: Survive and Thrive in an Era of Mass Extinction, Thomas M. Siebel, Rosetta Books, 2019

Digital Transformation: Build Your Organization's Future for the Innovation Age Kindle Edition, Lindsay Herbert, Bloomsberry Business, 2017

Governing Digital Transformation: Guidance for Corporate Board Members, Steven De Haes, Springer, 2019

Thinking of... Digital Transformation from the Director's Perspective? Ask the Smart Questions, Stephen JK Parker (Author), David Cleminson, Smart Questions, 2020