The emerging role of the Board of Directors in enterprise business technology governance

Abstract

is a doctoral candidate at Queensland University of Technology. She holds an MBA from Henley (UK) and has been a successful chief executive, company director, business consultant and an advisor in the use of technology, to both public and private sector enterprises. Glenn Stewartis a Professor of Information Technology, Information Systems School, Queensland University of Technology. His research interests include IT leadership, cultural infl uences on enterprise systems and global business process management projects, and the relationship between the CIO and the business leadership team. He is currently leading research on enterprise architectures methods supporting business IT investment and governance. ABSTRACT In an increasingly business technology (BT) dependent world, the impact of the extraordinary changes brought about by the nexus of mobile and cloud technologies, social media and big data is increasingly being felt in the board room. As leaders of enterprises of every type and size, board directors can no longer afford to ignore, delegate or avoid BT-related decisions . Competitive, fi nancial and reputational risk is increased if boards fail to recognize their role in governing technology as an asset and in removing barriers to improving enterprise business technology governance (EBTG). Directors ' awareness of the need for EBTG is increasing. However, industry research shows that board level willingness to rectify the gap between awareness and action is very low or non-existent. This literature review-based research identifi es barriers to EBTG effectiveness. It provides a practical starting point for board analysis. We offer four outcomes that boards might focus on to ensure the organizations they govern are not left behind by those led by the upcoming new breed of technology-savvy leaders. Most extant research looks backward for examples, examining datapre-2010, the time when a tipping point in the personal and business use of multimedia and mobile internet devices signifi cantly deepened the impacts of the identifi ed nexus technology forces, and began rapidly changing the way in which many businesses engage with their customers, employees and stakeholders. We situate our work amidst these nexus forces, discuss the board ' s role in EBTG in this context and modernize current defi nitions of enterprise technology governance. The primary limitation faced is the lack of scholarly research relating to EBTG in the rapidly changing digital economy. Although we have used recent (2011 -2013) industry surveys, the volume of these surveys and congruence across them is signifi cant in

Digitalization and Boards of Directors: A New Era of Corporate Governance?

“…This is in line with emerging research which suggests that boards can no longer ignore or avoid major strategic decisions concerning digital technologies (Jewer & Mckay, 2012;Valentine, 2014). Boards involved in these decisions can provide significant value by challenging the main assumptions, checking that investment choices and digital technology priorities will maximize returns and minimize risks, and seizing technological opportunities before they fully materialize (Valentine & Stewart, 2013). Boards that hold a narrow, defensive view to these questions risk "flying blind" (Carter & Lorsch, 2004).…”

“…The threats and opportunities organizations will face are something that boards are becoming increasingly aware of (Ko & Fink, 2010;Valentine & Stewart, 2013), but in practice are relatively little involved in so far (Andriole, 2009). In order to create value for organizations, we contend that boards get involved in the strategic decision process concerning and impacting digital technologies.…”

“…With digitalization becoming a fundamental part of today's business environment requiring rapid responses to the changing strategic context, we argue that boards need to be able to comprehend and anticipate drivers that constitute sources of constant surprises (Valentine & Stewart, 2013). As such, they need to challenge current assumptions of organizations, sense and seize opportunities that the management can implement, but also ratify strategic decisions concerning the reconfiguration of organizations to align them to the external environment.…”

“…For instance, while digitalization is already felt beyond the IT department and integrated into the processes and structures of (almost) all business units, it is acknowledged as a topic of increasing importance in the boardroom (Valentine & Stewart, 2013). Boards need to sense and identify the topics that can potentially impact the sustained competitive advantage of the company and bring them to the agenda.…”

Disruptive Technology and the Board: the Tip of the Iceberg

“…Vasarhelyi (2013) believes the audit ecosystem and many of the operational systems will be either fully or partially automated, making it necessary to formalize the collaboration between humans, AI and other aspects of technological disruption. Th e crossover between the technologies needs to be fully appreciated by the board: not having technol-ogy expertise is no longer an accepted format for any organization (Bravard, 2015;Cunha & Frogeri, 2016;Gottenberg, 2016;Lauterbach & Bonime-Blanc, 2016;Nueno, 2016;Spitsberg, Verti, Brahmandam, & Coulston, 2015;Valentine, 2014;Valentine, Dehaes & Timbrell, 2016;Valentine & Stewart, 2013;Weill & Woerner, 2016). Some companies are seeing the change and taking action at the highest levels.…”