Board Level Challenges and Rewards

Some of the challenges:

The IT activity is the one major business area where directors do not have a meaningful instinct or 'feel' for the longer term business consequences of their decisions or, perhaps more importantly, for the underlying risks associated with major IT developments. This inadequate awareness at board level is an impediment to maximising the benefits and minimising the many risks inherent within today's massive IT systems projects.

In my long experience, many CEO's would already consider themselves to be as deeply involved in their IT exploitation as the situation demands. Indeed, it is true that in many cases they already spend considerable quality time on this subject, even though many would admit that they have deep concerns about whether this time is wisely spent. Devoting even more time to this subject would clearly be a major challenge for many.

In the past it was natural for a hard pressed CEO to delegate matters that required investment in a steep learning curve. However, whilst that view was understandable and justifiable when IT was just emerging as a critical business transformational force, no self-respecting CEO today could justify not raising their personal awareness of at least the critical success issues in relation to IT stimulated business change.

This lack of awareness of important critical success issues by many directors has been a major hindrance to well informed board level direction of this activity, as is some directors' deep personal reluctance to deal with this inadequacy. This reluctance to become involved, at more than a superficial level, results in a failure by many directors to provide leadership that is sufficiently sensitive to IT risks and constraints as well as business pressures. Repeated NAO reports over the years would certainly point to that conclusion in the Public Service context.

In highly decentralised businesses, the 'business barons' traditionally devolved business accountability, and the power structure that has grown up around them, can be severely challenged in the e-business scenario. Some find it difficult to come to terms with this challenge to their established driving forces and operational independence.

Whilst these board level challenges are entirely understandable, the issues involved need to be dealt with in a timely manner, however difficult and uncomfortable, in order to ensure that they do not jeopardise increasingly critical business objectives. Dealing with this inevitably calls for radical changes in the way in which IT exploitation is organised and managed at the top of the business - a business change challenge that cannot be left to the CIO alone to resolve.

And some of the rewards:

The proposals in my book The Drowning Director are not about making significantly more time available for this subject. They are however about using senior peoples' time more effectively, making the management process more efficient, and clarifying accountability more clearly. This results in a decision making process that takes account of IT constraints and business opportunities and risks in equal measure, thereby avoiding many of today's poorly informed business or political gambles with ultimate success.

Such change results in substantial bottom-line business benefits that flow from adopting this way forward. These derive largely from the resultant erosion of the business/IT culture disconnect at many levels, thus producing significant changes in business people's perception of IT and their attitude to its exploitation. This in turn brings about important behavioural changes which typically show themselves in a variety of ways.

The top management team gradually develops a more aware and 'instinctive' understanding of how information technology can transform their business performance. At lower levels the providers of the systems, and the business people who use them, work more closely together in a more productive partnership, each having a much better understanding of the other's needs and concerns. A real 'win-win'.