Growth companies lack digitisation skills in the boardroom
Digitisation has become a survival and growth factor for companies. Technology drives development, and digitisation today needs to permeate all levels and involve the board and the management team. Evolvefy's survey "Board relations in growthcompanies" clearly showed that digitisation is the skill most often lacking in the boardroom. At the same time, it was listed as the third most crucial competence after financial knowledge and knowledge of the company's operations. The goal of the survey is that the insights will help boards of growing companies to create practical boardwork that favours growth and development.
Marlene Blomquist Börjesson at Evolvefy has met Håkan Hagerum, CEO at Cedeo Advisory Services, who guide boards and management in digital development - now he shares his top advice!
Digital competence is needed in the boardroom.
Håkan says that many companies that want to grow have understood that digital development is adecisive competitive advantage. At the same time, he still faces boards that have not taken the issue seriously and have not understood the value of investing. He describes that this may be because digitisation is a competence that is difficult to define and understand on an overall strategic level.
- I am pleased that more boards understand the importance of digital competence in the boardroom, but there is still much to develop. Digitisation has gone from being a matter for the IT department to now being a matter for management and the board. I have had the privilege of working closely with many companies in their digitalisation process, where consensus around digitalisation in management and the board has been a decisive factor for successful digitalisation work that leads to profitable companies, says Håkan.
Three pieces of advice to increase digital competence in the boardroom
1. Put digitisation on the board's agenda.
A digital transformation is required on the board to be competitive in the market, and decisions need to be made about who owns the issue. Then you realise pretty quickly that it is a comprehensive concept. Companies that have completed a successful growth journey have often focused on digitisation in both the management and boardroom.
My advice is to map the current situation and circle three focus areas where the digital initiatives have the most significant effect. Unfortunately, many companies have implemented systems and processes before formulating a digital strategy. There are several risks involved. For example, it is challenging to implement systems that do not support the company's planned expansion or cannot integrate with other systems. When the company proliferates, it is crucial to work to ensure that data flows unhindered without human intervention.
2. Dare to invest in creating competitiveness
Certain areas within digitisation are self-evident and can have an immediate effect. Still, it is often necessary to dare to explore and challenge the site if you want to stay one step ahead of your competitors.
A sign that digitisation inhibits growth is when you feel that competitors are running faster. That is when one's change decreases while that of competitors increases. That development is faster thanks to digitisation is nothing new, but it increasingly demands companies to streamline and automate. Tomorrow, the customer wants it faster, cheaper and also more sustainable. If automated flows and linear digital processes are createdin time, it will be easier to keep up.
3. Find the right digital competence for your company.
If no one can handle the issue in the company, you should bring in a person on the board who understands the connection between technology, business and organisation. It is also vital that this person understands the new role of technology and can be consultative in both strategic and operational decisions to contribute throughout the organisation. If it is impossible to bring the expertise into the company or the board, an alternative is to create an advisory board. Finding this skill is challenging, so I advise looking for it outside your network.
Many thanks, Håkan, for your valuable advice and insights!
Digitisation is 1 of 4 subtopics that summarise the results of Evolvefy's survey. The respondents hold roles such as CEO, Investment Manager and CFO or are board professionals in growth companies.
Evolvefy helps entrepreneurs and business leaders in growing companies build financial structural capital to realise their growth plans. When a company grows, the finance function shifts, and the need for CFO expertise depends on the company's phase. This is where things can often go wrong and become very costly. That's why we exist. Our concept is based on flexible and tailored solutions. We offer Growth Analysis, CFO Interim, Recruitment, Risk Management, and Accounting Services.
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