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Khalid Kark
Debbie McCormack
Robert Lamm

Our 2020 Global Technology Leadership Study identified several factors that distinguish high-performing organizations, but one stood out: The corporate directors of these organizations have a strong positive relationship with technology and the CIO. Their leaders and board members advocate for, prioritize, and appreciate the value of technology. These organizations are often better positioned to respond to crises, jump-start their recovery, and develop new business opportunities that make it possible to thrive in the future.

While tech leaders are likely to engage in strategic business conversations with CEOs and business leaders in their day-to-day work, frequent interactions with board directors are typically not a natural, everyday occurrence. Building a strong alliance with boards to support tech-enabled strategies is an intentional act driven by tech leaders that requires purposeful planning and effort.1

Technology is a strategic lever for high-performing companies

Tech leaders and boards of high-performing organizations share a bold, tech-enabled vision of the future that guides their priorities, decisions, and investments. These boards actively champion transformative change and are more highly engaged in strategic decisions around how to use technology to drive organizational performance and growth. They advocate for, prioritize, and appreciate the value of technology—traits that could improve organizational agility and resilience, enabling the organization to prosper in both stable and uncertain environments.

High-performing companies use technology to drive transformation, not simply incremental change. Compared to baseline organizations, high performers are four times more likely to use technology to drive corporate strategy than other organizations. One board director said it well: “Technology is the essence of our strategy; it is the essence of everything that we're doing.”2

  1.  

    Khalid Kark et al., Technology and the boardroom: A CIO’s guide to engaging the board, Deloitte Insights, February 22, 2019.

     

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