Two years of pandemic uncertainty and escalating enterprise threat have sharpened the main target of company boards on a know-how development as soon as dismissed as simply one other IT buzzword.
“Digital transformation work has been drastically accelerated by the pandemic,” says Paul Martin, who wrapped up a decade as CIO of Baxter Worldwide in October 2020 and now serves on 4 public firm boards: Unisys, Ping Id, Owens Corning, and Steris. Nowadays, he provides, “CIOs don’t retire. We go to work on boards!”
That’s more and more true as we speak, with 43% of board administrators at S&P 500 corporations reporting know-how backgrounds of their public disclosure, in keeping with the Nationwide Affiliation of Company Administrators (NACD). And funding in digital transformation “has elevated by greater than 10%” throughout the previous two years, in keeping with Deloitte. One current Deloitte report analyzed the boards of the highest 100 corporations (by market cap) and located the 31 corporations with “tech-savvy” boards carried out higher general financially.
“Just a few years in the past, digital transformation was talked about in isolation—extra of a buzzword for IT individuals. That’s all modified,” says Martin, who was lately honored as one of many Savoy Journal’s 2021 Most Influential Black Company Administrators. He sees firsthand the worth that his experience in IT, digital enterprise, and cybersecurity brings to the board.
On two of his boards, he’s the one director with a know-how background. “I convey the tech and cyber experience to these boards, and likewise the digital piece,” provides Martin, a member of the CIO Corridor of Fame since 2017. “It truly makes me work more durable. My fellow board members look to me to ensure we’re doing the precise issues in our digital technique.”
I caught up with Martin lately to get an insider’s view from the opposite facet of the boardroom desk.
Maryfran Johnson: Regardless of the trade, digital transformation work is such a strategic focus for the C-suite and board members now. What modifications have you ever seen in the way in which your fellow administrators view these efforts?
Paul Martin: We’ve all seen organizations pivoting to work remotely and introducing digital enablement into their workforce. It’s giving corporations a possibility to rethink how they work together with prospects, join with provide chains, and drive inside operational efficiencies. With all the main target as we speak on this transformation work, boards should be sure that no group falls behind on the enterprise advantages to be gained by leveraging applied sciences in information science, AI, machine studying, blockchain, and so forth.
What’s nice in what I see as we speak is how a lot digital transformation is embedded into the material of the enterprise technique. It’s a part of all the things you hear about—using information, automation and robotics—serving to to drive the operational technique and new methods to enhance efficiencies or scale back waste.
How do you keep effectively knowledgeable about essentially the most vital points affecting the opposite industries you cowl now as a board member?
Staying present on the digital transformation alternatives, viability, and feasibility are equally as vital as different board obligations as we speak.A technique I do that’s to comply with the trade analysts. I’ll learn their analysis notes, and I’ll eavesdrop on competitor earnings calls after I can. It’s actually key to remain on prime of what’s occurring and perceive what rivals are doing. One development I’m following within the roofing trade, for instance, is the wonderful digital considering round drone use and the way in which they’re used to do roofing estimates with out endangering anybody climbing up there.
It’s actually fascinating to see how corporations can leverage digital transformation in several methods in as we speak’s related world. It’s additionally vital for boards to interact visitor audio system and out of doors specialists.
As an skilled tech chief on the board, what questions do you convey to the desk in assessing a digital transformation technique?
I search for key methods the corporate is becoming this work into its technique. As a board member, your responsibility is to think about it from a fiduciary standpoint. Is the corporate doing the very best factor for its stakeholders? A number of the questions I usually ask embody:
- Are we leveraging these digital applied sciences to attach prospects, provide chains, and workers?
- Are we creating an enhanced or profitable expertise for patrons? Driving a brand new buyer expertise?
- Are we discovering new methods of working for our workers?
- Are we connecting our provide chains extra effectively?
- Are we leveraging the tech to do what we couldn’t earlier than?
What different areas in these tech transformations are vital for boards to delve into?
The center of any digital transformation is the info. We do that work due to these information advantages: the flexibility to use AI or machine studying in ways in which drive better enterprise insights. That’s very key, utilizing this work to enhance decision-making with higher information visibility.
One other space to have a look at is the way you’re leveraging robotics in digital providers, to drive automation throughout your operations. Are you driving efficiencies on the manufacturing facility ground? Together with your workers by RPA (robotic course of automation)? And, in fact, the cybersecurity elements round all this work are all the time vital.
You joined your first public board in 2017, whereas nonetheless working fulltime as CIO at Baxter Worldwide. How did that chance come about?
I joined Baxter as CIO in 2011, and in 2016 I used to be introduced with the chance to hitch my first public firm board. An govt recruiter really useful me to the Unisys board, and with the approval of Baxter’s CEO, CFO, and head of authorized, I used to be capable of be part of. They stated it will be good for my govt growth and that I’d convey enterprise insights again to Baxter, which I did. I’d inform different CIOs who need to serve on boards to start out trying now, of their present roles, if they’ve the chance.
