Indian firms are going head over heels in their search for ‘AI-Savvy’ board members. In simple words, they are looking for candidates who are experts in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) sector of things and have knowledge of emerging technologies and Digital Transformation.
Top executive search firms and companies do not want their candidates to rely only on their association with established board members. Instead, headhunters have said that the push for technology-related skills is the reason that companies have gone forward with introducing AI into their business.
Studies point out that Companies with three or more digitally-savvy directors had 17% higher profit margins, 38% higher revenue growth, 34% higher return on assets, and 34% higher market capitalization.
According to Monica Agarwal, a Managing Director of Financial Services, Asia Pacific and India lead-Board Services at Korn Ferry, this trend changed post-pandemic, where almost 25% of the board searches require skills that include technology, digital analytics, AI, and so on.
Wealth management firms, Tech conglomerates, Edtech, and consumer companies are the ones who are mainly looking for board members with advanced technological skills. Meanwhile, other firms have independent directors, many of whom are consulted for direct nominees with technological skills.
Well, the simple truth of having AI-savvy board members is that companies can incorporate the benefits of AI and its growth and increase their business while also predicting their future business path through AI.
Well, if your company is looking to develop a tech-savvy board, here are some ways to do it:
1. Strong Director Technology Quotient (TQ)
The first step is crucial, educate your board members. Now, what is the technology quotient? In simple terms, it is the ability to understand and explain technology. So then why is it important to build TQ? In short, it is to help them understand technology, how they work & are applied, and how they can be combined, and their potential risks.
2. Listen to the other side as well
TQ is important everywhere, especially with stakeholders in a company’s technology ecosystem-suppliers, business partners, and outside consortium organizations as well. So, it is important to communicate.
3. Technological Agenda
It is important to discuss this with your board members, and the best way to do it is to create a board of technology committee and drive the company’s technological agenda forward.
4. Upskilling or Recruiting?
Now, it is up to the company to decide if they would like to upskill or appoint a new board member, but it is important to remember that keeping a balance between the two is as important if not more.
5. Finding the Right Balance
It is really important to remember that AI or any other technology cannot reach its maximum potential without human ingenuity or intervention. The company’s work ecosystem should foster an innovation-driven mindset while also ensuring that it doesn’t go into an overdrive, without keeping the humane elements in mind.
6. Change is constant
Changing one’s mindset towards welcoming technological transformation is extremely important at the management level. This helps companies explore how technology can transform businesses by tweaking their strategy or Vision. Hence, risk-taking can pay off handsome dividends.
Do you think considering AI-savvy board members are a much-needed change we’ve been waiting for? Let us know by commenting below.
(Author: Gaurav Mukherjee is a social media intern at TechDoQuest.)