Boards are seeking to acquire or boost their skills on corporate strategy (30 per cent) and technology implementation (31 per cent) – tied with industry specialisation – as emerging technologies pave a path to growth, according to the 2024 BDO board survey. In addition, 27 per cent said they were looking to increase cybersecurity skills as well as audit and finance expertise.
“Board directors’ priorities and in-demand skillsets foreshadow where companies’ strategies are headed, with emphasis on emerging technologies,” the report said.
Balancing opportunity and risk
Boards see innovation as an opportunity and a risk – with 17 per cent citing an increased use of emerging technology as a top strategic priority. But falling behind in implementing such technology was seen as a risk by 27 per cent of respondents.
“Risk and innovation have a symbiotic relationship for directors, for whom the need to move quickly to keep pace with customer demand, competition, and stakeholder expectations must be finely balanced with robust risk management and oversight,” the report said.
Only 18 per cent of organisations taking part in the survey said they had already formally launched emerging technology initiatives. Only 14 per cent of organisations said they had no plans to adopt emerging technologies in the coming 12 months. But the majority were engaged in defining their vision, designing their governance programmes and data infrastructures, as well as exploring the opportunities and risks such technologies present.
Skills and people risk
A further 16 per cent of respondents said that they were actively training and educating employees on using such technologies in their day-to-day work. In fact, directors expressed concerned about the level of tech skills in their businesses – one in ten believed, for instance, that they lacked the in-house talent to successfully exploit generative AI.
Directors were worried that technologies such as AI would impact employee morale and company loyalty if the fear of job losses took hold. “Many boards are being thoughtful in addressing talent issues by being transparent in communicating expectations on how AI will change the business and also adopting strategies to upskill employees and showing where AI can create opportunities for advancement and career growth,” the report said.
