How is digitalization impacting our customers\u2019 habits and behaviors? How will they interact with our products and services in 10 years\u2019 time? How “digitally mature” is our sector? How are our competitors applying technology? What percentage of our revenues and margin could we lose over the next five years if we do nothing? What investments do we require and where will the resources come from? Is our management team equipped to lead this transformation?<\/p>\n
In the face of breakneck-speed digital transformation – further amplified by the pandemic – these are just some of the questions that executive boards should be deliberating. Consumer habits, forms of interaction and business practices have changed dramatically over the last decades and will continue to evolve in the future.<\/strong> Long gone are the days when executives equated “digital” to merely cell phones and tablets.<\/p>\n We\u2019re surrounded by the impact of digital technologies and the business innovations they engender, which pose both challenges and opportunities for global companies. Without a doubt, digital transformation is among the hot-button issues for global organizations, including family-owned firms.<\/p>\n Innovation is a common conduit to revitalizing any organization and ensuring its longevity. In the case of family businesses, innovation and tradition merge past and present and often hold the key to the success of century-old family-owned firms.<\/p>\n Digital transformation is one element of corporate innovation yet goes far beyond technological adaptation. But what\u2019s really behind this stock phrase? Put simply, digital transformation refers to how companies can better compete through the use of technology.<\/strong> In the case of family-controlled firms, this process overlaps three distinct realms: the company, the corporate governance framework and the family.<\/p>\n And this is precisely why the board of directors \u2013 champions of the company\u2019s long-term sustainability \u2013 is so critical, especially their role in guiding the firm\u2019s digital transformation. To help offer insights in this endeavor, I recently published an article titled \u201cA Digital Transformation Roadmap for the Board of Directors<\/strong>” (El Papel del Consejo de Administraci\u00f3n en la Transformaci\u00f3n Digital: Una Hoja de Ruta<\/em>) in collaboration with Prof. Angel Proa\u00f1o Vicente<\/a> of the University of Navarra.<\/p>\n\n
“Without a doubt, digital transformation is among the hot-button issues for global organizations, including family-owned firms.”<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n