Digital governance refers to the process of assuring that digital technology meets and supports an organization’s business processes, through setting clear governance procedures and encouraging responsible leadership.
Digital governance also involves creating robust cyber security protocols. To be truly effective, digital governance requires an overhaul of how many organizations conduct their businesses.
Identifying Needs
Start gaining clarity of your digital governance needs with an assessment of your existing IT framework, which includes inventorying all of the tools in use and their impact and viability analysis.
An essential step in effective governance lies in understanding your stakeholders’ governance needs and gathering their requirements, which could involve conducting an online survey or interview process. Once complete, this data can help prioritize and focus your efforts.
As part of this process, a task force should be established, comprising representatives from key stakeholder groups. This ensures that diverse perspectives are represented and the strategy can be properly developed and executed.
Once you have an understanding of your current digital governance policy, the next step should be creating your roadmap for the future. This should include setting goals to reduce third-party services reliance while developing internal solutions whenever possible and ensure any new technology requirements meet business impact goals.
Developing a Strategy
Establishing a digital governance strategy tailored to your organization takes time and consideration. As technology and platforms change, so too must your policy framework adapt.
To develop an adaptable framework, make sure all those affected by it participate in its creation process. Furthermore, consider creating a policy with guidelines instead of rigid rules.
Attaining this balance helps reduce confusion and ambiguity that may arise with rigid policies, while when creating your structure it is crucial that all groups involved understand the level of decision-making they will handle; for example a digital governance committee might only deal with strategic decisions while production decisions should remain with managers or officials responsible. Furthermore, having clear procedures in place for handling cyber security issues and crisis situations such as setting up cybersecurity protocols and communicating breaches or incidents quickly is also beneficial.
Developing a Plan
Successful digital governance strategies begin with having a clear and strategic vision. Furthermore, it’s vital that organizations create an actionable roadmap that will assist their long-term digital evolution.
The plan must be flexible enough to address emerging issues and technologies, such as blockchain, 5G, virtual reality, AI (artificial intelligence), machine learning, the internet of things (IoT), social media platforms and e-commerce. A holistic approach should also be included to digital policy and governance designed for sustainability.
Plan of action must also include policies to promote ethical behavior, such as providing constituents with the ability to opt-in or out of communications. By having such measures in place, nonprofits will protect both their reputation and avoid legal issues that might otherwise arise. Furthermore, it’s crucial that those affected by your new digital policy participate in its creation ideally through collaborative workshops to build equity and ensure long-term success of strategy.
Implementing the Plan
An effective governance framework includes an organized plan for overseeing digital risks. Furthermore, policies which prioritize citizen needs and engagement should also be in place; for example platforms which enable participation in policymaking processes as well as feedback mechanisms and accessible digital services can all play a part.
To ensure the success of your organization, it’s vital that its framework keeps pace with new technology as it emerges. Furthermore, investing in education on digital governance best practices – according to Admincontrol 94% of board members need additional training on these matters!
Establishing a team to implement your framework is another crucial step. Your committee should include individuals from various roles and expertise; perhaps including a chief digital officer and individual managers for every area of the business. They must collaborate on their areas of responsibility through your board management system in order to prevent potential cyber breaches.