Digital governance provides a framework for decision-making and accountability, while simultaneously streamlining processes, encouraging collaboration and optimizing impact.
Establishing a comprehensive digital governance strategy may seem like an impossible feat without clear guidance to guide you. To increase chances of success, include those affected by your digital governance plan in its development process.
1. Ownership and Accountability
Digital governance ensures that mission-driven organizations carry out digital activities in a safe and responsible manner, helping prevent legal issues as well as upholding a nonprofit’s reputation.
Establishing a digital governance policy doesn’t need to be daunting or time consuming; following some best practices could actually make the task simpler than expected. Start by making your strategy flexible and scalable, then involve key stakeholders in an open workshop setting so they can co-create their approach together.
Step two in creating a digital presence is identifying who will “own” each aspect and be ultimately accountable for them. This could be one person, or multiple depending on your circumstances (for instance a blog with several subject matter experts).
Your strategy must also address compliance requirements based on the laws applicable to your organization’s location. These may include laws such as ADA accessibility regulations for websites; COPPA/HIPAA for medical institutions; GDPR in Europe for companies or any other applicable laws applicable to your organization.
2. Security
As digital platforms face increasing regulatory requirements, creating and implementing efficient structural responses has become an increasing strategic focus for organizations.
Cyber threats have evolved exponentially over time and now pose serious threats to critical infrastructure, national security functions and private information. Malicious state and non-state actors are adopting competing visions of technology governance that employ mass surveillance, privacy-invading data collection practices and online censorship tools in an attempt to undermine cyberspace and the global Internet.
Democracies should support processes that foster global inclusion by building resilience through multistakeholder partnerships and providing credible access to resources for countries currently neglected in digital policymaking. As such, the 2024 UN Summit of the Future and adoption of a Cybercrime Convention by global society are important milestones that mark progress toward creating inclusive societies worldwide.
3. Measuring What Matters
Digital governance demands an inclusive approach that addresses every facet of its process, such as setting proper metrics, tracking progress over time, and using data to inform decisions.
By tracking website visits or collecting user feedback, measuring what matters in Digital Governance can help organizations make the best use of their resources and ensure their digital initiatives achieve desired outcomes. In addition, ensuring an overview is taken can help prevent digital platforms or projects from becoming too internally-focused or forgetting key objectives such as improving accessibility for all users.
An effective framework helps make onboarding new staff easier, as well as reduce siloed knowledge throughout an organisation. For maximum effectiveness, this framework should be created with equity in mind so those affected by it have a say in its construction; for best results, start small with low-hanging items before expanding as your time, resources, and capacity permit.
4. Collaboration
Digital governance encompasses frameworks and practices designed to foster cooperation among different entities to manage a complex digital economy. Promoting collaborative governance practices may reduce jurisdictional conflicts while increasing efficiency for both individuals and businesses alike.
Companies with robust digital governance can feel assured they are conducting all digital activities ethically, avoiding legal issues and cyber attacks, remaining flexible and adaptable when faced with disruption, as well as setting their teams up for success with clear accountability and decision-making, collaboration processes and experimentation processes that support continuous improvement.
Content workflows could include an “intended use statement,” which clearly defines the purpose and content allowed on each page or file, helping streamline development while assuring changes are made with an understanding of user goals in mind and helping prevent duplicate work which often proves costly and time-consuming to resolve in large organizations.