The Importance of a Tech Savvy Board Member

You already know how important it is to have a diverse board, full of people from different personal and professional backgrounds. Having people with a variety of knowledge and insights as stakeholders in your organization can help keep you on track to reach your long-term goals, and it can help you understand when a change needs to be made. While you probably focus on having professionals from both the nonprofit and business sectors on your board, you may not have considered the importance of someone from a technology focused background.

Technology is important to the way any organization runs, from basic email and word processing needs to donation management, marketing and communication efforts, and program management. By including someone with a technology background on your board you give your organization a resource to help you strategize, build a technology team, and implement processes and procedures that can help you thrive.

Additionally, having someone more tech-savvy on your board can help you ensure you’re spending your money wisely when it comes to technology. They should be able to help you understand how your budget will impact your business needs and how it might change over time as you grow.

It’s important that your board represents your organizations interests, and it can be difficult to find people who fit all your needs in a board member. When making your selections try to find people who can help you meet your goals and bring a different perspective than the ones you already have.

However, it is important to remember that long-term strategizing won't solve your day to day technology issues. While having technology lifecycle plans, scalable systems in place, and an overall understanding of how technology impacts your business are all important, you also need to have someone on hand who can troubleshoot device and system issues, monitor your security updates, and help with other day to day problems. If you need help with long term planning or daily hiccups, contact us to talk about possible solutions.