Why you need IT expertise at board level

Would you run your organisation without financial, HR or legal expertise? IT is just as important as other areas that typically have representation at board level, yet it's often overlooked as a day to day operational detail instead of being strategic.

If you don't have this expertise available, you will be caught out when you have a systems failure, cyber attack or other major IT issue.

Regulators in particular want to know what your business continuity plans are, and this includes your IT systems. Can your board answer these questions:

• How quickly can you bring systems back online?
• How much data will be lost during an outage?
• What are your procedures for getting it back online?
• What standards do you adhere to, such as COBIT?
• What happens if a key IT provider has operational difficulties which impacts your business?
• When did you last subject your systems to an external penetration test?

If you can't answer the above, you will find yourself in trouble when something goes wrong.

Even if you have full time IT staff below board level, someone at the top needs to understand the key risks and be able and willing to examine why decisions have been made.