RSM and Corporate Board Member Release Digital Transformation Research Report

CHICAGO – (May 20, 2022) – RSM US LLP (“RSM”) – the nation’s leading provider of audit, tax and consulting services focused on the middle market – and Corporate Board Member together have released The Transformation Imperative: Understanding the Role of Digital Across the Organization, a research report that details the risks, challenges and opportunities companies are facing as they manage digital transformation strategies.

“Boards have become more instrumental in digital transformation plans as innovation has become so important to every business, from enabling growth and managing risk to  customer and employee engagement,” said Bill Kracunas, management consulting leader with RSM US LLP. “This survey provides companies with a glimpse into how boards are driving digital investments and where technology can potentially provide a competitive edge.”

The research report yielded several key findings, including that developing new products and services is the most important element of respondents’ growth strategies in 2022. Additionally, the shortage of skilled labor has been the main barrier to growth in the last 18 months, delaying or posing additional challenges for 70% of survey participants.

“Our research has repeatedly shown how significant the impact of the talent shortage and shifting workforce dynamics is on corporate strategies,” said Melanie Nolen, director of research at Corporate Board Member. “From board members to CEOs, to CFOs, CHROs and CIOs, every member of the leadership team has told us they are highly concerned over their ability to execute on strategy due to the current talent challenges.”

In addition, the survey finds that data analytics continues to rank as the most important technology in driving growth. Companies are also expanding their efforts to collect customer insights to inform strategy, with 64% of directors surveyed detailing an increase over the last two years.

Nearly two-thirds of board directors in the survey say that their companies’ ability to improve customer experience depends on their success leveraging new technologies. From a tax and accounting perspective, survey data shows that a majority of companies have already implemented or at least discussed implementing new technologies to improve processes.

Survey data was collected by RSM and CBM from 223 U.S. public company board members from November 2021 to January 2022. Respondents represented the complete spectrum of company sizes. The report included participants from a wide variety of major U.S. industries, led by financial services; technology; consumer products and retail; life sciences; and real estate, hospitality and construction.

About Corporate Board Member

Corporate Board Member, a division of Chief Executive Group, has been the market leader in board education for 20 years. The quarterly publication provides public company board members, CEOs, general counsel and corporate secretaries decision-making tools to address the wide range of corporate governance, risk oversight and shareholder engagement issues facing their boards.

Corporate Board Member further extends its thought leadership through online resources, webinars, timely research, conferences and peer-driven roundtables. The company maintains the most comprehensive database of directors and officers of publicly traded companies listed with NYSE, NYSE Amex and Nasdaq. Learn more at BoardMember.com.