Should Companies and Startups Invest In a Board Management Software?

Business digitization is nothing new, but its implications on the success of organizations have been extremely significant. As companies pivot and adapt to these changing times, companies need to stay relevant by adopting digital solutions to as many business operations and management as possible.

The pandemic we have recently experienced pushed further the digitization in businesses. Studies show that 91% of businesses are now taking a digital initiative that influences revenue in some form, whether in their marketing, customer service, logistics, people management, or communications. One area that has been recently rising is using digital tools to manage company board activities. In this day and age, many organizations are taking the path to investing in board management software.

The Future of Board-Run Organizations

Organization boards are a great way to run a company, non-profit, or public entity. It provides operations with the big perspective wisdom and strategy of seasoned executives and professionals who can shed light on big-ticket issues. Yet, amidst the changing atmosphere and growing busyness, managing board activity can be slow, dreary, and sometimes ineffective.

That’s why innovators today have come up with board management software for startups, large corporations, and practically any form of board governance. And the value of using board management software has been promising at the very least.

What Does a Board Management Solution Do?

The digital shift in board management has a lot to do with the rise of cloud-based solutions and communications apps for remote management. Business management solutions have features that overlap with many other collaboration tools, but they also have unique features that bring niche services to board governance.

Here are a few of the hallmark solutions of a board management software:

Board Presentations and Meetings

Think of this scenario: some startups looking for board members can have limited options because the best candidates are in another city or even country. In previous times, it would be either too difficult or too expensive to make that happen. But now, with the power of virtual meetings, startups can get board members from the other side of the globe and find it easier to provide presentations and run board meetings.

Most board management software has in-built conferencing tools to provide the highest level of confidentiality and seamlessly integrate other needed features like meeting minutes, company reports, etc. These collaboration software tools add a heightened level of corporate collaboration despite time and distance constraints.

Digital Voting and Resolutions

Companies can now store board resolutions on cloud-based systems so that they can stay organized in softcopy format. Most of these systems also have robust search features that make it easier to locate meeting minutes, points, agendas, action steps, and other important details from board resolutions.

Board management software can also allow members to vote via a virtual platform. These systems can provide high levels of customization such as voting anonymity, data analytics, closed-time voting windows, and so on.

High-level Security

The level of strict confidentiality on board deliberations cannot be stressed enough. Yet when malicious individuals and systems have performed cyber-attacks on 64% of companies, security can be a problem. Most board management systems provide a higher level of security, often adding multiple authentication steps and security-based certificates to ensure who can access a company’s board software.

Company-based portals for the board of members can also have tiered access permissions to determine who can access privileged information internally.

Central Portal for Company Information and News

A board management solution software can also provide board members with one central portal for all company information, documents, and news, making it easier to learn about the latest happenings, performance indices, profits, programs, and projects in an organization. These portals can also include information like a startup board of directors’ responsibilities, duties, and contact information.

Business’s C-level executives can also use these board meeting and management software to engage with their board of directors and provide them with updates from leadership teams. They can also use various forms of media to relay company reports, whether in written, graphic, or even video form.

What to Look for if Investing in a Board Management Software

Once all a company had to decide on was operational governance decisions such as how many board members a startup should have, now company leadership has to make technology decisions. The more pressing of those decisions is selecting what board management software to use.

When selecting a board management solution, consider these factors.

Security Features

Company sabotage isn’t something that board members should ever take out of consideration. And today, hackers and spammers have sophisticated ways and levels of maliciously entering into systems and stealing or corrupting information. With that said, a board management system must have multi-layer protection.

Moreover, these preexisting systems must be paired with human processes that all must comply with. Some examples of these processes include password sharing policies, Logging out of devices that don’t belong to users, and so on.

Customer Support

Administrators of the board management system won’t always have everything figured out. When users come to a dead end, it’s good to have an adequate level of customer support. At the very least, a solution provider must have a centralized knowledge hub and email support. Most will provide more than that and include chat support, phone support, and other forms of support.

Choose a solution that also proactively deals with learning curves by providing demos and tutorials as needed, especially in the early stages of the process.

Good Feedback from Existing Clients

A company’s track record often starts by looking at customer reviews from a service’s other clients. Search for feedback and reviews given by other businesses, preferably from the same industry as you. Some good review websites provide detailed breakdowns of features, pros, cons, and costs of a digitized board management system.

Mobile-Friendly Interface

Many executives, investors, and board members now operate in part out of a mobile phone. Systems that don’t have a mobile-responsive web-based program or a mobile app version of their service can be disadvantaged.

The bonus of mobile responsiveness makes it easy for board members to access board meeting minutes, updates, documents, and alerts when they’re on the move. Some mobile-friendly board-centric solutions also have the added feature of allowing video conferencing calls on a phone or tablet.

Collaboration Features

Despite the lack of physical presence, a board management system can still provide the dynamism of a face-to-face meeting. Greater collaborations almost always mean better decision-making. Hence a board director’s management and meeting software must provide a robust level of collaboration. One key feature of a highly collaborative platform is sending and sharing documents with ease and in multiple formats.

Board administrators must also use these platforms to monitor committee members, updates, and reports through chat or call-based catch-ups. Ensure that a system has an intuitive design to make it easy for all users to check and respond to comments, invitations, and alerts.

Facing Roadblocks in Governance Digitization

There can be many roadblocks to business and governance digitization, most of them being cultural in nature. More traditional board members might tend to romanticize the glory days of old where one needed a long table and a whiteboard to run a good board meeting.

But times are changing, and so should boards and company governance. Without a necessary shift, a failure to digitize and adapt could become the downfall of an organization.