What is a Board Portal?
A board portal is an electronic workspace that lets directors and senior executives securely access board documents on any device. It provides functionalities for administrative staff to easily manage board meetings – from meeting preparation all the way to minutes distribution and tracking of actions and history. It is a digital solution that fully enables end-to-end meeting management for C-suite executives.
Board Portal Demo
Who uses Board Portals?
Board portals are used by different kinds of organisations, most often by:
What are the Benefits of a Board Portal?
Board portals help organisations in many different ways, mainly through:
Prepare and Distribute Files Effortlessly
Make board meeting documents easier to collect, organise and distribute to all members of the board in the span of minutes
Make Pre-Meeting Annotations
Enable board members to review and annotate board packs prior to the meeting by improving ease of access
Access Documents Anywhere
Provide access and allow board members to work on meeting material remotely whether online or offline on their preferred platform
Allow Seamless Real-Time Collaboration
Deliver real-time updates to board packs through powerful syncing features – updating documents as soon as the device is online
Maximise Security and Control
Ensure a secure environment – including a centralised storage – to collaborate on an organisation’s most sensitive information with different access and permission levels
Enhance Corporate Social Responsibility
Help companies to achieve corporate sustainability and carbon reduction targets
However, the use of board portals isn’t just limited to big organisations. Many small organisations feel the need to adopt the solution because of the nature of their boards’ operation. This leads us to a pertinent question:
How Do You Know When Your Organisation Needs a Board Portal?
Many different factors could initiate the need for more streamlined and secured board communication. The following are just some indicators that it may be time for your organisation to implement a board portal solution:
Your board packs are costly and preparations take too much of your organisation’s time
- Board packs can go up to hundreds of pages
- Redistribution and revision control with printed board packs are a hassle
- Printing costs on a yearly basis are considerably large
Your board communications rely on unsecured and paper-based processes
- Unsecured communications are done through mailed board packs or emailed through untested and often easily penetrable servers
- No centralised file storage specific to highly-sensitive documents
- Paper-based board packs are easy to lose often resulting in security vulnerabilities and even breaches
Your board members often fly all over the world and now feel the need to meet remotely
- Conflicting schedules can hinder board members from meeting when they need to the most
- Most executives have more than one organisation to manage, often needing more flexible options
- Globalisation has driven organisations such as yours to make bigger strides at a faster rate – urging boards to maximise efficiency through every way possible
Essential Features of the Right Board Portal
Given the dependence of directors and secretaries alike on board portals, it is important that the chosen solution will be able to satisfy the vast requirements of any given company. As such, executives must be on the lookout out for the right technology for their organisation by ensuring that the following features are available in their chosen solution:
Strong Security System
Considering that top management deals with confidential information on a regular basis, the need to identify a secure platform is a high priority. The board portal system must adhere to security standards and must be able to fend off breaches in the network. Data protection at all levels – from user authentication and document encryption to access right control and automatic purging for lost devices – must be available.
Streamlined Meeting Management
The board portal must be able to streamline the pre-meeting preparation to post-meeting document distribution. To make it a worthwhile investment for an organisation, secretaries and directors alike must clearly benefit from this solution.
Easy-to-Use Collaborative Tools and Interface
The board portal must live up to its name and must be an efficient way of collaborating in and out of the boardroom. It must be able to support numerous activities such as assigning and tracking action items, voting, presenting, and signing using e-signature among others.
Diversified Hosting Options
Given the varying levels of requirements of industries, a board portal must be able to adapt to the business needs of every organisation. As such, there should be an ample amount of flexibility in selecting hosting options without compromising security.
Omni-Platform Compatibility
The integration of technology in company policies has resulted in an explosion in the use of mobile devices in the workplace. Initiatives such as the Bring Your Own Device have encouraged employees to use their personal gadgets for business-related matters. Having said this, the board portal must work on a user’s preferred device – whether it may be Apple, Android or Windows.
