What is a Board Portal?

A board portal enables digital board meetings between board of directors. Board portal software facilitates secured environment for sharing confidential documents and information. It enables them to exercise governance and decision-making responsibilities despite working in remote workplaces.

Choosing to use a board portal, also known as a board management software, provides directors and administrators with the necessary communication and collaboration tools that simplify board pack preparation and document sharing, among many other board meeting-related tasks.

Designed to elevate transparency, practice corporate compliance, and work efficiency, a board portal software collapses the entire board meeting process — removing the need for grueling tasks like printing documents, sending emails manually, and physically compiling annotations.

The Meeting Process in Board Portal Software

Every board portal’s core functionality is to solve bottlenecks and redundancies in the board meeting process while providing a layer of additional security. It provides a streamlined experience for the three segments of a board meeting — pre-meeting, during meeting, and post-meeting.

Pre-Meeting
A board portal enables secretaries and administrators to instantly create and organize agenda packs for board meetings. It also allows for quicker workflows in circulating the digital board packs to the board members, while automatically notifying them of the latest document revisions.
During-Meeting
Board members can conduct interactive presentations during board meetings while accessing and annotating documents using only a single platform — a board portal. At the same time, secretaries can take meeting minutes and record action items and resolutions.
Post-Meeting
After meetings, board portal software allows secretaries to instantly generate draft minutes, archive meeting information, and store documents within the portal’s repository — ensuring the security of corporate data

Board Portals are Needed by Boards of Organizations

A board portal software helps organizations uphold good governance and facilitate information exchange among leaders by providing secure and efficient workflows in the boardroom. It delivers benefits to boards and committees by improving their management and decision-making processes in overseeing their enterprise.

Efficiency
A digital board portal empowers smarter processes within the board meeting cycle. It removes the need for manual tasks, making meetings more effective and time-saving.
Governance
Board directors and stakeholders can make more informed and data-driven decisions with collaboration and presentation tools within a board portal.
Centralization
A board portal is an all-in-one software that centralizes all the tools for the entire board meeting process. Using only a single platform ensures the efficiency and security of processes and documents.
Compliance
A board portal solution guarantees adherence of board members to governance requirements by storing confidential data following compliant policies and guidelines.
Transparency
The smart and secure board portal grants access to the board members by setting permission controls and generating audit trails that uphold transparency on activities and revisions.
Accountability
Empowering accountability within boards is possible with a board portal that allows tracking and auditing all the activities done within meetings and documents.
Productivity
Board portals help users be more productive by eliminating the unnecessary tasks in the meeting cycle — freeing up their time for more demanding tasks. The board portal app also allows board members to work anywhere and on the go.
Security
Boards and organizations can ensure the safekeeping of their corporate data while having full ownership of the system using a board portal. Several security measures are also provided such as multi-factor authentication and password policies.

Using a Board Portal Solution

The board portal reduces the room for errors when organizing and conducting board meetings to prevent unproductive tasks. Organizations could use a board portal as it provides security features optimal for storing, accessing, and reviewing confidential information.

Conducting board meetings requires close collaboration and accurate information exchange among the executive management, secretaries, and administrators. Organizing meetings manually is prone to counterintuitive labor and possible data breaches, when human error is at fault.

Using a board portal can escalate the productivity and efficiency of the users with tools that digitize and streamline the meeting cycle.

Board directors, executives, and the management can ensure that the board meeting processes are simpler and smarter with a board management and portal solution. These processes include holding remote meetings, instant circulation of board packs, and addressing resolutions, in just one platform.

Board portal technology itself has been utilized by boardrooms worldwide as it makes boards equipped with tools to exercise better decision-making and corporate governance.

Explore the Uses of Board Portal

When choosing the perfect board portal software for your organization, you need to look at features that can make your board meetings more efficient and more organized — easy to use, secure, and responsive to your needs.

Choosing the Best Board Portal Software

Selecting a board portal solution requires several considerations to assess and find the best fit for your organization. Look for smart features and essential support that can help enhance your board and meeting processes.

Robust Security Features

Multi-layer protection backed by strict employee procedures (both on the side of the vendor and your company) and various certifications are absolute must-haves.

24/7 Customer Support

Support options and customer service response are crucial in case you need a prompt answer to a pressing question.

Multi-Platform Capability

Easy access across authorized devices lets the board hold meetings and make informed decisions in real-time without having to overcome technical barriers.

Interactive Collaboration Features

Live collaborative tools are needed to keep engagement and increase productivity among meeting participants, while preventing any unnecessary distractions that may occur.

Intuitive User Interface

An easy-to-use interface within a board portal and agenda software would increase efficiency and allow administrators to quickly accomplish their tasks such as building agendas, tracking action items, and distributing meeting packs instantly.

Full System Ownership

System administrators must be able to configure security settings and set permissions tailored to the organization’s specific needs and workflow.

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Choose the Right Board Portal Vendor

The use of board portals has become essential to many organizations over the years. Companies and organizations from different industries have been relying on such software to increase efficiency while lowering administrative costs.

Beyond the product features, a board portal software could be the right solution for your organization if the software provider caters to your specific needs. In choosing the right vendor, consider its experience, policies, and practices among many other factors.

Sustainability
Consider how long the vendor has been around and how sustainable their software is for your institution. Look for a vendor that you can invest and rely on for the long haul.
Flexibility
Choose an IT vendor that can put time and effort into really customizing the software to your use case. They should be able to implement necessary adjustments to your board portal or to your subscription plan as needed.

Support and Geographic Presence
The board portal vendor must be able to provide flexible hosting options and on-call customer support in any country in the world. This is especially needed by corporations that need to follow data security or compliance requirements
Security Practices
It is incredibly important that your board portal of choice employs a security model that you can be comfortable with. Evaluate whether their security measures and data storage practices are compliant with your organization’s requirements.

A Comprehensive Guide to Board Portals

Use this guide to help you find the most reliable and efficient board portal software that meets your organization’s needs.

Download Guide to Board Portals

I.
Brief History of Board Portals

The whole concept of board portals was non-existent years ago. However, significant changes brought about by a combination of events across the globe have created this market. With this, the idea of using software as an integral part of board communications was born.
II.
Essential Features of a Board Portal

Given the dependence of directors and secretaries on board portals, it is important that the chosen solution will be able to satisfy the vast requirements of any given organization whether it may be non-profit, a listed company, or even a government institution.
III.
Key Criteria for Board Portal Selection

The global board portal market is expected to show continuous growth in the coming years. Aside from essential features, it is vital that the right criteria must be considered in selecting a board portal solution.
IV.
Going Beyond the Boardroom

The use of board portals has been extended well beyond the premises of the boardroom. These types of software are now deployed across the entire organization — from audit committees to ad hoc teams. It has become a renowned enterprise-wide solution for integrated communications.
V.
Convene as a Board Portal Solution

Convene has everything you need to run digital meetings. Designed specifically for executives and administrators, it streamlines the entire meeting process.

Introducing the Multi-Awarded Board Portal Solution for Directors and Administrators

Azeus Convene - the board management software and its features being shown on multiple devices

Convene is a board portal software exclusively designed to make the entire meeting cycle from preparation to documentation more efficient and simplified.

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A Portal Designed for Better Governance

Convene’s powerful capabilities are designed to develop a seamless decision-making experience upholding transparency, accountability, and compliance for boards and directors, while creating smoother meeting processes for administrators.

Intuitive App and Admin Processes
Convene’s user-friendly interface enables directors and administrators to navigate through the portal and the app without much assistance. Users can execute board and meeting workflows with just a few clicks.

System Scalability and Enterprise Volume
Large enterprise organizations easily manage users, documents, and tasks within Convene. The online portal software is highly scalable as it accommodates thousands of users. Data can be searched even on a large scale via Convene’s Enterprise Search.

Cross Platform Access
Directors can conveniently access Convene anytime, anywhere, online or offline, and on any device – may it be iOS, Android, Windows or Mac. Administrators are also free to choose their preferred browser to access the portal.

Easy to Deploy System
The deployment and onboarding process of Convene, including training sessions and integration setups, will only typically take less than a week, ensuring that organizations are able to enhance their board meeting experience as soon as possible.

Multi-Language Support
Administrators and directors can utilize the board portal platform in their preferred language, having the option to choose from 14 languages that Convene provides.

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