Board management software has a substantial record of elevating directors’ experience across all industries and organization types. And with the current abundance of digital governance solutions for boards, picking the right one can be challenging but still important.
So, learn the most common board portal software use cases, the critical factors of platform selection, common features, and simple tips for board directors on making an optimal choice in this guide.
What is board portal software?
The boardroom is a unique secure sharing platform for board meetings, governance, communication, protected access and data storage. The primary goal of this cost-effective business tool is to streamline processes and the entire workflow along with collaboration, which has an immediate good impact on the boards.
Basically, the product has features and services for all industries that don’t want to risk security and, in addition, collaboration tools to get things done faster. Once potential customers learn about this technology, they try to find the very best for them on the market.
Is board portal software only for online meetings?
It is a common misconception, as the board portals offer helpful solutions to many other painful business problems through dedicated features. Besides, it doesn’t matter if directors use it on a temporary or permanent basis, but it still has great value for corporate governance.
Cooperation without restrictions
Board directors can now hold a board meeting from anywhere. All you need is a mobile app and Wi-Fi. Moreover, unlike other programs for video conferencing, board portals support you with information at hand and minimize the risk of being hacked regardless of the device you use.
Excellent information security
The advantage over the paper business format is that the board meeting software can offer secure mechanisms to protect and control the important content and document sharing. A unique authorization procedure, robust data encryption, detailed user permissions, and an electronic signature are among them.
Data protection features also include compliance with international standards and regulations such as ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA, etc.
Professional agenda
The board portals make the agenda perfect, which improves participants’ preparation for board meetings and keeps attendees updated when you hold meetings. So, there are simple ready-made templates here that help secretaries not to miss crucial aspects and, in general, save time with tools for building their agenda faster. In addition, all members of boards can view, read, and make changes to the document.
Absolute transparency
Ensuring transparency in a company makes it possible to avoid conflicts. The activity tracking features help with this. Consequently, the board of directors does not have to take each other’s word for it, as the program records all their actions on the virtual platform. Another good point is that the board members are unlikely to take unauthorized steps since they are under supervision 24/7.
Easy preparation for a board meeting
Secure paperless 24/7 access to information helps you save time and makes the process more enjoyable for a board. After all, participants no longer need to lug around with huge binders, but a phone is enough. In addition, they can contact colleagues non-stop using convenient messengers and collaboration tools.
Flexibility
Conducting an online board meeting does not require significant changes in directors’ schedules. Consequently, board members become more flexible, realizing that a few clicks are enough to organize and participate in board meetings. Moreover, they may only need a mobile phone with the board management app installed.
Why do organizations use board portal software?
In today’s climate, digitization is imperative to sustainability. Many companies across the world find the unique benefits of leveraging board software to improve operations and establish long-term strategies using data analytics.
Board management software as an affordable solution has completely transformed the way modern directors attend to their duties. Compared to the traditional way of handling a board meeting, board portal software is:
- Cheaper. Digital board management allows eliminating the costs of servicing a physical space, for example, a document repository and printing board materials. Additionally, well-selected board portal software significantly reduces the time invested by IT departments and administrators, translating into optimized compensation.
- More efficient. Board management software can help executives access the necessary information, control it, collaborate, and find decisions a lot faster with minimum effort. With such software, board meetings can happen online, saving everyone travel time and increasing productivity through the meeting management options.
- Environmentally-conscious. The above-mentioned document digitization and travel need elimination allow a board to adopt a greener approach via board meeting software. With the ESG-focused development on the rise, making sustainable choices sets a great example and creates a better standing for the company.
What does a board portal offer for streamlining processes?
Professional board management software offers the following features for navigating and streamlining all board processes in a company, including:
- Board communications, in and out of a meeting. It includes private and group chats, the contents of which the system protects like other data.
- Committee management. Administrators control user access to data and their actions. It is also an excellent way to track unauthorized activities and prevent negative consequences.
- Task management. The boardroom offers all the necessary tools for assigning and tracking tasks. Thus, administrators and other users can see outstanding and completed tasks, deadlines, and overall progress.
- Secure storage, document management, and signing. Directly on the platform, boards can carry out all operations with information, up to signing highly confidential documents, without leaving their office.
- Voting and decision management. For productive collaboration, there are voting and polling tools. Thus, one of the board members can organize voting at any time, while others can express their view with one click. Therefore, the board of directors should not wait for board meetings to make an important decision and take into account all opinions.
- Scheduling meetings. An administrator needs to set a time and send out invitations to participants. Once this is done, attendees receive invitations and respond with one click.
If you find board management software that meets your company’s requirements, you can significantly improve every aspect of the board’s operations and every director’s experience. But, most importantly, it will help support your company’s core mission by allowing you to devote more time to it.
Which industries choose board management software?
There are many industries among the clients of board portal providers. Some explain their choice by the platform’s security features, others by document management instruments, and many other valuable options such as meeting management functions. So, who chooses portals?
Banks and credit union organizations
For the success of these institutions, committee members need secure access to board materials. The board portal provides this possibility and others like communication tools, easy search, commenting, or editing data. And yet, since the board software is compatible with any device, executive committees can conduct any operation and hold meetings regardless of location.
Non-profit organizations
Despite the common misconception that boardrooms are only for commercial companies, the board software is of great value to non-commercials. Non-profit boards face the same challenges as the rest, namely user and document management, data security, employee control, and business processes in general. Another critical task for non-profits is fundraising, one of the provider’s specializations.
Healthcare
This industry always deals with confidential patient data, clinical trials, and other private information. Modern technologies help a healthcare board avoid the risks of leaks because they lead to irreparable consequences in these organizations. In this way, the boardroom allows hospital boards to save time on vital matters rather than data security.
What are the critical features when choosing a board portal?
See what the board meeting software has to provide a board with at each board meeting stage. This way, you will understand what tools to look for in the solution and efficiently make board portal feature comparisons. So, here we have a section on benefits through features for leadership teams and secretaries.
Boardrooms for directors
Using the board management software, directors can make informed decisions and collaborate at any time and place.
Boardrooms for directors at the pre-meeting stage
At the pre-meeting stage, directors should have features for:
- studying meeting packs on any device safely
- accessing updated data instantly
- creating annotations without Internet access and with further synchronization
- e-signing with the addition of identity authentication before signing
Boardrooms for directors during board meetings
During the meeting, you as the director should have the tools for:
- real-time communication and sharing of annotations, notes, other board materials
- engaging board participants with presentations
- convenient navigation that allows you to move between tabs and important documents quickly
- interaction with colleagues through the functions of voting, polling for making decisions here and now
Boardrooms for directors at the post-meeting stage
Directors usually view a summary with recommendations and annotations and download packs. Moreover, they need features to track assignments and deadlines. Therefore, the board portal should make these processes easy.
Boardrooms for secretaries
Boardrooms offer numerous opportunities for secretaries to coordinate the work of the board at all stages of the meeting organization.
Boardrooms for secretaries at the pre-meeting stage
Secretaries carry a considerable part of the responsibilities of the board of directors, so they need the tools to:
- schedule, publish, and instantly invite board meeting participants
- create an agenda and the ability to attach files and links with drag and drop
- share board books instantly and make changes with immediate notification of directors
- monitor the platform to ensure that all participants are notified of new board documents or changes
Boardrooms for secretaries during board meetings
Secretaries must keep meeting minutes, track attendance, and update board packages in real-time during board meetings. Advanced board meeting management software provides functionality for all of these activities, streamlining the tasks of secretaries and benefiting the entire board of directors.
Boardrooms for secretaries at the post-meeting stage
Virtual boardrooms offer the following options for document management after board meetings:
- tracking tasks and deadlines
- archiving of meeting data in online libraries and permission-based access for complete control
- creation and distribution of meeting minutes with annotations and notes made by the secretary during the board meeting
What is the benefit of portals for administrators?
The main benefit for administrators is to define tasks and complete them quickly using the board portal. So administrators can:
- plan a board meeting taking into account the opinions of all participants
- facilitate collaboration with the board of directors by having a board management software for data exchange and corporate communication
- be sure of high security by distributing data to all concerned
- track task completion and overall board progress
All this helps the administrator perform their duties most effectively, which affects the entire team’s productivity.
How to choose a board portal
The first step to choosing the best board management software is to narrow it down to the providers who have experience in your sector. The gap between companies that assist large corporations and small non-profits isn’t too big since many board portal vendors aim to be as versatile as possible. However, there will still be differences in cost formulation approaches and toolsets.
Then, compare the available choices taking into account the following factors:
- Security. A data leak can have a colossal effect on your organization’s well-being. That’s why evaluating security features is a critical part of how to choose board portals. Evaluate how the provider ensures data security at every stage of the document’s existence, from both physical and software perspectives. Look for 256-bit SSL/TLS encryption, security certificates, and compliances such as ISO 27001, SOC 2, and GDPR, multiple-step authentication, detailed activity reports, and others.
- Convenience. The best board management app is the one that provides comfort and an advantage to the parties involved. Therefore, the board software you pick must include an intuitive interface and easy-to-navigate features regardless of your previous technological background.
- Device compatibility. Board members are extremely busy people, and chances are they will sometimes be accessing the board portal on the go. Plus, replacing paper documents with tablets during physical board meetings offers a new efficiency level.
- User reviews. Feedback from virtual boardroom clients is a valuable resource for potential users. So, you can learn firsthand about the advantages and disadvantages of a particular board portal. Moreover, there are many dedicated platforms where only credible reviews are available since the websites are independent and do not cooperate with board portal providers.
- Board governance tools. The best board portal is a lot more than just a board meeting management tool and data storage space. Directors can employ a selection of instruments to manage their loaded calendars, delegate duties within committees, develop long-term strategies, and so on.
- Pricing. While the board portal pricing comparison isn’t the primary factor in choosing the right board portal software, meeting your budget and getting the appropriate ROI is still important. In most cases, you will need to reach out to the provider to request a custom quote.
How much does a board portal cost?
Board portal pricing comparison is relative because pricing may vary based on storage size, the number of users, availability of technical support on a permanent basis, and some key features. Also, some providers set a specific price for additional megabytes and users. So check all these aspects before buying a board portal for your organization.
What are the most critical things for board portal comparison?
The answer to this question depends on the business needs of the board. But, at the same time, tools for security, legal entity management, and support are essential questions for any committee. So, here are a few general aspects worth a potential user’s attention.
Board governance
Modern governance solutions are at the heart of the success of any industry. Therefore, the first thing to do is ensure that the board management software meets the best standards. Otherwise, a board of directors takes risks. Here are a few right questions you should ask your board portal provider to avoid these risks.
- How does the board software create, store, and share confidential documents?
- What are the provider’s guarantees of 100% data protection? Are there features that can expose board documents to dangers? By the way, sometimes these are personal notes and chats.
- To what extent do boardroom administrators manage access levels?
- Do users have the ability to delete information remotely if necessary?
Security
Today board software must have mechanisms to protect against all types of hacker attacks, leaks, unauthorized use of data. Therefore, before choosing a board management software, ask your provider:
- Where is information stored? How safe is this cloud-based solution?
- Does the board portal software use encryption? What type of data does it cover?
- What certificates of compliance with international data protection standards do you have?
- Are board portals available on mobile devices? If so, what should I do if the device is stolen or lost?
- Can I work offline? Does the change automatically sync when connected to the network?
- Do others have remote access to private notes?
Note that a large number of data security features and board management should not compromise ease of use. So, ask your software vendor about this too.
Support
This aspect includes technical support and assistance for a board in implementing the tool. The latter is equally important, as directors may choose not to use board portals because they find them difficult to use. The same goes for further work, as the boards must have support to get used to the platform and use it effectively. Here is what customers usually ask board portal vendors:
- What is your reputation? How much do customers trust your board portal?
- During the implementation phase, can you rely on help desk support and employee training? How much does it cost?
- Do tech support experts know the ins and outs of my industry?
How to choose the most secure board management software?
Boardroom providers take a layered approach to security mechanisms. The most reliable ones offer boards full control over the system. So, you can manage roles and the security settings of your board portals. It is also important to note that using the board software through mobile applications should not put data at risk.
So, what data protection methods do the best board portal software providers use?
- Role-based access control. The portal administrator divides users into groups and assigns access levels — viewing, editing, downloading, etc.
- Watermarks. These marks serve as a way to prevent misuse of data. Adding watermarks also helps a board to trace sensitive documents in case of suspicious activity.
- E-signing securely. Some providers require user credentials before signing to prevent fraud.
- Data encryption. A secure board portal must include a sophisticated encryption mechanism for rest and transit data.
- Safe agendas. The administrator can prevent board members from viewing or sharing sensitive data in agendas.
- Remote wipe. In the event of a breakdown or loss of the device, the board of directors risks losing confidential documents if the provider does not take care of them. Therefore, look for the board management portals with a remote wipe feature.
- Multi-step authentication. This method is reliable because hacking will not happen even if an attacker knows your password. In this way, a user must enter a code randomly generated by the program sent to their mobile phone for a successful login.
The proof of virtual boardrooms reliability in terms of security is the solution’s popularity among financial institutions, healthcare, and government organizations. For these and many other organizations, protecting privacy is a priority in their daily work. Hence, they choose board portals to prevent risks.
Tips for successful board portal software comparison
Comparing board management software isn’t easy, but it is very rewarding. To simplify the selection process and guarantee you are getting the most optimal result at the end, consider following these three suggestions:
1. Assess your specific needs and expectations
Every company, and every board, is different. For a productive board portal software comparison, outline the issues and pains you will need the portal to address. Account for your board’s size, each member’s responsibilities in and outside the board, and your company’s development path.
Arrange a meeting with other board members to discuss this issue. Thus, you can make a list of the features you are missing. It is best done in a team to consider the specifics of all roles.
Based on that, you will be able to spot the necessary characteristics and communicate with a software vendor better.
2. Check if the board software provider offers a free trial period
The best way to judge any board meeting management tool’s functionality is by taking it for a spin. A free trial is an excellent solution to testing the board management software in action and seeing how its features benefit your case.
Double-check with the provider on how long the trial will last and which capabilities boards have with online and offline access. Request a demonstration tailored to your board requirements if a free trial is not an option.
3. Look for tools that will enhance your board’s experience
Focus on what your board is currently lacking. Is it poor attention to details, too much time spent on decision-making, or unsatisfactory attendance? Then look for board management software options that will assist you with solving this issue.
For instance, a flexible system of alerts and notifications can help board members to stay on top of their duties, while an option to participate remotely will improve attendance. Consider these during board portal software comparison, and you will undoubtedly make the smart choice.
Conclusion
The best board portal for your organization is the one that fits your industry perfectly. Still, of course, the purchase should fit into the available budget. However, a quality board portal cannot be cheap, so don’t skimp on your security and numerous helpful features.
Board management software allows a more cost-effective, efficient, and resourceful decision-making process. Choose the right board management software, and your organization’s board operations will be entirely revolutionized within mere months. Take your time for board portals comparison and keep your organization’s interests and expectations in mind throughout the entire process.