The global data breach cost in 2023 has already reached $4.45 million. The average office worker in the United States uses about 10,000 sheets of paper annually. Some non-compliance fines may amount to $100,000 monthly.
Let’s face it: traditional board practices create many problems, from excessive paper use to non-compliance fines, which serve as reasons to invest in board portals. Luckily, secure board portals can save you!
Table of Contents
What is a Board Portal?
A board portal is secure, cloud-based software where board members and management officials can access resources, organize meetings, and communicate. The solution includes easy-to-use tools that facilitate board members’ workflows before, during, and after meetings.
What Are the Main Board Portal Features?
The platform supports all board-related businesses with the following features:
- Secure data exchange. Portals provide robust document security, allowing board members and officials to share files without data breach risks.
- Meeting and agenda management. You can schedule meetings by syncing with each participant’s calendar and create agendas with a few clicks.
- Real-time collaboration. Board members across cities and countries can communicate via video and instant messengers and receive real-time updates.
- Meeting management. This feature includes the automatic creation of meeting minutes and the ability to assign tasks from them.
- Document approval. Voting and e-signatures allow participants to sign and approve agendas, meeting minutes, and other documents while on the go.
- Actions management. Admins can add action items to the agenda, set deadlines, and monitor each task by checking its status.
Whether you need a solution for board succession planning, document management, or board meetings, choosing board collaboration software that is suitable in terms of functionality and cost is essential. The following statement of Jesus Rivas, marketing strategist at board-room.org, highlights this point:
“Choosing the right software determines the course of your success. Therefore, no matter what you intend to use portals for, ensure they are the perfect combination of functionality and cost for your specific case.”
7 Reasons to Invest in a Board Portal
With so many digital solutions on the market, you may want to know some good reasons to invest in a virtual boardroom. Here they are!
1. Resource Savings
Paperless meetings and online board management can benefit your company in many ways, including eliminating paper usage and reducing logistics costs. Moreover, you will save the time and effort that you used to put into preparing, binding, and delivering board packs to various locations.
2. Robust Security
Hacker attacks, phishing scams, and board packet loss permeate the business risk environment. Fortunately, secure board portals solve this problem. They include end-to-end data encryption, role-based user access control, user activity monitoring, intrusion prevention systems, etc. Thus, you get control and peace of mind regarding the security of your storage and data-sharing channels.
3. Convenience for Board Members
Flexibility in data access is another significant advantage for a board of directors. Specifically, parties can collaborate on documents, get in touch when needed, prepare for meetings, track tasks, and check for updates regardless of location and time. All this significantly improves overall productivity.
4. Compliance With Regulatory and Audit Requirements
With portals, you have the assurance that every workflow is properly managed and document trails are tamper-proof, archived, tracked, and version-controlled. This way, your team can efficiently conduct internal audits, addressing compliance gaps immediately.
5. Improved Corporate Governance
Another key benefit is that it enables better team organization and informed decision-making. With an all-in-one platform, admins closely monitor the entire process and make necessary adjustments if needed. This detailed visibility ensures that every aspect of board governance is smooth.
6. Increased Efficiency
Constant communication support through easy-to-use instant messengers, secure exchange of sensitive files, personal dashboards, and access to historical documents help increase director engagement. After all, the easier it is to perform tasks from a technical standpoint, the more willing, focused, and inspired we are to do it.
7. Better ESG Rating
Public and private organizations are increasingly aware of their commitment to sustainability, which is crucial for business development today. Choosing cloud portals is a significant step toward achieving environmental, social and corporate governance goals. Specifically, resource efficiency is achieved by reducing paper waste, travel expenses for in-person meetings, and other ecological impacts.
To reap all these benefits, it’s essential to implement and launch your solution properly.
Best Practices for Board Portal Implementation
To enjoy the software to the fullest, keep in mind the following recommendations:
- Engage all parties: Communicate the benefits of using the solution to board members, executives, and other stakeholders early in implementation. If any problems, questions, or objections arise, resolve them before implementation for a smooth launch.
- Ensure the provider is supportive: Technical support, high responsiveness, expertise in your industry, and the availability of training materials significantly contribute to the successful platform implementation and ongoing use.
- Offer directors training and onboarding: The more thoroughly each user knows how to navigate portals, use collaboration tools, and quickly access documents, the more streamlined your workflows are, resulting in faster task completion.
- Consider post-implementation evaluation: It includes collecting user feedback, tracking user adoption rates, and identifying potential difficulties in software usage. This practice helps teams optimize portal functionality and ensure maximum efficiency.
- Monitor updates: Keep informed about your board portal provider’s latest news and releases. In particular, it’s necessary to apply software patches, security updates, and feature enhancements to maintain the portal’s security and functionality. Also, remember to inform users about these updates and provide them with the necessary training or documentation to ensure a seamless transition.
Final Thoughts
With board portals, you get top-notch security measures, modern collaboration tools, effective document management, and streamlined task management capabilities. Therefore, investing in this solution is a win-win choice that will take your board’s performance to the next level.
