Effective board management, a very challenging thing for organizations, has been simplified greatly by board portals. Board portal software ensures seamless communication among board members and other concerned personnel in organizations. Whether it is board document management or arranging online board meetings, board portals can serve you in multiple ways.
If you haven’t heard about this globally used business software, here is a detailed board management software overview for you.
Board portals or virtual board room software are digital, cloud-based communication channels and data storage places used by the board of directors and top-level officials from nonprofits, corporations, firms, private equities, enterprises, trade unions, and associations.
Virtual board portals are not ordinary communication or data sharing platforms — only certified virtual boardroom vendors can host board portals. These service providers comply strictly with globally accepted data security standards, including ISO 27081, ISO 27001, FINRA, and other cyber security protocols.
Board management software makes inter-board and external communication convenient for boards. That is, boardroom users can exchange or share documents and communicate freely in a controlled environment. They can also add external parties temporarily for deal-making or to discuss other affairs. Board room members can arrange online board meetings in the boardroom without any additional app.
In a nutshell, board portal software helps with the following governance tasks:
- Board document management
- Online board communication
- Online board meetings
- Data sharing
- Deal making
Who can use virtual boardroom software?
As mentioned earlier, board portals are commonly used in companies, enterprises, nonprofits, associations, trade unions, etc. Following officials from these organizations mostly use online boardrooms.
CEOs, executives, and directors
Directors, CEOs, or executives, being part of the company board, use virtual boardrooms for different reasons. For instance, they can get notifications and updates on board meetings and other important activities. They can also access board materials such as meeting agendas or past meeting minutes and board books.
Board members can also review, edit, annotate, share, download, or print board materials as needed. They can sign documents through electronic signatures (a very useful board portal feature).
Board administrators and corporate secretaries
Mostly, corporate secretaries are trusted to administer the board portals as they are the ones responsible for managing or arranging most of the board activities. Apart from that, counselors or executives can also administer the boardrooms.
Board secretaries use board portals to perform their responsibilities. They can create meeting agendas using agenda builder, schedule board meetings, prepare, compile, and distribute board books or other shareable materials.
Similarly, they are responsible for preparing meeting minutes, managing boardroom users and workspaces, and handling access settings.
Benefits of board portals for organizations
From the discussion above, it is easily understandable that online boardrooms provide maximum convenience to board members.
For instance, the “anytime, anywhere” slogan of board portal vendors is easily justifiable as boardroom users can literally connect with their portals from any location and any time. All they need is just an internet-enabled device such as a mobile phone, laptop, desktop, or tablet. The most interesting part is that some modern vendors ensure board document access without the internet.
When board members are able to access board documents easily, they can prepare for board meetings and presentations in a better way. In addition to that, constant collaboration with their fellow members further simplifies things.
2. Improved corporate governance
Time is the most important commodity for any board of directors, and the management would want them to use it for productive activities. If a corporation keeps its board members busy with finding required documents and waiting for each other to read emails, then most of their precious time will be spent doing nothing.
With boardrooms, they can have anything they need in a matter of seconds. Better collaboration, instant access to documents, the ability to share documents easily, and having enough time to prepare for board meetings improves board members’ performance.
One thing that boardroom vendors can easily brag about is the security of virtual board portals. Did you know that virtual boardrooms’ security features are the same as banking sector security? In fact, security is one of the biggest reasons why many organizations turn to online boardrooms.
Whether it is about restricting unauthorized entrants, controlling the flow of data, document access control, or preventing data leaks or thefts, board portals have got it covered.
There is a wide range of security features, including remote purging, multi-factor authorization, two-step verification, document access revocation, data backup, customizable NDAs, fence view mode, and data encryption. Simply put, board portals have security solutions for every problem.
Utilizing or investing shareholders’ money in the best of their interests is the primary responsibility of the board of directors. Do you know that every year, an average company in the United States spends almost $400,000 on paper and printing-related expenses? $400,000 is a massive amount in any context.
Apart from that, organizations have to accommodate the traveling and residence expenses of board members during board meetings. Collectively, these expenses can drain the financial resources of any organization.
Online board portals are paperless solutions; they can minimize or even eliminate all expenses.
With fierce market competition and added responsibilities on the shoulders of board members, it becomes difficult for them to stay productive and effective. However, board portal software is a great addition to any organization’s arsenal. Online boardrooms automate document management and board meetings, making things more convenient for board officials.
