How can a Board Portal benefit you?

What is a board portal?

A board portal is an online platform that allows boards of directors to collaborate, communicate, and manage board materials and processes digitally. Board portals have become an essential tool for many organizations in recent years as they transition from traditional, paper-based processes to digital ways of working. There are many benefits a board portal can provide for directors, management, administrators, and organizations as a whole.

Save Time and Increase Efficiency

One of the biggest advantages of using a board portal is the time savings and increased efficiency it provides. Administrators no longer have to spend time printing, collating, and delivering heavy board packs.

All materials can be uploaded and accessed digitally 24/7 from any location. This also eliminates the need for dedicated staff to print and courier board packs. Directors can review materials on their own schedule ahead of meetings, allowing more time for meaningful discussion and oversight during meetings. Important updates and time-sensitive materials can also be distributed instantly.

With a board portal, meeting management and governance workflows are streamlined through automated features like agenda management, voting, minutes creation, and action item tracking. This provides substantial time savings while also reducing the risk of errors. Directors are also able to find what they need quickly and easily through search and indexing capabilities. Surveys show directors report spending significantly less time preparing for meetings after implementing a portal.

Improve Collaboration

Collaboration between board members is important to a well-functioning board. Board portals enable and enhance collaboration through features like:

• • Annotation tools for marking up materials
• • Commenting and discussion threads
• • Polls and surveys
• • Chat and messaging
• • Action tracking and assignments

Directors can have ongoing conversations within the platform about the information presented and easily provide feedback. This facilitates better preparation and engagement. Collaboration tools also enable committees and other subgroups to work together productively.

Go Paperless/Environmental Benefits

By moving board processes fully digital, board portals allow organizations to significantly reduce paper waste and printing. This results in cost savings as well as environmental benefits. Going paperless also reduces unnecessary waste and clutter in the boardroom. Digitizing board work aligns with many organizations' environmental and sustainability initiatives.

Anywhere, Any Device Access

Board portals allow users to access materials from anywhere using any device - phone, tablet, laptop, desktop. This enables directors to perform their duties regardless of location. Materials stay synced across devices so directors can pick up where they left off as they move between access points. Offline access features allow working without an internet connection as needed. This flexible access facilitates better oversight for today's busy directors who are often on the go.

Institutional Knowledge Retention

A board portal serves as a central knowledge repository that retains documents, discussions, meeting minutes, and other materials over time. This historical record can be easily searched and referenced later. New directors get up to speed more quickly with all the information at their fingertips. Records also stay in the organization's control rather than being stored across individual devices. Knowing information is preserved reduces paper accumulation burdens.

Dynamic Meeting Management

Board portals transform the way meetings are managed through digital agendas, voting, notes, and more. Materials can be displayed digitally in the boardroom through large format displays or individual devices. Admins can push updates or new documents to directors in real-time during meetings. Attendance, actions, votes, minutes, and notes are captured digitally during the meeting.

Mobile Access Enables New Director Recruitment

Mobile and flexible access options empower boards to recruit technologically-savvy directors from a broader candidate pool. Busy executives and directors who frequently travel are more able to accept positions knowing they can digitally participate and perform duties from anywhere. Portal accessibility caters to younger professionals accustomed to digital workflows. Enabling remote work makes serving on boards more feasible for a wider demographic range.

Summary of Key Benefits of a Board Portal

• • Save substantial time with automated workflows
• • Drive increased engagement through collaboration tools
• • Reduce paper and printing to support sustainability
• • Access materials anywhere, anytime on any device
• • Preserve institutional memory in a central archive
• • Recruit board members from a wider talent pool

In today's digital world, board portals have become a necessity to enable boards of directors to operate efficiently.

The many features and benefits outlined above can transform board communication and management for the better.

Any organization that has not yet made the shift would be well served to strongly consider implementing a board portal solution.

The advantages for directors, administrators, and the organization make this an investment that can pay dividends across the board.