• Home
• /
• Business
• /
• 6 Reasons Why Board Portals Will Improve Your Business

6 Reasons Why Board Portals Will Improve Your Business

Economic downturn, accelerated digital transformation, data security, and sustainability are just some challenges businesses face in 2023. Therefore, organizations combine different solutions to cope with challenges and maintain a competitive edge.

In this post, we present an all-inclusive software that provides all solutions in one bottle — virtual board portals. According to statistics, its market size is expected to exceed USD 10 billion by 2026, indicating high demand among business leaders.

Source: Verified Market Research

 

So, if you want to improve your business in all areas, check what a board portal offers and integrate the platform to meet your needs!

 

What is a board portal?

A board portal is a highly secure corporate governance platform that protects and simplifies information-sharing, collaboration, and communication across industries. The software users are typically senior executives, secretaries, legal counsels, and the board of directors of organizations.

Although the solution was initially implemented mainly by highly regulated sectors, now it is widely used by world-known corporations, medium-sized businesses, small companies, startups, and non-profit organizations.

 

How does a board portal work?

Before explaining how a board portal improves your business, we invite you to see how the platform works by discovering its capabilities.

Document sharing

• Centralized document storage. The board portal software is a safe and organized place to store board-related documents, including financial reports, meeting minutes, and strategic plans.
• Secure file sharing. Users can share data without risk as the solution provides data protection through user permissions, dynamic watermarking, time and IP access restrictions, and more.
• Version control and document history. Users can maintain multiple versions of documents, monitor changes, and access the version history when needed.
• Offline access and synchronization. You can access documents offline and sync changes when your internet connection is restored.

 

Meeting management

• Scheduling. For smooth meeting coordination, users can schedule meetings, send invitations to participants, and integrate with the calendar platforms they like.
• Agenda creation and distribution. Portals enable the creation of an agenda, attaching related documents, and distributing all this information to participants before the meeting.
• Meeting minutes. Secretaries take notes as the meeting progresses, and the software automatically creates meeting minutes.
• Action item tracking. Board members can easily assign actions, set deadlines, and track progress to ensure accountability.

 

Pro tip: Learn the best calendar management tips for executive assistants and use your time most productively.

 

Collaboration

• Notifications and alerts. The platform automatically sends notifications and alerts to relevant users. This way, everyone stays abreast of the latest updates.
• Document annotation and collaboration. Board portals deliver easy-to-use commenting and annotation tools, enabling effective collaboration and faster decision-making.
• Discussion forums and chats. Board members use forums and chats to discuss, seek clarification, or share ideas in real-time. According to Stefan from The Small Business Blog, the management must consider providing awareness and education, management training, Employee Assistance Programs, open communication, and regular wellbeing checks.

 

Reporting

• Analytics and data visualization. To help you make data-driven decisions, the software delivers a visual representation of participant engagement, meeting statistics, and other game-changing metrics.
• Compliance and governance tracking. The software functionality allows you to monitor compliance with regulations and internal governance policies. Thus, you can achieve transparency and accountability with ease.
• Audit trails. You can monitor and control how board members use the platform by tracking all their actions, reducing misconduct risks.

Decision-making

• Voting. Easy-to-use tools allow users to vote online on resolutions, agenda items, or decisions from any location.
• E-signature. All documents can be signed securely online, accelerating deals and workflows, especially if they’re integrated with an accessible easy to use PDF editor.
• Decision recording. The software automatically documents all decisions and votes. This way, you can review and reference previous decisions.

Board management tools may vary depending on the provider, but the features we listed form the basis of this platform. Therefore, ensure you get all the mentioned functionality when selecting software.

 

6 ways how a board portal can improve your business

Now, learn about the six ways in which board portals can improve your business operations. Then, you can evaluate how these benefits align with your needs to determine the value of adopting a board portal solution.

 

1. Resource savings

Teams reduce their environmental impact and cut corporate costs by switching to a paperless board. Not only does this save valuable resources, but it also allows administrative staff to focus on more critical tasks than paperwork. For example, companies can quickly distribute information to board members in different locations online and forget about tedious and time-consuming paper board packs.

 

2. Eliminated security risks

Reliable board software providers come with advanced security features such as physically secured data centers, multi-layered data encryption, granular permissions, real-time data backup, and strict access policies. All this ensures that nobody can steal your data and that only authorized users can access workspaces. Moreover, secure board portal solutions comply with IS0 27001, GDPR, and HIPAA, meaning your company follows a set of globally accepted, strict security regulations and standards.

 

3. Convenience for board members

Free but secure access to resources from any device gives board members additional flexibility. Moreover, the software feature set eliminates the need to keep track of email threads or sift through stacks of paper. Finally, constantly updated data ensures that everyone is well-informed, allowing for efficient workflows, task management, meeting preparation, and collaboration.

 

4. Improved compliance

A board portal streamlines managing workflows while keeping document trails tamper-proof, traceable, and version-controlled. It helps you do internal audits faster and more efficiently. A board portal can also help identify compliance gaps and fix them immediately. This way, you reduce the risk of financial penalties and legal exposure for not complying with requirements.

 

5. Enhanced corporate governance

An engaged, informed, and collaborative board is crucial to enhancing corporate governance. Thus, an online board meeting solution allows for better-managed and productive meetings and workflows, delivering advanced user management and tracking features. This way, directors can focus on mission-related matters rather than routine administrative tasks.

 

6. Better efficiency for board-related tasks

By using the platform, board members can access in-app messaging, task tracking, file sharing, historical documents, and personal dashboards all in one central location. These features greatly enhance the engagement of boards and streamline collaboration.

 

Final thoughts

If you’re looking for an effective way to manage your business data securely and efficiently, a board portal might just be what you need. This all-in-one solution offers a range of tools and features designed to improve collaboration, document management, task tracking, and more. One of the best things about a board portal is that it eliminates the need for multiple software and provides everything you need in one centralized location, making it easier to manage and access your business information.