Board meetings and paperwork have always gone hand in hand. Each meeting needs a large bundle of paperwork, traditionally known as a board pack. These board packs involve someone managing and collating a pile of important documents which are notoriously a lot of hassle for everyone involved from the secretary and admin staff that prepares them to the board member navigating through them tediously in preparation for their next meeting. I explained this with a live illustration in my first post on this topic.
Even though I had severally stressed the need for the board to embrace technological tools which have made Board packs handy and easily accessible, I felt lucky to have found support in our newly recruited director.
So, off to the Boardroom we went. I knew the discussion on the board packs would take different dimension unlike before when I was the lone voice. I was ready to take full advantage of the window of opportunity presented by the new member. I was however not prepared for the kind of outburst that followed the commencement of the meeting.
The argument and debate were intense and a bit too passionate, with each person holding strong to their conviction on why board packs should be done electronically and vice versa. In the end, with my support and clarification, the Board resolved to give “Ipad” a trial going forward.
To achieve the above, a board portal was created wherein all materials needed for the board meeting would be uploaded. Each Board member was also provided with an Ipad for ease of access.
Implementing the above process took time and effort but it was worth the stress. Now we attend board meeting clutching a ‘purse like ipad’ containing a pre uploaded board materials.
The iPad paved the way for a paperless boardroom reality and gradually extinguishing the traditional paper filled boardrooms. It has changed the way boardroom meetings are conducted. Overnight, meetings were able to go paperless and board portal software became a revolutionary tool for savvy organizations. Tablet devices are now so straightforward to use that it can now serve as a simple platform for managing your entire boardroom meeting process that anyone can use.
The benefits of using board portal software to bring your boardroom into the digital age should be clear to see, but there are still a large number of organizations that have yet to take advantage. I would highlight some advantages of paperless board meetings below.
Easy Collation and distribution of board materials
When updating or amending paper documents as part of a board pack, it can be time consuming for the secretary and the administrative staff as the updated papers have to be reprinted and distributed to each board member since it is vital that the entire boardroom is using the most up to date papers, by using a board portal the updates can all be done stress free and delivered instantly to the device of each board member directly.
Costs reduction, savings and better use of staff hours
An organization should expect to see significantly lower costs through a reduction of paper and printing expenses. Not only will the company save costs on materials, but also on ‘man hour’ costs as the secretary and the admin staff spend their time on more productive tasks than the creation of the paper packs.
Keeping sensitive board information secure
Board packs can contain very sensitive information that many people would like to get their hands on. By printing and collating board papers, an organization inadvertently opens itself to unnecessary and avoidable risk. The fact that papers could simply be misplaced, intercepted or lost in the post should worry any board member. A good board portal will ensure your board materials are kept secure with special encryption techniques. Even if a device is stolen, you can simply delete the information from the device remotely as an extra precaution.
Part 1 here
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