What is Board Management Software?

Advantages of Having a Board of Directors

As your company grows, having a board of directors with diverse experiences is an invaluable resource for advice on raising capital, financial audits, mitigating risk, strategic planning, and overall operations. The board has a fiduciary duty to act in the best interests of the organization, and investors like companies with well-functioning boards.

What is Board Management Software?

Board governance is complex. It’s the framework that outlines the processes and policies that govern how the company is run. And as companies grow, their boards—and the board’s responsibilities—grow, too. Most companies start out managing their boards and board meetings using email, file sharing apps, intranet, and printed pages in physical board books. But as the company grows, the processes that used to work start to become time-consuming and confusing. It takes board admins too much time scheduling and planning meetings, and board members have to search multiple places to find the information they need. The process is complicated and impossible to secure.

Board management software (also known as a board portal) provides a shared space for board members to store and access the information they need to facilitate good board governance. It encourages collaboration and communication between board members, increasing the board’s productivity.

Features of Board Management Software

Board meeting software simplifies the meeting process before, during, and after meetings. Board portals have robust feature sets that make it easier to

• Schedule meetings within the app

• Duplicate or create agendas with a click

• Annotate minutes during meeting

• Keep your information secure

• Create and deploy questionnaires and surveys

• Collect e-Signatures

• Track tasks and notifications

• Distribute and track approval of meeting minutes

• Archive information

• Enjoy exceptional customer support

For administrators, board management software helps with the everyday tasks that need to be done to keep the board running. It makes it easier to schedule meetings, build agendas, conduct surveys, and more. And board members rely on board management software to give them access to all the information they need, all in one place, from any device. It helps them see what they need to do and makes it easier for them to do it.

7 Benefits of Board Management Software 

1. Better Governance. Board management software helps boards of directors operate more efficiently and be more productive. It enriches the entire board meeting process, encouraging engagement and supporting good governance.

2. Access to Information. One of the main benefits of implementing board management software is that it gives board members centralized access to all the relevant board materials and information they need, from any device. When board members have quick access to the information, they don’t have to waste valuable time searching through emails and shared files and stacks of paper to find what they need. Using a board portal significantly increases board efficiency and productivity.

3. Easier for Admins. Board management software saves the admin’s time, too. Meeting prep can done in minutes—scheduling meetings, building agendas, creating surveys, collecting votes, approving minutes—easy-to-use tools streamline the processes it takes to keep the board running, every day. Board management software makes it easy for members to keep track of what’s required of them, so they don’t need to rely on the admin to help them find the information they need. And with all the information in one place, and real-time edits automatically saved, versioning control is a breeze.

4. Increase Engagement. Good board governance is more than four meetings a year. It requires an active, engaged, and productive board, who are constantly working toward achieving their goals and moving the company forward. Board portal software enhances board members’ communication between meetings, facilitating more well-informed and productive decision-making during meetings. A board portal helps members be as efficient as possible, making it easy for them to see what they need to do and giving them the tools they need to check things off their lists.

5. Data Security. Organizations are under constant attack by cybercriminals—cybersecurity needs to be prioritized and ingrained in the company culture. Board management software is secure, employing multiple layers of stringent security features, mitigating risk and keeping your information safe.

6. Control Permissions. Using board management software makes it easy to control permissions—who has access to what information. It ensures everyone sees only what they’re supposed to see. Documents can be shared only with members who need to see them, and committee information is accessible only to the members of the committee.

7. ROI. Overall, board management software makes boards more efficient and productive. It saves everyone time, which they can use on tasks that move the business forward. Plus, companies save money on the paper, printing, and shipping costs associated with using physical board books.

As boards grow and more demands are placed on them, board management software can help make good governance easier and less time consuming for everyone. And as cloud technology makes it harder for boards to continue to rely on physical board books, the advantages of board portal software are becoming clearer.