Adopting a paperless board portal can be a tough decision for an organization. Even though going digital has become a crucial step to remain successful, boards of directors are sometimes fearful to change their work habits. However, the use of a board portal for effective meeting management can benefit both board members and organizations on many levels.
Indeed, board portals allow the corporate secretary to be more productive and board members to be more efficient. It is the entire process of board meeting management that will experience positive change. Here is the first article in a series of 3 that will cover the three key phases of a board meeting and how a board portal can enhance your board meeting management process efficiently.
STEP 1: Agenda and board pack creation
This step is a key element done upstream for an effective board meeting. During their board meetings, board members are making important decisions for their organizations and having all the information they may need can result in making effective and well-informed recommendations.
Traditional agenda creation requires long hours of preparation, gathering all the documents needed for the board meeting and binding them into reports to then sent to board members, usually by messenger. With a paperless board portal, the agenda and board pack are created digitally by the corporate secretary within a few clicks. What before, took days of preparation, would only take a few hours.
STEP 2: Delivery of board packs to board members
After creating the board meeting in the portal, the administrator must deliver all required documents securely to board members, sometimes on geographically dispersed boards! With a simple click, board members are notified by email of the new meeting and its availability online. This email invites directors to log on to the portal where a complete digital board book with its agenda and required documents is easily downloadable. Thus, board members can consult the board pack on their tablet anywhere and at any time, even without an Internet connection. With this fast process, no information is leaked out of the portal, guaranteeing the security of confidential data.
Moreover, with a paperless board portal, you can make last minute updates or add new documents and the administrator of the meeting can send updates to all directors with a simple automatic email. With this process, board members have more time to prepare for their meetings and administrators don’t have to worry about the stress of a missing element.
STEP 3: Log in to the portal for board meeting preparation
After receiving the email inviting members to log on to the portal, they can download the whole bundle of required documents to look over and prepare for the board meeting. With their own private username and password, board members can check the agenda and the board pack of the upcoming meeting on their computers, laptops or any tablets, anywhere and at any time. They can review all the meeting material and privately read and annotate documents with electronic Post-Its, which can be kept private or shared with other board members. They can also take handwritten notes and highlight some parts of the document directly from their tablets.
Another essential tool in the portal is a powerful search tool allowing directors to easily find specific information in all board books and documents, including those that are in the archives of the board’s far past, depending on the access granted to the user. Directors can access and comment on all the information even without an Internet connection, thanks to the offline mode available on tablets while they are on the go.
Because the DiliTrust platform is ISO 27001 certified, all data is secured and stored on servers, that are also ISO 27001 certified. Thus, directors no longer have to carry around bulky board packs! By using any kind of tablet, board members can bring their boardroom with them everywhere and always be up-to-date with the latest board news and board meetings. By preparing for their board meetings more effectively, directors can have more knowledge on background information, leading them to make faster and more efficient recommendations.
STEP 4: The added value of a board portal during meetings for board members
After having saved all the meeting material inside the portal before the board meeting starts, the digital governance platform will show users its effectiveness and user-friendliness to contribute to an efficient meeting. We know that the time of board members is precious, that’s why board meetings must be conducted efficiently.
A board portal such as DiliTrust helps to stick to the original plan by imposing time limits and not wasting time on never-ending discussions. Finding a specific piece of information in the portal, such as a personal note taken during the previous board meeting that was archived in the portal, is easy thanks to the powerful research tool, allowing board members to quickly make a recommendation or a statement about any topic.
Moreover, if an Internet connexion is not available, the administrator and directors will still be able to access all the documents, personal notes and the meeting material thanks to the “100% offline mode” feature of the DiliTrust’s platform. In addition, from a compliance point of view, a board portal renders meetings and the boardroom more transparent, as all the actions can be recorded and archived for a future audit.
STEP 5: Note taking is synced to all your devices on and offline
By using a tablet during the meeting, directors can conduct their meeting with ease. A tablet is flat on the table and quiet and does not interfere with the discussions and debates. Board members can keep the pace and have all documents and data they need at their fingertips after they connect to their personal environment in the portal. Thus, they can simply browse through the notes they took previously when preparing the meeting, to have all the information on hand to make smart decisions.
During the meeting and discussions, directors can take more notes directly on their tablet and they can choose to keep them private or share them with the other members. With a tablet, reading and annotating documents with intuitive features using your fingers to tap, scroll and swipe feels perfectly natural. Directors can enjoy finger writing with a variety of pens, highlighters and sticky e-notes, just as simply as the real paper experience. All information and notes taken can be synced to all devices while remaining highly secure.
The success of an organization is due in part to superior communication between board members. It is at this level that digitization takes on its full intention of allowing board members to practice efficient communicational leadership.
For more information about what comes next, once the board meeting is over, stay tuned for the third and last article of this series.
STEP 6: Draft and distribution of meetings minutes
Meeting minutes denote a written document that includes a summary of the actions taken during a board meeting. In terms of compliance, this is an official document for courts, audits and all stakeholders of the organization and allows the attendees and absentees to have a record of what happened during the board meeting.
This document must be structured and must contain details of the meeting, names of members present or absent during the meeting, key points, approved decisions, the way they were discussed and how to follow-up on these decisions. Thanks to the board portal, meeting notes can be taken and recorded directly on documents in the portal using a tablet or a laptop during the meeting. This makes it easier to organize and record the meeting minutes while the information is still fresh in the note taker’s mind.
Given that the DiliTrust’s platform is ISO 27001 certified, the meeting minutes will be secure and easy to access. Once the person responsible for the meeting minutes approves them, they can be submitted to the other board members, who can make corrections, making it a fast process for all attendees to approve the minutes in time for the next meeting.
Sharing the minutes through the board portal saves the time and the costs associated with printing the document on paper and postage of the document. With the minutes easily accessible to everyone, board members can be more involved and it gives them more time to confirm or complete actions assigned to them or which they volunteered for.
Note: We recommend that you save your original records and other official documents on paper with the original signatures to ensure that you can locate these documents in case of a major computer problem or as evidence for the court.
STEP 7: Archiving the meeting
Once the board meeting is over and the minutes have been approved, all of its material should be stored in a secure location so that it is accessible to all board members, designated stakeholders or for an audit. This also demonstrates the board’s commitment to compliance and to being transparent and ethical. By archiving all previous meetings, board members can access older information like previous meeting minutes so they can be more efficient and make smart decisions.
Moreover, meeting materials stored in a digital manner cuts down on the need for physical storage space and the need to print or copy documents is reduced, saving time and money. Minutes represent highly confidential information for a board and having it on secure digital storage such as DiliTrust strengthens the security of board documents. With DiliTrust, sensitive data is stored on servers certified by international standards like ISO 27001 and PCI Compliant, mitigating risks of hacking, stolen passwords or losing paper documentation.
STEP 8: Achieving a paperless workflow
With all the meeting process stored inside the portal, the next step is to create a paperless governance structure and workflow.
Indeed, between meetings, the portal can be used by board members for ongoing work within committees or to lead secure discussions between members with collaborative tools like debates or polls. With this dedicated space, the board member can share general information, keep members up to date with the latest news about the company or about the industry.
By streamlining the governance processes, the portal improves the flow of information and maximizes efficiency. Drive your board of directors into the digital age and benefit from all the intuitive features to reduce the burden of paperwork while staying informed and connected.
Conclusion
Adopting a board portal is more than just going paperless, it is about transforming the way boards operate. From agenda creation to document delivery, preparation, meeting participation, minute drafting, and archiving, every step of the board meeting process becomes faster, safer, and more efficient.
By centralizing information in a secure digital environment, board members gain easier access to critical data, administrators save valuable time, and the organization benefits from stronger governance, compliance, and collaboration.
Ultimately, a board portal is not only a tool for simplifying logistics but a strategic asset that empowers boards to make better-informed decisions, protect sensitive information, and drive their organizations forward in the digital age.
