3 areas to consider when choosing board portal software

 

When choosing a new board management system, it’s hard not to be dazzled by displays of salesmanship and vast arrays of functions. But there are two big questions to ask: Do you need all of those features? Do those features reduce or increase your risk profile?

Board portals play a vital role in any organisation, and it’s important you choose a system that meets your governance, security and support needs before choosing one that has a million features.

In this article, we cover questions to ask when picking board management software to ensure you’re choosing a system with strong foundations, but none of the fat.

Good governance is at the heart of any enterprise. Thus, it’s vital that you check the new system is capable of maintaining your high governance standards so you aren’t exposed to any unnecessary risk. Some questions to ask are:

1. How are important documents created, shared and stored by the software?
2. What is the chance information may be leaked or shared incorrectly? As in, is the system very private and disciplined with clear access levels, or does it contain features that could take conversations outside the boardroom or increase the discoverability of information (this may include chat rooms or the downloading of personal notes)?
3. How much control do administrators have over access levels, and can information be purged if necessary?

2. Security and access

Before getting excited about software features, we need to assess the security capability of a board portal service. Inadequate security exposes an organisation to extraordinary risk, especially in an age of Australian Royal Commissions and greater user awareness of privacy and data.

Beyond that, the system must be easy to access for the people who have permission to use it – this is especially true for any mobile board members constantly on the go, who can’t sit down in the office on a computer for very long. But then, access itself (especially remote access) could be a security hazard.

So, some questions to ask for this are:

1. Where is your data stored and how secure is the facility? Does it meet ISO 27001 certification?
2. Is your information encrypted?
3. Can the software be used on a mobile app?
4. If the app can be used on mobile devices, what happens if these devices are lost or stolen?
5. Can the app be used offline? If so, can this offline data be synced back to the server when an internet connection is established? Is this process automated?
6. Can other people remotely access your private notes?

3. Implementation and support

Finally, the third-most important information to check is how simple the system will be to implement, and what ongoing support will look like. Change management is vital to the successful rollout of a new board management tool and if implementation is difficult or inconvenient, board members may not be as willing to adopt the change. Likewise, if the software provider’s support is poor, it will be difficult to train new staff on the app or receive any technical help should issues arise.

Questions to ask around these topics include:

1. What is the board software provider’s reputation? Are they generally trusted by customers?
2. How much will the provider help during implementation? Is training available, and how much will this training cost extra (if anything)?
3. Are its customer service people enthusiastic and seem to know what they are talking about?
4. Is Customer Support internal or outsourced?

Choose a board portal that meets your needs

With these questions in mind, you’ll see that Boardtrac Plus has the answers. Boardtrac Plus has been designed by the governance experts at MinterEllison in keeping with Australian best practices – this is a board portal designed by Australian Directors, for Australian Companies, Organisations, and Not For Profits.

We pride ourselves on offering only the features that you need, and none that you don’t. We’ve honed Boardtrac Plus’s core to be an intuitive, highly secure board management system that anyone can use and which won’t expose you to unnecessary risk.

For everything we offer, we know it’s what you’ll use because it has been built by those who use it. And we have been told that for all the functionality, security and peace of mind we offer, our product is more affordable than most – you’ll truly get value for money and be saving budget against those larger providers.

Some of its features include:

1. Administrators can create custom libraries for all important documents, with access permissions able to be set over folders and individual documents to fine-tune security.
2. All data is stored in a local Australian data centre that is fully certified and encrypted, with data backup measures in place in case of system failure.
3. Users are individually invited to the platform and create their own username and password. Administrators log in with two-factor authentication and have full control over who can access what.
4. Mobile board members can use Boardtrac Plus on the go, whether online or offline. Any work made offline will be automatically synced when a connection is established. Should the device be lost or stolen, Boardtrac data can be remotely purged by an administrator.
5. Board members can access Boardtrac Plus via iPad’s, Mac devices and PC laptops, including Surface Pro’s.

We will partner with you to ensure easy rollout of the tool through each stage of the implementation process. This will including training one on one with back end administrators as well as your directors individually. We also offer regular lunch time webinar sessions where anyone can drop in and refresh on forgotten tasks or pick up new tricks. Additionally, Boardtrac Plus itself is easy to use, with simple back end functionality to build board packs within minutes, and an elegant front end making the user experience positive which allows the Director to focus on how to get the most from the system.

To take the next step and speak with someone about switching and/or setting up your organisation with Boardtrac Plus, contact us today.