A board portal is more than an online filing cabinet. It should be a tool that promotes board interaction and engagement and facilitates strategic decision-making. Yet not all board portals are built the same.
Here are seven must-have features to look for in a board portal solution.
1. Searchable, instant access to up-to-date information. Banker’s hours are a relic of the past. Today business happens at all hours of the day (and night). Employees responsible for putting together documents and reports and the directors who must review them need to be able to update and access information anytime, anywhere.
Whether it’s policies, agendas, or meeting minutes, board portal software should make it easy to update and search for essential information 24/7.
2. Doesn’t require IT department support. Your IT department has a ton to do. Your board portal solution shouldn’t add to that list. Seek out an easy-to-use, turnkey board portal solution that anyone with basic computer knowledge can easily access and update.
3. Secure, role-based access. Board members and committees need access to sensitive information not everyone should have. A good board portal solution should offer secure permissioning so that only relevant committee members have access to documents and versioning control so it’s easy to see who changed what and when.
4. Enables secure voting and polling. From strategic decisions to policy acceptance, boards at financial institutions frequently vote on key issues.
Simplify this process with a board portal with voting capabilities, including tracking.
5. Promotes collaboration. Board members communicate amongst themselves and with management between meetings. Make sure any board portal solution you choose centralizes communication to ensure more collaborative governance—and that it documents it with an easily accessible audit trail.
6. Enables board training. From orientation to ongoing education, board members need regular training. Make sure your board portal can facilitate and document training, providing access to a variety of training materials—from documents to videos.
7. Allows personal document markups. Some board members like to mark up and take notes when reading a document. It makes sense to look for a board solution with annotation capabilities that let each board member privately mark up documents.
Give your board and management to stay up-to-date on the strategic insights and information—everything from risk management to compliance—with a board portal solution designed to maximize collaboration and make the process more easy and efficient for both the board and those that support them.
Related: Pivot! How to Build a Strategic Plan that Evolves With Your Financial Institution
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