Why are so many boards using board management systems like Aprio? Board management systems make meetings more efficient, but the benefits go beyond spending less time preparing for them.
The right board management system can also boost productivity, enhance collaboration, and keep your documents secure. Boards seeking to optimize their governance processes and communications benefit from the fast and secure information sharing, improved accountability, and transparency board management systems offer.
Read on to learn more about board management systems and 6 key benefits of using a solution like Aprio for your board of directors.
You can also skip ahead to these specific sections:
- What is a board management system?
- Benefit #1: Simplify meeting management
- Benefit #2: Boost board members’ productivity
- Benefit #3: Enhance collaboration
- Benefit #4: Secure and efficient document management
- Benefit #5: Simplify remote meetings
- Benefit #6: Stay organized and informed
- Optimize your board performance with Aprio
What is a board management system?
A board management system is purpose-built software for boards that streamlines the entire process of organizing, conducting, and managing board meetings and board communication. At its core, it acts as a centralized information hub between boards of directors, executives, and administrators. This type of software goes beyond basic meeting scheduling, document sharing and collaboration tools and offers a comprehensive suite of features that cater specifically to the needs of board management and governance processes.
Diverse organizations from government and healthcare to financial institutions rely on board meeting software like Aprio to run better board meetings, keep directors up to date, and keep company information secure.
Board management system benefit #1: Simplify meeting management
Board management systems simplify many administrative and board meeting management tasks. For example. In Aprio, you can create agendas in multiple ways: upload from a file directory, use a pre-saved template or start from scratch and then customize each section as needed.
Aprio’s agenda builder lets you create agendas that contain all the documents you need and share them with board members in one click.
Board management systems like Aprio simplify meeting management with:
- Centralized tools for scheduling meetings
- Tools for recording and distributing meeting minutes
- Secure document storage with access controls
- E-signature and voting tools
- Task management features for managing tasks
All these features (and more) in one secure board portal makes it much simpler to manage meetings from start to finish, and cuts down on organization and administration between meetings.
The extent to which your board management system will simplify meetings depends on its features – and many software tools vary in what they offer. For example, OnBoard is another popular solution with many of the same comprehensive features, but many of those features are only available on its Ultimate plan.
“[Aprio’s] ability to create a Board package from beginning to end in a few minutes is the greatest gift to my very busy and time-sensitive schedule. I love the agenda generator and the ability to create skeleton minutes in a fraction of the time it would otherwise take.” – Claudia Ferris, St. George’s School
Board management system benefit #2: Boost board members’ productivity
Board management systems help organizations of any size run a more productive board. With Aprio, you can assign tasks to specific board members or committees with clear instructions and due dates, assign priority levels to tasks, and use notifications and reminders to keep board members on track.
Once you assign a task in Aprio, board members can share real-time updates for full transparency.
In Aprio, all premium features are included – but with solutions like Onboard, you’ll need the premium plan in order to access similar task management features.
Additionally, Aprio’s annotation features allow directors to share their questions or comments in advance so everyone has their background questions answered. During meetings, board members can focus on more strategic discussions and make faster decisions.
The Onboarding of new board members is also also much more efficient with the help of a board management system like Aprio. With a self-serve library of archived board reports, minutes and board books, new board members can get up to speed and make valuable contributions faster.
“New directors who haven’t seen Aprio before are immediately impressed with how quickly they can get up to speed. Aprio keeps them looped in, easily, all year round, and they offer helpful support that’s flexible, no matter how tech-savvy a director is.” – Your Neighborhood Credit Union
Board management system benefit #3: Enhance collaboration
Board management software also keeps everyone up to date with real-time collaboration. Whether there are last-minute additions to the agenda or urgent company news, board members get same-time updates no matter where they are, thanks to handy features like chat and news bulletins.
This eliminates the need for sending emails back and forth and then having to search through a sprawling email thread to find what you’re looking for.
Aprio’s features let board members chat, sign, and annotate documents from their desktop or mobile devices for easier collaboration on the go.
If collaboration is an issue, make sure you choose a solution that’s user-friendly to accommodate board members who may not be as tech-savvy. When navigation is intuitive, board members will be much more inclined to use the board portal to communicate rather than continuing to share documents via email.
Aprio’s user-friendly software includes support available whenever you need it. Tools like OnBoard, while comprehensive, may pose a challenge for some members to navigate – and many don’t offer the same level of training for new members.
“Everything we need to communicate with our board members is right at our fingertips. We can do everything on Aprio. Once you get into Aprio and start moving around you find the ease of use. The support team is available, helpful, friendly & open to suggestions for additional features.” – Tammie H., Capterra Review
Board management system benefit #4: Secure and efficient document management
A key consideration with any board portal software tool is security. Communicating via the board portal eliminates the risks of using email, which is insecure, or distributing paper packets, which can get lost.
Aprio’s secure board portal allows you to share documents and meetings with specific users, for granular access control of sensitive documents.
When searching for a secure board portal, look for data encryption features and independent industry certifications that verify the software meets industry standards for security. To protect customer data, Aprio offers:
- ISO 27001 and SOC 2 compliance to ensure data is protected according to international security standards
- HIPAA and SSAE 16/ISAE 3402 compliance for trustworthy financial reporting and secure patient information
- AES 256-bit encryption and SHA-256 cryptographic hash functions to protect data in transit and at rest and secure passwords
- Secure biometric authentication via touch ID or face ID
Security features of board management systems may vary, so make a checklist of the security features you need when you’re comparing solutions. For example, Govenda complies with similar security standards, but its access permissions are limited.
“We didn’t have a single point of access for our Board of Directors which was secure enough to store highly confidential information such as policies and bylaws. After moving all our documents to Aprio the Board and staff are able to access and store information in a secure and easily accessible forum.” – Joanna P, Capterra Review
Board management system benefit #5: Simplify remote meetings
Board management systems make it easier for board members to collaborate and meet remotely, with mobile applications for iPhone, Android, and Microsoft devices.
Aprio’s board management tools make it easy to schedule meetings, send out calendar invites and track board member responses from anywhere. You can also conduct remote votes and polls, and collect e-signatures on important documents via any device.
Aprio integrates with any virtual meeting software – including Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, Webex, and more – so board members can join meetings in one click without switching back and forth between platforms or uploading board documents into other collaboration tools.
Aprio’s presenter mode also enables members to follow along the same agenda right from the platform.
While many board portals offer remote collaboration tools, some solutions like OnBoard only offer limited options for conferencing software – so ensure your preferred conferencing tool is compatible with the software you choose.
“More efficient distribution of meeting material and the sharing of resources with Board members. Easy to learn for all (administrators and especially non-tech users)! Our entire board is accessing [Aprio] through the iOS app.” – Ken S., Capterra Review
Board management system benefit #6: Stay organized and informed
Board members are busy people with a lot on the go – staying on top of important dates, tasks, and updates can be a real challenge. However, a board management system like Aprio can help directors stay organized.
That’s because board members get more done between meetings through features such as chat, annotations and polls in software like Aprio. Board members can also see upcoming meetings and news items at a glance when they log in.
Aprio’s dashboard offers an intuitive overview of upcoming tasks and meetings so boards can stay organized easily.
Aprio also helps you stay organized by making it easy to gather compliance and regulatory data. Aprio automatically archives meeting minutes, motions, and board evaluations to create an accurate audit trail of key compliance actions and dates.
“I love Aprio for it’s ease of use and intuitiveness. Its customer service is second to none! The platform is fairly easy to navigate and you can easily find what you are looking for if you have a good naming convention. Using templated agendas from the past is a real time-saver.” – Capterra Review
Optimize your board performance with Aprio’s board management system
Ready to spend less time managing your board with more productive board meetings? See how Aprio can optimize your board operations while keeping board information secure and board members engaged.
We stand out in the industry for providing unmatched expert service and an easy-to-use, secure board management system that works the way a board works. In addition to a seamless fully guided onboarding experience, we offer unlimited on-demand training and ongoing expert customer support you can rely on at any time. If you need help or have a question, you can rely on Aprio to get responsive, expert help from real people who care, any time, any day.
“Aprio’s customer support and training team is excellent and responsive, which we consider are very important features of a good partner.” – College of Optometrists of Ontario
We’d be happy to help assess your board’s needs and the fit with Aprio. Start a conversation to tell us more about what you need to make your meetings more effective.
