If your organization already uses Google Drive, should you use it for your board documents library and communication?
Using Google Drive to support board management and meetings is a bit like forcing a square peg into a round hole. It may be useful to store your board documents, but for everything else board-related, it falls short.
You may want to consider better tools for the complex work boards are doing – one that better engages directors and supports convenient preparation for your meetings.
Let’s take a deeper look into how Google Drive measures up as a board communication tool and how it directly compares to Aprio’s board portal.
Why do some boards use Google Drive?
Google Drive offers a secure, collaborative, and accessible file storage platform for managing documents, helping boards with distributing board materials and record-keeping.
Teams working in a file directory every day gain a knack for remembering folder names, labeling conventions, and simply asking another employee, “Where do I find x?”. But that is not what a board director does every day.
Board members are often volunteers with other full-time jobs. Often, they don’t have time to search through endless folders for files they may not know the names of. This is just one of the challenges of using Google Drive for managing board communication.
Comparing Aprio’s board portal with Google Drive
Google Drive was designed to be used by business and personal users for secure document management in general. While it’s a useful tool to store board documents, that only solves some of the challenges busy boards face.
Increasingly boards are shifting to purpose-built board portal software that’s cloud-based to best engage directors and reduce the administrative burden on teams. Here’s how Aprio compares to shared drives like Google Drive.
|
Benefits |
Aprio | Google Drive |
| Central information hub
Google Drive and Aprio work well as a secure storage area for board information and documents. Still, Aprio is organized like a board operates making it easy for directors to find information promptly including with easy search. Plus, Aprio offers automated archiving of documents such as meeting minutes and agendas. |
Yes | Yes |
| Easy-to-use purpose-built platform
Aprio doesn’t just offer intuitive document storage, it offers boards an always up-to-date calendar, task list, contacts directory and secure communication for individual committees. |
Yes | No |
| Information security
Both Aprio and Google Drive use robust security measures including encryption and multi-factor authentication to protect files and data from unauthorized access or breaches. But Aprio offers advanced security features for boards, such as remote locking and remote data wiping to lock out an account if a device is lost or stolen or a director leaves. |
Yes | Limited |
| Collaboration & communication tools designed for directors
Google Drive is built to help people access, save and share comments on documents. That’s part of what board members need. Aprio provides tools explicitly built for board discussion and collaboration including voting, surveys and chat as well as document annotation. |
Yes | No |
| Exceptional support
Are you having trouble logging in? Need to set up a new user? There’s no calling the Google Drive administrator on a Sunday or Thursday evening. But with Aprio’s support team, you can talk to a real person 24/7- 365 days a year. Expert support is always available to assist your board. |
Yes | No |
| Mobile apps to work from anywhere
Aprio equips board members to meet anytime, anywhere – on mobile or desktop for any device. Directors can review board materials on-the-go, on and offline including in airplane mode – and sync up once connected to wifi. Google Drive lets you view, edit, comment on and save documents on mobile devices – but that’s it |
Yes | Yes |
| Complete board reporting & archiving
Aprio provides nine standard board reports to track board activity, attendance, login behaviour, groups, and audit reporting, saving hours on manual board reporting efforts. |
Yes | No |
Why Google Drive might not be the best solution for your board
Boards don’t have time to waste trying to use solutions that “sort of” suit their needs and won’t help them in the long run. They need purpose-built software that works the way they work and helps them perform their roles more efficiently.
Board meeting software like Aprio offers these benefits:
- Built for board activity. When’s the next meeting, where’s my board package, how do I contact other members of committees and what tasks were on my plate after the last board meeting? Aprio’s dashboard is built to immediately help board members with those common questions and activities, saving board members time.
- Governance support. Audit-ready reports on board activity, attendance, expense tracking and more are ready-built and available on Aprio.
- Members supported by board experts. Your board members are key contributors to your organization and often work outside of business hours. With Aprio, they have a support team expert in board matters ready to help by phone or email anytime.
Why switch from Google Drive to Aprio?
Many organizations using Google Drive to manage secure files internally find it a suitable solution for their internal organization but not for their board. Here are the most common reasons previous Google Drive customers made the switch to Aprio board management software:
1. Easy access for directors.
Directors enjoy accessing Aprio on any of their own devices. They can view the latest meeting agenda and annotate board materials to help keep up with their busy schedules.
Updates and changes can be added at the last minute so that their peers always have the latest information available to them. And with the single sign-on, directors familiar with their Google or Microsoft credentials can use those and not bother remembering another password.
2. Better prepared directors.
The access confusion that can come from Google Drive, many boards notice directors not viewing the board package in advance. This meant unprepared directors, especially when board agendas are packed and the document review prior to the meeting is significant.
With Aprio, boards find that directors can easily access information and move back and forth between board meeting materials, committee documents, and so on. A purpose-built board portal directly contributed to more timely meeting preparation by board directors and more engagement in strategic decisions.
Aprio also offers surveys for directors to conduct annual evaluations. Directors can easily save the surveys and results on the platform to prepare for the year’s review.
3. More engaged directors.
Board portal software like Aprio includes communication features like secure chat, allowing board members to communicate confidentially within the platform outside of board meetings. Plus collaboration tools such as annotations and voting help boards get more work done.
Aprio vs Google Drive: See the difference
It may be easy to use Google Drive to store your board documents, but it comes with significant communications hassles for your valued board members. There’s a better way to manage meetings and board communication.
Improve director engagement and the quality of discussion and decisions at your board meetings. See how Aprio’s board portal software is easy to use and will improve your board experience. Take the first step – talk with us.
See how Aprio compares:
