Board portal software is more than just software: it’s an important part of how executives and board members make critical decisions in your organization. You might have heard that board portal software can help your board save time, securely share important info, and make admin’s lives easier.
But what exactly is a board portal, how does it really help board admins and directors, and what are the benefits?
In this practical guide, get up to speed with everything board portal software including the must-have features, security considerations, and how to choose the right-fit board portal.
You can also skip ahead to specific sections:
- What is a board portal?
- Board portal vs. traditional board management
- Why companies need board portal software for board management
- What are the top-ranked benefits of board portal software?
- The most important features of board portal software
- Importance of security in a board portal
- Security measures in board portals
- Role of board portals
- How do I choose the right board portal software for our board of directors?
- Why quality support and training matter when choosing a board portal
- How the Aprio team can help you get the most out of board portal software
- The future of board portals: trends and predictions
- See Aprio’s board portal software in action – get a tour
What is a board portal?
Board portal software is a centralized, highly secure, online hub designed for both board directors and administrators to manage board meetings, access board documents, communicate with each other, and streamline governance processes. The software is typically cloud-based and is accessible through desktop and mobile devices.
For directors, board portals offers confidential access to board materials, both past and present, and provides tools to prepare for board of director meetings, including note-taking and access to historical information. Directors leading committees are also provided with the tools to communicate efficiently with other board members and keep an audit trail of activity for improving governance.
For board administrators and corporate secretaries, board portals make it easier to prepare for and conduct board and committee meetings – from sending out board packages to taking meeting minutes to distributing action items. Board portal software also keeps board information fully secure as it improves information flow to and among busy board members, even as they travel.
Board portal vs. traditional board management
If you aren’t yet using a board portal, your meeting prep might look something like this: distributing PDFs via email or Dropbox, or even using couriers to deliver binders of paper documents. Either way, preparing multiple documents, shared via email or courier, is time-consuming and can be costly.
Even worse, updates to the board sometimes get lost or confusing. Admins deal with multiple back-and-forth emails, and sorting out late or missing documents at every board meeting cuts into time better spent on more important agenda items. And if individual directors make one-off requests for updates in between meetings, this is a risk that board directors aren’t updated equitably. How you share board updates can have a direct impact on who has the loudest voice in the boardroom.
Compared to the traditional way of managing board meetings, board portal software is much more efficient. It keeps all your documents in one secure, centralized place and makes sure your board members are looking at the right current versions to make meetings more efficient. And the transition is easier and smoother than you think.
With Aprio’s board portal, admins can share secure links to board materials in an email to all directors at once. The links route directors to the current editions if there are updates. During meetings, directors log in to Aprio for instant access to information linked to the agenda. Between meetings, board members search for information, like past meeting minutes, or upcoming meeting dates, quickly and easily on multiple electronic devices.
“The efficiency of providing Board information to our Directors has improved immensely using Aprio. Staff time in preparing meeting packages has been greatly reduced. The speed at which the Directors can obtain reference information has also vastly improved because they now know it exists and don’t have to contact the Credit Union to obtain it. Aprio has made our governance practices so much easier and more effective.” – Elaine Hasemore, Assistant to the Board of Directors, BlueShore Financial
Why companies need board portal software for board management
From boards of health organizations to public companies, credit unions, education institutions, and publicly-funded societies, board-led organizations strive to operate with high impact and strong corporate governance. But too often, strategic decisions take second place to the complex administration involved in preparing and organizing board meetings.
Boards look to board meeting software to protect the security of board materials, best engage directors by making communication convenient, and reduce the time spent by governance specialists preparing for board meetings.
Emailing or sharing board documents with free editions of software like Dropbox or Google Drive poses real security risks. More sophisticated file-sharing solutions like SharePoint often frustrate directors who struggle to find the right materials within unfamiliar folder names and labelling conventions.
As governance demands grow, corporate secretaries and administrators are seeking automation tools to schedule board meetings and perform their work in less time.
What are the top-ranked benefits of board portal software?
- Instant, same-time delivery of sensitive updates and document revisions to board members at any time, regardless of location.
- Centralized access to meeting materials, communications, policies, bylaws, and archives within a highly reliable, secure portal.
- Secure online note taking and collaboration for directors, with the option of a clean swipe of all communication once the board makes a decision.
- Increased efficiency to produce and distribute board books and other documents.
- Increased efficiency to schedule and reschedule meetings.
- Increased security, including protection for confidential documents, and built-in safeguards to prevent accidental email transmissions.
The most important features of board portal software: what to look for when choosing a board portal service
While many board portal software capabilities are similar, the essential board software features you’ll want to look for include:
Schedule meetings
Every board member has their own busy schedule – and that can make it difficult to find a time when everyone is available to meet.
Board portal software centralizes your meeting schedule so everyone can be on the same page about when the next meeting happens. This also makes it easier to maintain quorum and address absenteeism proactively.
Create agendas
Clear, organized agendas set the tone and direction for your board meetings. Board portal software helps ensure that every board member has the chance to view and comment on the agenda, review documents, and prepare for the upcoming meeting.
Admins can create agendas, add important documents, and send out each meeting agenda to a centralized location in one click – ensuring conflicts about the agenda stay out of the boardroom.
Secure library of documents
Board portal software lets your entire board access the documents they need to review in one secure, centralized location. This helps ensure that every member has access to the information they need at the same time.
Aprio’s board portal software also includes security features like granular access controls for documents and the ability to remotely lock out accounts if devices are missing or stolen.
Meeting minutes builder
Better meeting minutes can help absent board members get up to speed on missed meetings, keep action items clear, and help organizations stay compliant. Board portal software lets you start from your agenda template for more accurate, complete minutes.
It also lets you track attendance easily, assign action items, request approvals, and distribute minutes easily after meetings, with links to any important documents. Set user permissions to grant access levels for compliance.
Mobile meeting app
When board members are on the go, they’ll probably be on their phone or tablet more than their laptops.
Board portal software with a mobile app helps them stay on top of meeting notes, track action items, and join meetings remotely from wherever they are.
Web conference integration
Switching between tabs and software can add complexity and admin hassle to meeting setup. Make sure the board portal you choose integrates with your preferred web conferencing software so board members only need to log in to one application.
Your board portal software should also integrate with the meeting apps your board is already comfortable using – whether that’s Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, or another conferencing app.
E-signature
E-signatures are a small but mighty feature in any board portal. Instead of printing physical documents or relying on separate e-signature software, board portals can let members add legally binding signatures to contracts and documents right in the app.
This helps make approvals faster and gives you an instant audit trail – and helps you spend less time chasing approvals.
Voting
Instead of tracking votes manually, board portal software lets members vote within the app. Members can approve, disprove, or abstain from votes directly in the meeting agenda, with automated vote results.
This also gives you an instant audit trail of exactly how different members vote on each action item.
Surveys
Improving governance relies on feedback – including things like CEO and peer assessments, and other evaluations. Board portal software that includes evaluation tools can keep these surveys in the same protected environment as all your other data.
Assessment features should also come with options for letting board members submit feedback anonymously, and control user access to results to keep them confidential.
Secure board discussions
Board and committee members often discuss sensitive topics that need to stay confidential. When data from board discussions is compromised, it could pose significant threats to public relations.
Board portal software gives you the data protection and access controls you need to make sure board discussions stay private.
Annotations
Productive board meetings depend on how prepared directors are – but without note-taking and collaboration tools, directors have a more difficult time sharing their thoughts outside of meetings, and agenda items take longer to get thorough.
With board portal software, directors can easily mark up documents with personal notes or choose to share them with other users for more efficient meetings.
Task manager
Board members often walk away from meetings with their own action items to take care of. A task manager lets admins assign action items and send automated reminders to help board members stay on top of tasks between meetings.
This cuts down on the amount of time admins spend chasing down the status of action items. Progress trackers, due dates, and fields for clear instructions make sure everyone’s responsibilities are clear and board members are held accountable.
Aprio offers all these features and more in an easy-to-use platform that’s straightforward for both board admins and directors to learn, paired with unmatched service. Compared to other solutions, our user-friendly and intuitive navigation system makes it easier to access board files, upcoming meetings, action items, and everything else board members and governance leaders need at their fingertips.
The importance of security in board portals
Security is critical when it comes to board portals and its significance cannot be overstated. Given the sensitive nature of the information and discussions that take place within board meetings, ensuring this data is protected is imperative.
According to the IMF, cyberattacks have more than doubled since 2020. That means it’s more important than ever to put security first when sharing confidential information that could have a direct impact on public relations. When you rely on email, you risk data being exposed by attackers if they gain access to email passwords – and you don’t have access to any reporting on irregular activity.
Invest in a secure board portal that has security features like access controls, multi-factor authentication, security certificates from third parties, and more. This not only safeguards confidential documents and communications, but mitigates the potential risks of data breaches and helps with improving governance.
Security measures in board portals
For boards who need to keep sensitive and confidential data secure, security is one of the primary advantages of board portal software, and can help derisk issues such as board members losing their device or laptop or downloading documents on public wifi.
However, not all board portal software offers the same data protection or security measures. At a minimum, secure board portal software should include:
- Data hosting verified by independent third-party certifications. This should include backups, redundancy, and disaster recovery options – and should also host data in locations that align with your governance policy.
- Data encryption verified by independent third-party certifications. Data should be encrypted both in transit and at rest to protect against security vulnerabilities.
- Multi-factor authentication and single sign-on (SSO). SSO reduces the attack surface available to cybercriminals, while multi-factor authentication provides an extra level of authentication beyond a single password.
- Remote wiping and locking of devices. This helps ensure that if a device is lost or stolen, you can prevent unauthorized access to your board portal. Additionally, this lets you remove access right away if a board member is dismissed.
- Role-based access controls or granular access permission to documents. Sometimes, board members need to share access to certain documents with committees – while keeping others private. Role-based access controls let you control exactly who has access to what data.
- Usage reports to review any irregular activity. This lets you take proactive steps to protect data before it becomes a data breach.
Evaluating and comparing board portal security? See our cybersecurity checklist.
Role of Board Portals
Board portal software has become increasingly crucial for both directors and administrators alike. One of the core functions of a board portal is to support board meetings and simplify the administrative tasks associated with them.
For directors, it offers comprehensive details on historical and current board materials, equipping them with the necessary tools to focus on higher-level strategic decisions rather than spending time tracking down information in multiple locations. With more convenient ways to access meetings, voting, and governance tools, they’ll be able to engage faster when it really matters. This can be critically important when there’s a business crisis or a governance deadline approaching.
For board administrators, board portals simplify the process of preparing and conducting board and committee meetings, from creating and sending out board packages to taking and distributing meeting minutes and action items. This elevates their role from being an organizer to a strategic enabler that helps ensure the entire administrative process is aligned with the board’s priorities.
Board portals also bring about substantial efficiency gains for organizations. With instant, same-time delivery of sensitive updates and document revisions to board members, this ensures that everyone is on the same page and well-prepared for meetings. Centralized meeting materials, communications, policies, bylaws, and archives reduces the time and effort required for board management processes and workflows.
How do I choose the right board portal software for our board of directors?
Not all board portals are equal. They differ on completeness of features, security, and pricing, as well as on support and training. Before you select a provider, make sure you evaluate your options carefully to choose the one that’s right for your board of directors.
To conduct a smart board portal feature comparison, it’s helpful to use a simple checklist. On each of these topics, talk with board members about their needs, frustrations with the current way your board operates and communicates, and then seek a best-fit solution.
1. Board administration & management
At its core, board portal software is all about making board administration and management easier. When you book demos, explore how the board portal eases the process for administrators to prepare for board meetings and provide updates to directors when dates or documents change.
Also consider the routine effort you take today and how the software makes those processes easier. The best fit for your board of directors will be the software that maps closely onto your current processes and leaves room for growth if your team expands.
2. Director access & collaboration
A principal function of board portals is to provide timely, transparent access to board information. Learn about how different products and user interfaces make information access easy. Evaluate what will be intuitive for your board considering your day-in-the-life board activities.
Also note the collaborative features of your board portal software and how they align with what your board needs to communicate well. Evaluate what will be intuitive for your board considering your day-in-the-life board activities.
3. Mobility & engagement convenience
Travel is a routine part of daily life for many directors and executives. Technology matters for both recruiting high-contributing board members, and for keeping them engaged.
Explore the conveniences you can offer mobile directors from tablet apps and how you can use on and offline access and support for directors working remotely. Take note of the devices your board members use to probe on board portal capabilities for iPad, Android tablets, and Microsoft Surfaces.
4. Security
Safeguarding the confidentiality of board documents and communications is a key driver of the shift toward board portals. Consider both the security of board information in a portal and making access secure but simple for directors.
Data location is another factor to consider. Some board portal providers give customers a choice of where their data is stored and located. Be sure to ask vendors for a list of their security certifications and service level agreements to make sure data is protected wherever it’s stored.
5. Getting started & adoption ease
Board portal software has no impact on efficiency or security unless it’s adopted by your whole board. Some board portal software comes with a steep learning curve – which will create resistance from less tech-savvy board members and make it much harder for new users to adopt. For example, if your board members find it hard to find the documentation they’re looking for, they might continue to rely on email.
Understand the help and support different vendors offer to implement your board information and schedules online, and the programs they offer to provide ongoing training and support throughout your time as a customer.
6. Technology innovation
How can you ensure that the tool you select today will evolve along with governance best practices and the needs of your organization? Ask about future product updates and how your voice as a customer in product development can have an impact.
7. Reputation & service
Next to product ease and reliability, service is the biggest deciding factor on whether customers are happy with a software vendor or quickly move on. Talk with peers and references that have used the board of directors portal you are considering. Ask about their experience with implementation and their first board meeting, and how new feature requests and product issues are resolved over time.
8. Support
Because board portal software is used by some of the most influential and time-starved people in your organization, it is paramount that help is highly professional and useful. Consider calling a vendor’s support line to test the customer service support you’ll receive. Role play being a director and being a board administrator.
9. Pricing
While the functionality of some board portal software may be comparable, there is variation in pricing. In particular, some vendors have different product editions, some with “lite” features and some with full features. Other vendors charge extra for additional committees and administrators, training, or for amounts of data storage. Ensure you ask about starter fees and all possible add-ons.
10. Best overall fit
Going through a software assessment process, you get to experience a vendor’s people, marketing, their responsiveness, and their helpfulness. You get to know their technology, their pricing, and some of their familiarity with your needs and industry. Give balanced consideration to all 10 factors and you will gain a sense of the board portal software that is your best fit.
Now that you’ve learned what is board portal software, want to get started with your evaluation? Let us help. Get a tour of the Aprio board portal – we’ll be straight with you about whether or not we’re your best fit.
Why quality support and ongoing training matter when choosing a board portal
One crucial feature people tend to overlook is the quality of support you get with your plan. What happens when you have an urgent technical issue and the clock is ticking on a board meeting deadline? What level of support can you expect for your governance or board secretarial team and your board of directors?
Here’s why the quality of your customer support team matters:
They can fix urgent issues.
Low-quality customer support will help you, but you might have to wait days for a response. Best-in-class customer support will be able to provide urgent fixes so you can keep board workflows running smoothly. Aprio’s support services are highly personalized, and made up of former board admins who have walked in your shoes – so we have an appreciation of how time-sensitive these issues can be.
They can help you get the most out of your software.
With any new software, there are a lot of features and processes to unpack. But people sometimes end up using software for years before they discover they don’t even know about a small feature that makes their life way easier.
A quality support team can give your entire board of directors a walkthrough of the software so you get the most out of every feature you need, and ensure your software setup aligns with how your board already works best.
They help you navigate change.
As your organization changes, your board of directors will change too. A great support team can help you manage this change with software training for new board members. This takes some of the hassle out of onboarding new members, giving you a chance to focus on welcoming them to the organization. With Aprio, training for new members is already included in your subscription so you won’t need to worry about surprise onboarding costs.
They can help you optimize your board’s workflow.
Sometimes, it’s easy to develop blind spots about how you can optimize workflows – especially if you’ve been doing things a certain way for a long time. Don’t hesitate to ask your board portal team about how you can make board management easier and what features can help you focus on improving governance.
But how do you know what quality of support you will receive? To find out, pay attention to what others say in online reviews. There are usually some outliers, but you’ll get a general sense of how good their support is overall.
Whenever you test new software, you should also test the customer service you’ll receive by reaching out on the customer support channels they offer. Try to understand what service is like over email and over the phone. Ask about the level of service you’ll get across your whole team, especially for different levels of technical ability.
With most software, you’ll get regular technical support that’s often outsourced. Aprio’s support team is different: we’re made up of former board admins that you can rely on 24/7. We work in your time zone, and we’re ready to help, both as experts in our software and experts at board management.
How the Aprio team can help you get the most out of board portal software
Want to know how to get the most out of your board portal? Aprio has you covered. We offer unlimited comprehensive training at any time, so your board is well-prepared – even if new members join later. When you work with Aprio, we’ll get to know you and your board by name and help you every step of the way.
And if you need any technical support during a board meeting, you’ll get responsive expert help from a former board administrator who knows firsthand the stresses and urgencies of boards.
Here’s just a few examples of how we can help you get the most out of Aprio’s board portal software.
Prep board packages in minutes, not hours
Your board portal should help you prep digital board packages in minutes, not hours. And it should get easier by reusing existing templates. Compared to other board portals, our board packet creation is intuitive and simple for board admins to use, and we’ll help you understand exactly how to use it.
Here’s an Aprio tip: automatically build an agenda based on your meeting materials by importing folders and any document type, or you can reuse an existing template. Plus add new topics and sub-topics as you need.
Take faster meeting minutes
You can get your meeting minutes done faster than ever with Aprio’s minutes builder. This feature provides you with a starter board meeting minutes template that pre-populates items such as the list of attendees, meeting date and location, and the items in your board meeting agenda. We’ll show you how you can record minutes as the meeting unfolds, track motions and action items, assign an approver or a coauthor – all in one place.
Stay on top of board action items
Board members and admins need to stay on top of action items and make sure nothing falls through the cracks. With Aprio’s Task Manager feature, board members can see their task list, can set priorities and track completion right in the Aprio dashboard. Trigger notifications are automatically sent to board members when they are assigned a new task.
Easily access remote meetings
Board members shouldn’t have to fumble to find the meeting details or switch to a specific videoconferencing solution. Aprio’s board portal integrates with web conferencing tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams and GoToMeeting, and we can show you how to set it up. Directors can join the remote meetings with one-click right from the dashboard.
You can make sure you get the most out of all these features and more with Aprio’s best-in-class customer service. We’re here to help you with anything you need throughout your journey with Aprio – so don’t hesitate to reach out to the team at any time with questions.
The future of board portals: trends and predictions
Now that you’re more familiar with board portals, the benefits, and how to choose the right fit board portal, what does the future hold for board portal software?
Data security is an ongoing challenge
The rise of cyber threats including ransomware will continue to challenge corporate governance. And that means more boards will continue to move away from using email and shared drives and choose secure board portal software to keep their data safe.
Even boards with board portal software already in place will regularly re-assess the security of their board portal every few years to ensure it still conforms to the highest industry standards for data encryption and security controls.
Greater transparency for boards
Long-term profitability will directly tie to how well organizations perform on their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals. This means boards must demonstrate transparency in their board governance including diversity of board membership.
Board portals will become necessary tools to support boards that need an automated audit trail of governance activities as the board operates in real time. And as board shake-ups become more commonplace, board portals will become must-have tools to support the continuity of the board.
Board governance ownership
Technology like board portal software will play a critical role in achieving board governance and increasing board effectiveness. But who’s leading and supporting board transparency and integrity of board governance will shift beyond the board of directors itself.
Board secretaries, executive administrators, and governance leads are increasingly playing this critical oversight role. And that means they’ll need the right tools to support board governance as well as be recognized for their contribution.
Work from anywhere is here to stay
Despite return-to-office initiatives and hybrid work models, virtual meetings are still on the rise. For boards, that means more directors will expect they can work from anywhere. Board materials must be easily accessible and plan for remote or hybrid board meetings to continue. Board portal software mobile applications that are easy to use and available any device are no longer nice to have but essential.
When you’re evaluating board software, make sure you take your future needs into account too. From better security to remote work options, your board software should evolve with you to ensure you continue to have access to the tools you need as your board – and the corporate world – evolves.
See Aprio’s board portal software in action – get a tour
Discover why thousands of admins and board members love Aprio board portal software. We top the charts for positive customer reviews by providing advanced security, complete features, and standout time savings tools like our automated agenda builder, meeting minute builder and comprehensive reports! Aprio stands out against our competitors for providing a user friendly, secure board portal with unmatched expert service.
Make sure to include Aprio in your comparison of the best board portal software available. Ready to see Aprio’s board portal software in action? We’d love to give you a personalized tour. Start by booking a free demo.
