The idea of a board portal, a collaborative software that allows board of directors to securely access board documents and communicate with other members electronically, may have started with the passing of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Sarbanes-Oxley, also known as the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act, set the standard for financial reporting for public companies and their boards. Consequently, the act has led to more frequent board meetings, increased information review, and increased communications between meetings. The purpose of a board portal is to securely support board communications and board workflows.
Creating and maintaining a board portal can be a lot of work and very costly. WE would know - when it came time to set up our own board portal, we looked a lot of different options that seemed way too costly, with not enough security features. Instead of going with an outside service provider, we decided to create our own - and BoardReports.org was born. What started out as a simple FTP site, has evolved into a full-service board portal with added communication and security features.
Not sure what board portal is right for you? Read our Top 3 Features of a Board Portal to find out what your board needs now!
1. Security
The information you are putting up on your board portal is sensitive, including financial statements, board member information, and other company documents that need to be kept confidential. When choosing your board portal, make sure they use two-factor authentication for user logins, and role-based access control for documents in the portal. Hosted in the best-of-breed data center backed up in two locations, our BoardReports.org product is protected by the same ironclad safety protocols as all our other products and services. Don't be afraid to ask your board portal provider what their security protocols look like- web application security? encryption scheme? preventing spear phishing? plan for data breaches or malware? Security is the most important part of your board portal, so get the answers to our security questions before using any service!
2. Online Access to Documents
Other than choosing a board portal with the best security features, you need a board portal you can access anytime, anywhere. Make sure your board portal is accessible with any secure internet connection, using username and password credentials. Having all the documents your board needs for meetings and review in one place online, let's your board reduce paper waste, better control of documents, and more time during meetings for important discussions.
3. Tools for Collaboration
How does your board communicate? Waiting for responses via email or trying to make sure all board members know about the next meeting should be easier! Having a bulletin board or discussion board with the ability to post comments is a great way to make sure your board is well informed and can respond in a more timely fashion to important questions regarding your company. When's the next board meeting? Check out the calendar feature where all meetings and events are posted and can be exported straight to your calendar. Finally, the Poll feature in some portals make it fast and easy to answer quick questions that your board needs answered. Better communication means better collaboration between directors - during and after meetings!
If your board portal doesn't include these Top 3 features, it may be time to do some more research and find a better solution!
