There are various software offerings on the IT market to simplify and improve cooperation in the board of directors. This article is a review of the board management software functionality across borders.
Why the board of directors should be digitalized?
Digitalization of corporate governance is actively developing. The term “digitalized corporate governance” is already becoming common among corporate secretaries and members of various collegiate governance bodies. And it is quite natural that most managers think about how corporate governance is being transformed and what knowledge and skills need to be mastered to remain as effective and in demand as possible.
In August 2020, BoardMaps completed a large-scale study among users of its product. The results of this study in an aggregated, generalized form make it clear what leaders mean when they talk about the digitalization of corporate governance:
- 10% – exchange of information without paper media,
- 20% – remote control of the execution of orders and other business processes,
- 20% – increased openness and balance in decision-making, incl. by involving experts in online discussions with an assessment of the proposed solutions,
- 50% — remote/online meetings.
Thus, the digitalization of the work of the board of directors with the board software will not lead to a reduction in the role of a person – only to a decrease in the burden associated with labor-intensive and unproductive processes.
The role of a person in management will remain leading. Corporate governance is becoming digital only regarding information exchange, a small delegation of tasks, and control over their implementation. Meetings and voting, archives, and protocols will become digital and remote.
Board software: how does it work?
A company will want to automate work to increase the effectiveness of the processes described in the Standard, manage a large amount of data, and reduce project management costs. The board portal software includes a set of intelligent tools using machine learning algorithms designed to perform routine operations: distributing the flow of documents, filling in details, registering and sending to performers, board voting by email, and others. This product development strategy includes services that solve the problems of “smart” document processing at all stages of their life cycle.
The meeting management module is designed to optimize meetings and automate keeping minutes, registering participants, determining issues to be discussed, and monitoring decisions. It can be used in small companies with one office and large corporations with many offices in different cities and countries.
In addition, the built-in module of synchronous broadcasting of materials allows all participants of collegiate bodies to view the speakers’ presentations simultaneously.
The board software organizes the working space of collegiate bodies by providing the following:
- Familiarization and commenting on the agenda of the meeting
- Electronic voting
- Coordination of the draft minutes and control over the implementation of the decisions made
- Work with documents and materials on tablets, smartphones
- Creation of legally significant documents remotely.
So, if your organization consists of a large number of regional divisions, then frequent business trips of board members lead to severe overhead costs and loss of travel time, exhausting staff and lowering their efficiency; a board portal is a suitable solution. The system can generate statistical and analytical reports that display crucial indicators for the project in tabular and graphical form. Reporting implemented in the system allows you to quickly manage processes, controlling the implementation of stages and project activities.