Board Portal Comparison: Main Features and Criteria

Before all let’s figure out the board portal definition, especially if you have not faced this type of portal before.

So, this software can be compared to a web application that includes all managers and directors. First of all, this portal is created to facilitate the fulfillment of the tasks of the board of directors. In addition, these services provide confidential access to board documents (both past and present).

In addition, users can get access to tools that make it much easier for administrators to prepare for board meetings, conduct them, and analyze their results.

With the help of virtual board meetings, it is possible to improve the interaction between individual board members, even if they are on different continents.

In today’s review, you will know the basic features of board rooms with examples of iDeals, Boardmap, and Boardvantage services. For more detailed information, you may visit https://boardroommind.com/.

Reason for Shifting to Board Portal Software

Digitalization and the development of technologies have touched all spheres of people’s activity, including business. Relatively recently, paper document management with inconvenient for transportation and expensive to manufacture folders was widespread. Additional expenses were required for the allocation of space for storing documents, courier delivery, and so on.

Today, most companies have already switched to board management software, the key features of which are ease of use, security, and efficiency.

When using the boardroom, companies can count on ensuring the confidentiality and security of corporate data. Board of directors software allows solving complex problems in the preparation stage, during the meeting, or at its end. Finding documents is reduced to a few clicks thanks to advanced filter and marker options.

This increases the efficiency of the company, reduces labor and time costs.

The Top Advantages of Board Portal Services

Now, let’s take a look at the top advantages of a virtual boardroom, which have already made them a must-have tool for businesses of all industries.

Depending on the type of business, the priorities in the benefits may shift, but the most common ones are listed below.

1. Board portals provide almost instantaneous delivery of the necessary confidential data to all recipients simultaneously. All changes in documents, updates, and revisions also appear synchronously for all users of the platform with the appropriate permission level.
2. Centralized access to meeting documents, messages, archival materials, etc. is provided within a highly reliable and secure portal. Most up-to-date board document management software provides information protection thanks to AES encryption, two-factor authentication, and more. In addition, company data is protected from malicious damage from the outside.
3. Secure online note-taking and collaboration for directors. In this case, all messages, data, board meeting minutes are archived and can be subsequently analyzed if necessary.
4. Boost the efficiency of production and distribution of distributing books and other documents.
5. Highly accurate meeting scheduling with the ability to quickly make changes postpones, and more.

Key Features to Compare While Choosing Board Portal Software

The first board portal software appeared in the early 2000s. Then the technologies did not have the degree of development we see now: they had problems with security, restrictions on the size of storage, and so on. Since then, board portal software passed through several stages of development. Currently, you can find a large number of boardroom providers that offer similar products, at first glance, so it can be a tough task to choose between them.

Below, you can see basic criteria you should pay attention to and some examples of the top-notch board portal services: Boardmaps, iDeals, and Boardvantage.

Availability of Administration Management Tools

It is important to understand how a particular service helps to make it easier for administrators to prepare for board meetings and how information is updated when time, dates, or documents change. This will help you compare how much time you spend on it in the present conditions with the situation when you will use the service.

At this stage, you should also decide how easy-to-use the portal is. For example, if you take a look at iDeals or Boradmap services, you will notice how minimalistic the interface is and how easy it is to adapt to it.

Mobility and Convenient Interaction

Most directors and board members have to travel a lot. This routine duty can cause problems since they may not find out news and updated information about their company in time. With the help of the boardroom software, it is possible to maintain 100% involvement of the board directors in the life of the company. So, you should learn about the convenience of the service offers, including apps for mobile phones like it is implemented in iDeals, Boardmaps, and Boardvantage services.

Safety

This is one of the most important conditions since the confidentiality of board documents and the security of messages is key.

Look for software that secures information and makes it easier to access. Specify how information is stored (locally or in the cloud), what are the options for keeping data in case of an emergency, etc. For example, iDeals and Boardmap come with 256-bit encryption and two-factor authentication. As for Boardvantage, it is additionally SOC 2 Type II audited.

Support Service

Here, you need to understand what level of support you can expect in case of a problem:

• are there training materials on the platform?
• do you need to pay for the support service or it is included in the package you buy?
• what time is the support team available and is it multilingual?
• through which communication channels you can contact the support team?

If you look at Boardmaps, iDeals, and Boardvantage, then all these services provide 24/7/365 multilingual helpdesk, including live chat, and phone support.