Learn how EKF chose Directors Desk Board Portal to Streamline Their Board Practice

When managing multiple board meetings a year, looking for a solution to streamline the process isn't always an easy endeavor.  We recently spoke with our client, Iben Tjelum, Associate Director / Executive assistant, Secretariat at EKF, Denmark’s official export credit agency, to learn firsthand how she and her team made the transition to a board portal solution:

What was most important to you and your board when choosing a board portal?

Security and efficiency

We wanted to ensure that whatever solution we were using was safe when storing our confidential board materials. We also wanted a solution that would allow our board members to receive the latest board materials as soon as they were available.

What advice would you offer an organization who is considering a board portal solution?

Examine the readiness of your board. 

Ensure that your board is ready to transition to a paperless board meeting. This means involving them in the process by showing them the solution, offering cost benefit analysis, and offering training, if needed.  There are organizations that can easily function without a board portal solution, but it is up to the Corporate Secretary to challenge their board.

Look at functionality and ease of use.

Make sure you have the vendor walk you through the entire product. Let them know what your pain points are and how the solution solves these. Prior to implementing Directors Desk, board book assembly was a major pain point but after walking through the solution with the Product Specialist, I realized that I would be saving time, money and energy. For your board, make sure that the solution is turn-key and requires little to no training. Our board members are busy and often manage multiple boards, so choosing an intuitive solution is the best answer.

Mobility.

With busy board members travelling multiple times a year, it is essential that the solution have mobile applications. Boards are becoming much more tech savvy and require instant accessibility no matter where they are located. The Directors Desk application provides this and also gives board members the flexibility to attend meetings virtually.

What are three Directors Desk features that save you and your board time?

1.  The iPad application – it allows our board members to stay on top of important matters while on the go.
2. Document Center – our boards can easily access documents the minute they are made available.
3. Survey Tool – it provides the flexibility to create surveys and launch them at no additional cost.

To read the full EKF Case Study, please click here. 

Join Directors Desk at the Society of Corporate Secretaries Annual Conference in Boston, MA on June 25, 2014

Are you attending the upcoming SCS Annual Conference on June 25th? If so, please stop by Booth #45 to meet our experts and learn how to:

• Utilize our Enterprise Governance, Risk and Compliance (eGRC) suite of solutions to improve the way you currently manage your board and GRC processes

• Maximize your board communication processes via our newly enhanced Directors Desk applications

• Save time and increase productivity using Directors Desk and eGRC solutions

NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions help companies like yours to empower leaders with board communications, collaboration, governance and risk management. Click here to learn more about our eGRC suite of solutions. Click here to learn more about Directors Desk.

New Directors Desk Windows 8 App Enhancements Coming Soon!

Directors Desk for Windows 8 Edition is designed to give on-the-go Directors the convenience of having everything they need at their fingertips anytime, anywhere. Directors Desk Windows 8 Edition streamlines the sharing of mission-critical information, giving Directors the confidence that their documents are safely stored. With true multi-tasking capabilities and an “everything at once” experience on their mobile tablet, Directors can run board meetings more productively, from reviewing and annotating board documents to casting votes on topical issues.

If you haven’t downloaded the Directors Desk app already, below is a sneak peak of what you can expect:

Convenient and time-saving functionality

a. Personalized dashboard to keep you informed of upcoming meetings and board-level action items

b. At-a-glance Meeting Details page, with integrated Bing maps for automated navigation to the meeting location

c. Full Note-taking and Annotations tools to make personal notes and markups on any page of the meeting packet.

Security Features

a. Security features built into the app from the ground up, including device registration, the ability to remotely wipe data on lost or stolen devices, and encryption of data stored on the device.

Instant access to documents and functionality

a. Documents Briefcase functionality allows directors to store any documents for offline viewing while on the plane or other location without Internet access.

b. Voting system allows traveling directors to approve Consents and cast Votes while on-the-go.

Stay tuned for our upcoming release! To learn more visit our website.

NASDAQ OMX’s Partner, NACD, Has Just Issued its Latest BoardVision Episodes: Rulemaking Insights and Private Company Markets

NASDAQ OMX’s partner, NACD, has just issued its latest BoardVision episode. Tune in to this week's edition of NACD BoardVision focused on rulemaking and private companies. Join Chris Clark, publisher of NACD Directorship, Edward S. Knight, EVP, general counsel, and chief regulatory officer of NASDAQ OMX as they discuss public company trends and compare the rulemaking processes of listing exchanges and proxy advisory firms. Also discussed, private companies raising capital, the JOBS Act, and private company markets.

Tune in now to the Rulemaking Insights episode

Tune in now to the Private Company Markets episode

Instant Access to Meetings Whenever, Wherever – in Real Time

As board membership continues to become geographically dispersed, and as the fiduciary responsibilities of Corporate Secretaries and Directors increase, ensuring you have a board portal solution (such as Directors Desk) with ‘Presenter Mode’ functionality is crucial.  Presenter Mode allows an individual to control meetings and sequence documents to be reviewed by the larger group. Today, many Directors and executives rely on mobile devices to view Board materials, conduct votes, and communicate with other members of the Board, especially as Board and Committee meetings are more frequently held ‘virtually’ via conference call.  Presenter Mode enables full participation in the meeting by any Board member, anywhere in the world, via apps for the iPad and Windows tablets.  Meeting expenses are drastically reduced with regard to travel as well as the cost of printing, binding and shipping hard-copy meeting materials.  Directors simply join a conference call and log into the app on their tablet, and follow along with the presentation of the document as it is controlled by the Presenter (Presenter controls can also be handed off from one user to another).  The need to fill the boardroom with computer and a projector, and conduct a WebEx, is removed.

Directors Desk Presenter Mode offers additional benefits to the Board and the Board support team, including:

•  Ability to make your own private annotations on documents via the app, even while following a presentation.  Notes and annotations sync seamlessly between mobile devices and the web application.

•  Conduct more efficient meetings, as all board members are literally on the same page, controlled by the Presenter.

• Enhanced security and control over meeting information, and the peace of mind that meeting materials can be remotely deleted from a tablet should it be compromised.

•  Improve meeting participation and communication between geographically dispersed Directors and those in the boardroom.

When choosing a board portal solution, be sure that this functionality is included with your iPad and Microsoft tablet applications. This unique functionality will help ensure that your meetings run smoothly, that the presenter has full control over the meeting and materials, and that no matter where your board members may be located, they have the most current information at their fingertips, in real time.

To learn more about Directors Desk Presenter Mode functionality, contact us today.

Emphasizing Board Portal Security | Directors Desk

Data security is increasingly a priority for Boards of Directors. Today, corporations are being targeted by not only sophisticated criminals, but entire nation-states, intent on stealing money, gaining a competitive advantage, or disrupting operations. Companies can often be in the cross-hairs of adversaries who are working around the clock devising new ways to gain access to valuable, confidential information. One such repository for this type of information is the documentation provided to directors during board meetings. Ensuring the security of this information remains a critical concern for Corporate Secretaries.  Focus on these core principles when deciding what board portal solution to move forward with:  

Integrity: What can you tell us about your clients and their successes?

Mitigating Risk: What security and compliance functionality does your solution offer? Does your solution have a digital paper trail, archiving, audit trails ad reporting?

Service: What does your current service model look like? Will I have support 24/7/365?

Practicality: What challenges might we face in adopting a board portal solution? Is it possible to demo this solution in parallel with our traditional approach?

Simplicity and Ease of use: What sort of training is available to the directors and support staff? Is this a turn-key solution?

Mobility: Do you offer mobile solutions to access data and communications? Do these have the same security controls as your desktop application?

Value: What kind of ROI do clients typically achieve from this solution? Do you offer value-added resources or relationships that we can leverage?

As the corporate landscape continues to evolve, companies are looking for ways to be faster, smarter and more innovative, and it all starts at the top. The integration of digital technology—and more recently, mobile technology—into the boardroom provides directors and secretaries with the opportunity to collaborate and communicate faster and more effectively from anywhere in the world. Boards should ensure that the technology in question has intuitive usability, advanced security measures and the blessing of all board participants— and then enjoy the peace of mind that follows knowing they’re keeping themselves, and their company, better informed, and ahead of the curve.

For more detailed information on security controls and mechanisms in place for NASDAQ OMX Directors Desk, please contact us at support@directorsdesk.com.