Directors Desk presents: Optimizing the Value of Your Company's Board

BY KEVIN ASUNCION,  NASDAQ OMX | Directors Desk

In today’s fast-paced business environment, board software like Directors Desk is no longer a nice-to-have extra—it’s an essential strategy for engaging and deriving maximum value from your company’s directors in real time. Your company already may have adopted certain technologies for managing board matters; yet how many of these scenarios still apply:

▶   Assembling hefty board books with ever-evolving  content?

▶   Running to catch the FedEx truck to overnight materials to directors?

▶   Emailing or faxing last-minute schedule changes or pre-reading?

▶   Handing out new documents on the fly in the boardroom?

▶   Struggling to connect with traveling directors on urgent matters?

If any of these sound familiar, your company could benefit from an interactive mobile solution like Directors Desk. These emerging tools not only make board communications and meetings easier—they make them better.

PAPERLESS,  PORTABLE—PLUS MORE

For many companies, the main attraction of a board software solutions like Directors Desk is its promise of paperless ease. Indeed, such a solution is a life saver for anyone who has ever struggled to manage revisions, multiple printings and distribution of paper documents. Other companies pursue board software simply because it provides access to documents while directors are on the go. This “virtual briefcase” benefit is also critical because directors can download, read and annotate materials from wherever they may be around the world. But an effective mobile board platform is more than a portal to paperless, portable soft copies: it blazes new pathways to engage with your board and optimize the value they bring to your organization.

AGILITY DURING MEETINGS

To be truly useful, a mobile board platform has to work hard everywhere: before meetings, after meetings and—especially—during meetings. Board members and staff alike understand that board meetings can be highly fluid events with discussions that require instantaneous updates of information and swift communication. Expectations for efficiency are high, leaving no room for interruptions with the flow of the meeting or any ad-hoc technology issues. Although some organizations have long allowed laptops into the boardroom, these devices have significant drawbacks. Beyond creating a visual barrier that can impede directors’ conversations, laptops also invite sporadic multitasking that can distract from the discussion at hand. By contrast, a physically flat solution, such as a board platform iPad app, can actually enhance engagement. Individual directors can use virtual sticky notes to capture questions or ideas right in the flow of the board exhibits. Additionally, a good platform will provide flexible features—such as instant voting, messaging and access to critical documents—that can make board processes faster and easier to execute.

 

WHAT WILL MOBILE BOARDWARE  DO FOR ME?

TYPICAL BOARD PROCESS	BOARDWARE-ENHANCED PROCESS
Thick, printed board books and documents	Virtual meeting documents and exhibits read on screen
Numerous revisions and re-printings	Instant updates, superseding old versions
Cut-off times and overnight packages	Alerts to let directors know when the latest materials are available
Expensive travel plans, unexpected delays, last- minute reschedulings	All directors can attend the board meeting, from anywhere
Boardrooms cluttered with laptops, reams of paper and other distractions	Boardrooms with iPads that display only the moment’s point of focus

BOARDROOMS WITHOUT BORDERS

Mobile boardware solutions also provide the latitude to hold virtual board meetings. Companies no longer need every director physically in the same room to react to identical documents and reach informed decisions. Virtual meetings can dramatically reduce travel costs and make it economically feasible to recruit board talent from around the globe.

The best mobile boardware solutions allow you to run these virtual meetings just as you would if all your directors were in one room. Directors Desk does this. These solutions allow control of presentations to be passed seamlessly across the room or across the world, and screens are consistently kept in synch no matter where the directors may be.

PICK THE RIGHT PARTNER

Board matters are highly sensitive and board members expect a high level of professionalism and efficiency. In stepping forward onto a more flexible and mobile board platform, you’ll want to partner with a company that can truly deliver, and do so flawlessly. In selecting a partner, ask these questions about their approach and experience: By asking the right questions and choosing the right partner, you’ll be on the road to a more streamlined, more nimble board process. 

▶    Integrity:

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

▶    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?

▶    Ease of use:

What sort of training will be provided to the Directors and Support staff?

▶    Security:

How will you ensure the security of our sensitive materials?

▶    Value:

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

Not only will you have fewer headaches, you’ll discover new opportunities to engage the best minds and the best ideas—anywhere in the world. Business today is global and digitally driven—shouldn’t your board be?


 For more information about Directors Desk, visit our website at www.directorsdesk.com