The choice of a platform that meets the specific needs of every company is becoming more difficult as businesses attempt to improve their board governance processes and speed up growth. The choice of a platform that provides the best tools to improve efficiency and collaboration can result in better decisions.

Evaluating the features of each vendor’s portal for board members can help to ensure that the software can meet all of a board’s useful reference needs and expectations, including remote access to meetings as well as annotations on documents to improve collaboration. A centralized directory of members and scheduling tools which facilitate the organization process and allow synchronization of invitations to meetings, and allow for dynamically creating fully digital and detailed agendas will enhance the way the Board of Directors in an organization functions.

A comparison of board software should also take into consideration the importance of safe storage options to ensure confidential data is secure. Instead of sending board materials via email or sharing with free editions of file sharing tools that can could pose serious security risks dedicated board portals offer users-friendly solutions that are specifically targeted for the most common board functions and include certified physical facilities and advanced disaster recovery and customer-managed encryption.

The final factor to consider in a review of board software is the user experience. This should be dependent on the ease of use and intuitiveness with which the tool can be utilized by all users. By selecting a platform that offers tools such as chat, voting or discussion it is possible to keep board members active and make the most of their contributions.