Virtual board portal software has become one of the most preferred board management solutions in the last decades. Be it nonprofits, unions, clubs, public companies, or commercial organizations, corporate leadership prefers board management software because of the diversity it brings to board operations.

The board portal addresses the major challenges every board faces. It helps to streamline board meetings, protect and efficiently board data, ensure easy and instant access to board documents, and establish safer and real-time communication between board members.

However, any organization can make the best use of board portal technology by employing the software in the right manner.

Here is a detailed guide on how to implement your virtual boardroom successfully. Let’s start with a brief introduction to virtual boardroom technology.

What is board portal software?

Virtual board portal software or virtual boardroom is an online board document management solution with advanced communication and meeting management tools.

Modern-day board portals possess all necessary and advanced tools for data protection, storage, management, editing, viewing, sharing, or distributing at a large scale.

The board software is a complete board meeting management package that includes features like audio/video calling tools, agenda or meeting minutes builder, notes maker, task managers, voting tools, electronic signatures, and private chat messengers.

What’s more, high-end boardroom vendors provide free templates for meeting minutes, board books, financial reports, consent agenda, meeting notes, and other commonly used board documents. Due to such diversity, boardrooms also serve as a central point during business deals like M&A, corporate partnerships, etc.

Key elements to consider when setting up a virtual boardroom

The variety of board portals on the marketing is impressive, as well as their functionality. That’s why setting one up might be challenging if you never have had a similar experience before. By following the steps described below, you can make it much easier.

1. Select the right boardroom software

The process of employing a boardroom starts with choosing the right boardroom provider. Opting for the most suitable board portal software vendor allows you to extract the maximum benefits offered by virtual boardroom software.

What’s more, this decision also ensures a seamless arrangement of future tasks, thus minimizing the chances of discomfort or frustration in the future. Here are some important factors to consider when choosing a boardroom vendor.

• Compatibility with mobile devices
• Seamless integration with existing or other business software/applications
• Document permission settings
• High storage capacity
• Board meeting management features
• Easy setup
• Ease of use
• Agenda preparation tools
• Attendance sheet
• Voting tools
• Meeting minutes making tools
• Flexible pricing plans
• 24/7 support (highly important)
• Security structure (make sure the vendor is certified by organizations like ISO, FINRA, FISMA, GDPR, etc.)

Some highly secure board portals include iDeals Boards, Govenda Boards, Azeus Convene, and BoardPro.

2. Upload and organize documents

If you have gone for a reputable virtual boardroom vendor, they might have already handled the technical elements of the setup process.

The next thing you have to do is to select the specific types of documents to store within the board portal. Once you complete your selection, you can proceed with seamlessly uploading the necessary documents into the board management software.

However, it’s important to understand that not all documents are suitable for the boardroom software. This platform differs from other storage solutions, and it is better to upload documents that are directly relevant to the organization’s board meeting or management process. Doing so will help you avoid the clutter in the boardroom, and data management will be a lot easier.

What’s more, it is highly recommended to organize boardroom documents in order of their usage. You can also categorize file based on their type in folders or subfolders.

3. Set access permissions

The board portal software ensures that boardroom files are kept safe from unauthorized access. However, it is only possible if the boardroom administrator assigns access permissions according to users’ roles.

Generally, boardroom members must request access every time for secretive files and folders. This approach helps minimize any risk of confidential information being stolen from the board software. 

Additionally, it is highly recommended to add digital watermarks to sensitive boardroom documents or apply view-only mode. It ensures that every viewed document is safe from unauthorized reproduction and use.

It’s possible for authorized users to take screenshots and use the document in inappropriate ways without the boardroom administrator’s consent. The best way to minimize this risk is to apply fence-view mode on such documents.

Apart from the above-mentioned access permissions, administrators can also limit one or more users from editing, printing, sharing, removing, copying, downloading, or saving any document.

4. Recheck the settings

Once the initial setup is complete, the next step is to recheck all necessary security settings. It is just like making sure you have locked all the doors before going to bed. For example, you can reconfirm settings like two-step verification, roles-based user permissions, digital watermarks, etc.

After doing that, it is time to invite users into the boardroom. You can send bulk invitations or do it one by one.

Final words

Board portal software is a diverse board meeting management solution, but the best way to get the maximum out of it is to set up the software in the right manner. You can start by choosing the right boardroom vendor, uploading and organizing relevant data, setting access permissions, and then inviting the users to the boardroom.

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