Digital transformation: the key to unlocking your board’s full potential

(Sponsored article)

To meet their professional and regulatory obligations, boards and board members must maintain high degrees of productivity, accountability and integrity. High personal standards lie at the core of these responsibilities, as board members should model the corporate culture and governance practices they espouse.

However, organisations can also help their board members meet these obligations.
Developing and deploying suitable business strategies, internal processes and software tools can simplify compliance, improve governance and boost board productivity.

Such environments can make it easier for board members to deliver high-quality decisions and other outputs, and steer their organisations in the right direction. Some of the areas where internal measures can help a board include:

• Roles: Clearly defining roles and responsibilities so that each board member
  understands their obligations helps them focus on their tasks and avoids duplication
  of effort.
• Recruiting: Recruiting a diverse and complementary range of directors onto a
  board expands its collective range of skills, experiences and perspectives, improving
  its decision-making and problem-solving capabilities.
• Training: Providing ongoing development opportunities, such as training sessions,
  workshops and online resources (such as videos and webinars), makes it easier for
  your board members to stay abreast of their roles, industry trends and governance
  best practices.
• Communications: Establishing effective communication channels (including online meetings, email updates and access to digital collaboration tools) helps foster open and transparent information-sharing between boards, executives and stakeholders.
• Objectives: Setting and regularly reviewing SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound) objectives for the board and the organisation helps keep efforts focused on their strategic goals.
• Committees: Committees with specific mandates and delegation powers, such as finance, audit, governance, strategic planning, and risk management, allow each board member to contribute to the organisation’s performance meaningfully.
• Participation: Encouraging all board members to contribute to meetings by asking questions, sharing insights and offering constructive criticisms ensures a range of views and opinions are shared. Meetings dominated by one or two individuals rarely deliver the best results.
• Evaluation: Evaluating board performance regularly and soliciting feedback from board members, executives, and stakeholders helps identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement.
• Accountability: Setting appropriate expectations around attendance, meeting preparation and follow-up on action items helps board members deliver good decisions and meet all their commitments.
• Technology: Choosing the right tools to improve board processes, facilitate remote collaboration and enhance information sharing can deliver significant benefits. Board portals provide these tools (and more) on secure, easy-to-use platforms.
• Innovation: Empowering board members to explore new ideas, challenge existing practices and adapt to changing circumstances, both internal and external, can keep your organisation flexible, competitive and responsive.

Adopting these strategies can help your board enhance its productivity and accountability, with ‘knock-on’ benefits to the company’s success and business sustainability.

Board portals provide mission-critical support

One of the best ways to boost your board’s productivity and accountability is to deploy a board portal platform. A centralised, purpose-built board management application can offer communication, collaboration, document management, workflow and reporting capabilities, including:

• Document management: Board portals centralise storage and management for agendas, minutes, financial reports, governance documents, policies and more.
  Eliminating paper-based documentation means board members can access information on demand.
• Secure communication: Encrypted messaging and discussion forums allow board members to hold confidential conversations, collaborate on sensitive matters and share information updates without fear of compromise.
• Meeting preparation: Administrators can create and distribute agendas and other materials, simplifying board members’ meeting preparation and, in turn, improving meeting efficiency and outcomes.
• Remote access: Users can access board platforms from desktop and laptop computers, tablets, and smartphones. This access helps board members remain connected, participate in meetings and discharge their responsibilities regardless of location.
• Streamlined workflows: Online task assignment, deadline tracking, electronic voting and other capabilities take the friction out of workflows, facilitating collaboration, feedback and decision-making.
• Audit and compliance: Board platforms maintain audit trails for all system interactions and activities, including document access, revisions and user actions. These audit trails provide transparency and accountability, and can demonstrate
  compliance with regulations, internal policies and governance best practice.
• Customisation and integration: Board portal providers can tailor features and integrations to meet an organisation’s and its board members’ needs and preferences. Integration with existing tools, including email, calendars and document libraries, further enhances the user experience and streamlines workflows.
• Training and support: Board portal providers typically offer training sessions, user guides and technical support, helping users get up to speed quickly. Ongoing support helps users feel comfortable and confident using the platform, maximising its benefits and improving their efficiency and productivity.

We believe that board portal platforms are the best way to enhance any board’s productivity, governance and effectiveness. To learn more, download our free digital transformation report.

OnBoard is the leading board management provider, simplifying governance. Request a trial here or download our brochure.